[Moved] Locating tracking device with femtocell

I have some cars that have tracking devices (I'm assuming they are on cellular networks) on them. And I want to be able to somehow connect to the tracking device so that I can get it's location. Once I get it's location, I will be able to get the tracking device off my car. I don't want to use a RF detector to locate because it's too sensitive and it makes it very difficult for me to pinpoint the tracking device's location.

I wanted to use a femtocell so that I can be able to have the tracking device connect to the femtocell. And from there I wanted to be able to use the femtocell's firmware/software so that I can get it's location. I want to be able to target all cellular networks and the only way I can do that with femtocells is getting a femtocell for each cellular network(CDMA, GSM, etc).

I'm not even entirely sure how tracking devices work with femtocells, so I need to test it out. If I could just get the tracking device to connect to the femtocell, that is progress for me.

If anyone has any experience with femtocells, cellular networks, or tracking devices, please comment. Or if you can direct me to someone that has more information on this, it would be a big help for me. If you think there's another way or easier way to do this, then please share.

Thank you in advance

I don't know why do you want to use femtocells for this application. Femtocells ar small base stations, and normally people don't have access to their firmware to get location information. Only the carrier provider have this possibility.

For less than $30 you can buy cheap USB tracking devices that use GPS and GSM network to send device location to any phone number you want. Also through USB connection you can get directly the device location.

https://ertengtec.en.made-in-china....T/China-Vehicle-Car-GPS-Tracker-GPS103A-.html

Covert tracking thread reloaded?
https://www.edaboard.com/threads/336514/

vfone said:

I don't know why do you want to use femtocells for this application. Femtocells ar small base stations, and normally people don't have access to their firmware to get location information. Only the carrier provider have this possibility.

For less than $30 you can buy cheap USB tracking devices that use GPS and GSM network to send device location to any phone number you want. Also through USB connection you can get directly the device location.

https://ertengtec.en.made-in-china....T/China-Vehicle-Car-GPS-Tracker-GPS103A-.html

Click to expand...

vfone said:

I don't know why do you want to use femtocells for this application. Femtocells ar small base stations, and normally people don't have access to their firmware to get location information. Only the carrier provider have this possibility.

For less than $30 you can buy cheap USB tracking devices that use GPS and GSM network to send device location to any phone number you want. Also through USB connection you can get directly the device location.

https://ertengtec.en.made-in-china....T/China-Vehicle-Car-GPS-Tracker-GPS103A-.html

Click to expand...

Thank you vfone for your reply, but I'm not trying to put a tracking device on a car so that I can get the car's location. I'm trying to get a tracking device off of a car.

If the tracking device connects to the femtocell, then I know for sure that there is a tracking device on the car. That is the first step I need to accomplish, to determine if there is a tracking device or not.

So if you know or know someone that knows about femtocells and/or tracking devices, please comment below. I'm not an expert on femtocells, so I need someone that can help me with getting the tracking device to connect with femtocell.

volker@muehlhaus said:

Covert tracking thread reloaded?
https://www.edaboard.com/threads/336514/

Click to expand...

I'm trying to use a femtocell to locate a tracking device. But that thread was very informative, but I didn't really solve the problem. But thank you volker for pointing me to the thread.

If you have no idea what frequency you want to detect, then any design will pickup more unwanted signals as noise because of wide spectrum used for all mobile services. E.g 800 Mhz to 5 GHz. The signal itself may span > 30 MHz by frequency hopping.

Thus any hope of detection requires close proximity ( you know where it is with 10-20 cm ) or non-std programmed narrow band frequency hopping receiver like a base station. Tx uses the lower band while Rx from base station is higher f.

So no simple solution. GSM is frequency hopping to look like random noise. The wider your detector more unwanted thermal noise will be received.

Like finding a needle in a haystack with primitive detectors. Femto sounds more sensitive but is also smaller so you must be even closer to detect, which is unknown.

SunnySkyguy said:

If you have no idea what frequency you want to detect, then any design will pickup more unwanted signals as noise because of wide spectrum used for all mobile services. E.g 800 Mhz to 5 GHz. The signal itself may span > 30 MHz by frequency hopping.

Thus any hope of detection requires close proximity ( you know where it is with 10-20 cm ) or non-std programmed narrow band frequency hopping receiver like a base station. Tx uses the lower band while Rx from base station is higher f.

So no simple solution. GSM is frequency hopping to look like random noise. The wider your detector more unwanted thermal noise will be received.

Like finding a needle in a haystack with primitive detectors. Femto sounds more sensitive but is also smaller so you must be even closer to detect, which is unknown.

Click to expand...

Yes, frequency hopping makes it very difficult to find the tracking device. The femtocell will be really close to the tracking device making the device think that the femtocell is the closest cell tower. I'm assuming that the tracking device works like a cellphone, but I'm not sure that the tracking device will actually work like a cell phone though. The first step for me in finding the tracking device is by getting the tracking device to connect with the femtocell. So even if I only get the tracking device connected with the femtocell, then that is progress for me. So do you have a good understanding of how tracking devices connect with femtocells?