ALTER-TRACK – ALTERnative TRACKing

Radio-communication challenges
The challenge is to provide extremely related, even contradictory, objectives like mobility of nodes, transmission range, transmission rate, autonomy and dimensions. Indeed, the classical solutions for this type of application are based on very narrow band modulation techniques, particularly sensitive to frequency deviations that are due to the Doppler effect in relation to the rate of mobility or drifting in the references. Recently, a new technologies have been launched that overcome the constraint of stability of references but are not compatible with mobility faster than 20 km/h. To ensure resistance to high mobility and jamming immunity, spread spectrum modulation and diversity reception will be used.
Antenna challenges
To ensure the maximum discretion, the metal structure of the vehicle itself will be used as a radiating element. Given its large size, it can replace traditional dipole antenna in FM. This is the car-antenna concept. The design is made for VHF frequency bands (169MHz) and will potentially applied both in emission and reception.
On the tracking side, the concept can be extended with several sources on the vehicle. The system thus provides an equivalent of a multi-access or multi-sensor system and applies the diversity of radiation patterns to improve the reliability of results. The goal is to provide the capability of receiving multiple signals at the same time, and comparing them in order to get the best the signal to noise ratio.

Positioning challenges
The magneto-inertial technology used provides by-design immunity to jamming and does not require any infrastructure to work. The challenges to be focused lie on three major areas: map-matching to eliminate dead-reckoning drifts, robustness to magnetic disturbances for the heading reconstruction which is quite an issue in a car when the device can be placed in unknown location, and, finally, the sensitivity at low speed motion when the wheels are turning slowly.

No main results to advertise at this point. Trials are to come.

The project directly adresses organisations that want to track their vehicules whether because of the personnes inside, or the hazardous material they contain, or the value of the goods... or track their vehicules in potentially dangerous areas (hazardous industrial sites, conflict zones...)
The positioning solution is also valuable for industrials working on autonomous vehicules.
The radio solution alone is also suitable for many actors in the IoT.

The projets was presented at the Interdisciplinary Workshop on Global Security (WISG) in Trpyes, France, in 2016, both with a poster and a talk.

Security of citizen is a major societal challenge due to its interaction with the freedom feeling which is a basic part of our democracy. The last few month news have played a part in increasing insecurity feeling through media coverage of violent events such as settling of scores related to by drug traffic, jewelleries hold-ups, valuables thefts and the example of the media hijacking of an armoured van in Toni Musulin case.
A recent poll lead by IFOP, a French survey institute, from 18th to 20th September 2013, revealed that 84% of the French people feel an increase in crime. This result should be compared with these of the past years: 72% in 2012, 59% in 2010 and 43% in 2007. Physical aggressions such as hold-ups have led to a strained atmosphere and have given the impression that violence is commonplace and latent.
Aggressors profile has changed regarding crime: crime formerly organized around some rules becomes nowadays less organized and rational and thus hard to understand.
Otherwise, the boundary between delinquency / organized crime and terrorism is more and more reduced as for source of funding (drug traffic or hold-up) or terrorist profile. For example, Merah case or the last questioning of 9 persons in June 2013 suspected to have committed hold-up at La Poste with the aims of funding terrorism against French personalities.
To struggle against those threats, the security forces use several information means namely GPS tracker embedded in suspects vehicles. These devices, used in a well-defined legal framework, represent invaluable tools to officers in charge of investigation and minimize risks taken by prime-participant.
Police services are facing difficulties with jammers used to interfere with GPS reception and lately all the GSM (2G, 3G, and 4G) bands disruption for geo localization data transmission. Common use of those devices in organized crime and terrorism drives to seek out alternative solution.
NB: Although forbidden in France (except in jails, theatre, concert hall, etc), jammers are available on the web for some 15 to 200€.
Combining complementary competences in the field of navigation (Sysnav, whose CEO has just been nominated among the 10 most innovative and impactful French people under 35 by the MIT Technology Review), radio-communication (Éolane), and antennas (IETR), the ALTER-TRACK project addresses the issue explained previously by suggesting an autonomous and real-time solution of vehicle localization free of GPS (for localization) and GSM (for transmission of position data).
This project, which is the continuation of ANR CSOSG projects (GPS localization only), is based on:
? localization acting improvement;
? supply of a long range communications solution different from GSM, which presents characteristics such as autonomy, inconspicuous and insensitive to interferers;
The goals of this real-time tracking of vehicle rely on:
- buried technologies independent to infrastructure: satellite for GPS, base station for GSM;
- improvement regarding accuracy of localization information before transmission through several techniques (embedded Map-Matching processing);
- long range radio communications for data localization exchanges between the tracking vehicle and the follower one. Both vehicles are distant of some km each other in urban area;
- small and inconspicuous antenna;
- low susceptibility to radio jammer / interferer;
- high autonomy.
From an operational point of view, several types of communications (data link) can be considered in urban area in the suggested frequency band (VHF < 300 MHz):
? vehicle being tracked – tracking vehicle link: mobile-mobile link with diversity
? vehicle being tracked – fix node link (temporary or standing infrastructure)