UAS Position Estimation in GPS Degraded/Denied Skies via WiFi and Cell Network Data (WiCeNav)

Abstract

Smart phones tell us where we are. How do they accomplish this task? Moreover, how do they accomplish this task when a GPS signal is not present? What specific functionality exists in cellular networks that allows this? Once identified, can that functionality be used in a small payload for UAS? Are there commercial solutions that already do this? Why or why not? This thesis aims to answer these questions by delving into network specifications, investigating a variety of commercial off the shelf solutions as well as several custom ones, and will ultimately detail a mixed signal solution that provides a GPS independent position estimate. The proposed solution uses readily available hardware running a signal agnostic software package.