A Novel Location Determination Technique for Traffic Control and Surveillance using Stratospheric Platforms

This paper presents a new technique for location determination using the promising technique of stratospheric platform (SP) flying at altitudes 17-22 km high and a suitable Direction-of-Arrival technique (DOA). The SP system is preferable due to its superior communication performance compared to conventional terrestrial and satellite systems. The proposed technique provides central information about accurate locations for mobile stations which is very important for traffic control and rescue operations at emergency situations. The DOA estimation in this technique defines the user location using high resolution DOA technique such as MUSIC which provides an accuracy comparable to the Global Positioning System (GPS) technique but without the need for GPS receivers. Several scenarios for users’ locations determination are examined to define the robustness of the proposed technique. Keywords—stratospheric platforms; mobile communications; DOA techniques; GPS Technique