Let’s Take This Upstairs: Localizing Ground Transmitters With High-Altitude Balloons

The ability to detect and locate Radio-Frequency (RF) transmissions on the ground is crucial for a wide range of applications, including radio spectrum protection, search and rescue missions, jammer localization, reconnaissance, and signals intelligence. Traditional methods using ground vehicles or aircraft equipped with specialized direction-finding equipment are reactive, expensive, logistically challenging, and often slow. This paper proposes a novel approach utilizing High-Altitude Balloons (HABs) to provide rapid and extensive coverage for RF signal detection and localization. Through extensive simulations incorporating real-world HAB flight paths, we demonstrate that transmissions with a power as low as 0.53 Watts can be detected over large areas within tens of minutes. Our results indicate that with proper setup, localization accuracies can be achieved that are sufficient to track down illegal or unwanted transmitters. The proposed method offers a cost-effective, minimally labor-intensive solution for effective large-scale RF transmission monitoring and localization.