Context Awareness via GSM Signal Strength Fluctuation

Ian Anderson and Henk Muller. Context Awareness via GSM Signal Strength Fluctuation. In: the 4th International Conference on Pervasive Computing, Late breaking results, pages 27–31. Oesterreichische Computer Gesellschaft, May 2006.

Abstract. In this paper we demonstrate how a cell phone can infer contextual information such as mode of travel by monitoring the fluctuation of GSM signal strength levels and neighbouring cell information. We show that these signals are stable enough to reliably distinguish between various states of movement such as walking, travelling in a motor car and remaining still. We present preliminary results for a metropolitan
environment.

Relation to my thesis: I am involved in a similar project that aims at sensing mobility. The authors’ artificial neural network for fusing GSM signals is inspiring. However, it creates occasional errors in detecting the motion. Moreover, as the neural network is adapted to metropolitan areas, an adaptation of its sensitivity would need to be performed for rural areas. Raising the question on how to detect an area.