Title:
Dynamic Calculation and Visualization of Positions and Coverage Areas of Mobile Network Cells based on Continuous Measurements

Description:
Mobile network operators usually keep the data about their mobile network topology very secret. However, having this data, many sophisticated applications could be realized. Today’s smartphones provide the means to measure cell data with which the mobile network topology of different operators can be approximately derived. OpenCellID [1] and OpenBMap [2] are examples for open-source projects that use smartphone clients and collect cell data via a crowd-sourcing approach in order to establish a complete database of base stations, their cell IDs and locations. The OpenMobileNetwork [3] is another initiative that imports cell data from OpenCellID and OpenBMap and semantically models this data using the Linked Data principles. The OpenCellID and OpenBMap databases, however, comprise a lot of false values, which have to be carefully filtered before using. Furthermore, a single location for a base station is usually derived by taking the average of all measured geo coordinates, which often turns out to be not very accurate.

The objective of this thesis is to analyze and evaluate available location determination algorithms as well as to design and implement the most suitable algorithm in order to calculate positions of mobile network cells for a given set of measures. Furthermore, the implementation should incorporate a visualization on the map showing live measurement data and the position of base stations changing dynamically according to the measurements. The data used should be modeled using the Linked Data principles and integrated into the OpenMobileNetwork.

Challenges:

• Research on Linked Data and Location Determination Algorithms
• Design and implement the most suitable algorithm
• Visualize positions of base stations and live measurement data on a map
• Model mobile network topology data in RDF using the Linked Data principles

Prerequisites:

• Interest to work in the field of Mobile Networks and Linked Data
• Interest in mathematical models
• Proficiency in programming

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Axel Küpper [4], Abdulbaki Uzun [5], Ulrich Bareth [6]

Type: Master Thesis

Duration: 6 months