Originally Posted by
IRRenewal
By presenting as a base station and encouraging the device to connect to it? Just a guess, but technically not that difficult.
Correct.
The new NAWSARH aircraft (AW101) are using Redstreak. The other dedicated phone systems use a similar approach. Recco SAR is designed primarily for searching for Recco reflectors but Recco kit has been picking up quartz watches and mobile phones for many years and now they seem to be making phone detection a key function of the system since the phones are so ubiquitous. Lifeseeker also have a mini phone system that is designed as a payload for a Small Unmanned Aircraft.
This is another new sensor development that I have been trying to highlight as the UKSAR2G contract process approaches. I reported on it in my ICAR Air report to SMR last year and the SMR Aviation Group has included it in submissions to MCA Aviation.