StarLoc MobiSys '26

Pinpointing transmitting LEO satellites from a single passive array.

Ishani Janveja1 Jida Zhang2 Emerson Sie1 Deepak Vasisht1
1 University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign 2 Stanford University
Paper Dataset Code ACM Artifacts Available ACM Artifacts Evaluated — Functional ACM Results Reproduced
StarLoc localizes a transmitting LEO satellite in 3D space.
Abstract

Can we 3D-locate a transmitter in low-earth orbit using ubiquitously deployable hardware?

3D localization of transmitters in low orbits is an important emerging problem for many applications such as effective spectrum management, orbital safety, network operations, and the broader goals of space situational awareness.

We present StarLoc — a system to geolocate transmitters in space using a combination of orbital modeling and a new interferometric 3D angle-of-arrival estimation technique. StarLoc's design relies on a unique insight — the motion of satellites is governed by orbital dynamics and is therefore along a 2D manifold in a 3D space. This reduces the degrees of freedom in satellite motion and allows us to 3D-locate and track a satellite with just three antennas in a 2D plane.

We evaluate StarLoc using signal transmissions from 81 Starlink satellites. Our results show that StarLoc can estimate the 3D-angle of a satellite within 0.7° and orbital range within 5 km.

StarLoc system overview
Overview: StarLoc proposes a novel Doppler-assisted angle resolution (DSAR) technique and orbital dynamics to localize a LEO satellite.
Cite

BibTeX

starloc · mobisys '26 
@inproceedings{janveja2026starloc,
  title     = {Pinpointing Transmitting LEO Satellites from a Single Passive Array},
  author    = {Janveja, Ishani and Zhang, Jida and Sie, Emerson and Vasisht, Deepak},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 24th Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services (MobiSys '26)},
  year      = {2026},
  address   = {Cambridge, United Kingdom},
  publisher = {ACM},
  doi       = {10.1145/3745756.3809228}
}