Radio fingerprinting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Radio fingerprinting is a process that identifies a cellular phone or any other radio transmitter by the unique "fingerprint" that characterizes its signal transmission. An electronic fingerprint makes it possible to identify a wireless device by its unique radio transmission characteristics. Radio fingerprinting is commonly used by cellular operators to prevent cloning of cell phones. A cloned cell phone will have a same numeric equipment identity but a different radio fingerprint.