Methods and systems for base station detection

A method for detecting an unauthorized base station, comprising:

• scanning, by an in-vehicle controller of a vehicle or an application of a mobile communications device, a cellular radio environment to identify an available base station;
• connecting to the available base station;
• receiving base station identification information at the in-vehicle controller or the application from the available base station;
• transmitting the base station identification information to a call center in selective and operative communication with the vehicle or the mobile communications device;
• and
• by a computing system of the call center running computer-readable instructions embodied on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium, determining whether the available base station is the unauthorized base station by comparing the base station identification information with legitimate base station identification information stored in a database at the call center.

A system for detection of a base station categorized as unauthorized, comprising:

• an in-vehicle controller of a vehicle or an application of a mobile communications device;
• computer-readable instructions for scanning a cellular radio environment to identify an available base station;
• a signal detection unit in operative communication with the in-vehicle controller or the application, the signal detection unit to detect a strength of a signal of the available base station;
• computer-readable instructions for recognizing that the signal strength of the available base station is out of an expected signal strength range and to determine that the available base station is the unauthorized base station;
• wireless communication equipment to connect the in-vehicle controller or the mobile communications device to the unauthorized base station;
• and
• computer-readable instructions for determining a location of the unauthorized base station while the in-vehicle controller or the mobile communications device is in connection with the unauthorized base station;
• each of the computer-readable instructions being embodied on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium and executable by a processor of the in-vehicle controller or a processor of the mobile communications device.

A system for unauthorized base station detection, comprising:

• an in-vehicle controller of a vehicle or an application of a mobile communications device;
• computer-readable instructions, embodied on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium and executable by a processor of the in-vehicle controller or a processor of the mobile communications device, for scanning a cellular radio environment to identify an available base station;
• wireless communication equipment to connect the in-vehicle controller or the mobile communications device to the available base station and to a call center, the wireless communication equipment to transmit base station identification information from the available base station to the in-vehicle controller or to the application and from the in-vehicle controller or the application to a computing system at the call center;
• and
• computer-readable instructions, embodied on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium and executable by the computing system at the cell center, for determining whether the available base station is a base station categorized as unauthorized by comparing the base station identification information with legitimate base station identification information stored in a database at the call center.