The power efficiency angle here is fascinating. Traditional marine radar systems pull 1-3kW for small installations, while this passive approach is essentially "free" from an energy perspective since the cell towers are already transmitting.
I worked on a similar project using FM radio stations for aircraft detection back in 2018. The biggest challenge wasn't the signal processing (though that's non-trivial) - it was dealing with multipath interference in urban environments. Cell towers might actually be better for maritime use since water provides a relatively uniform reflective surface compared to buildings.
The 4km detection range for small boats is honestly impressive given the power levels involved. Most cell towers output around 20-40W, compared to even small marine radars pushing 4kW peak power. The processing gain from correlation must be substantial.
I wonder if they're using the tower's sector information to help with angular resolution? Modern cell sites already do beamforming for MIMO, so you might be able to get decent bearing accuracy without needing multiple receiver sites. Would love to see the actual paper if anyone has a link.