COMINT/EW

Radio Frequency Drone Monitoring and Detection Protects National Infrastructure

Unmanned aerial systems, commonly referred to as “drones,” are transforming many aspects of modern society. While their widespread use brings benefits to certain industries – including medicine delivery to remote communities, disaster relief, aerial photography and broadcast media – drones also pose significant risks to air traffic control, security, police and intelligence activities and military operations. Real-life scenarios include:

• Drones flown in close proximity to an airport, resulting in airport closure, passenger inconvenience and revenue loss.
• Drones used to smuggle drugs, weapons and other contraband to dealers and into prisons.
• Drones routinely used by terrorist organizations to spy or drop bombs on civilians, security personnel and opposing forces.

If the use of drones or remote-controlled model aircraft goes unrestricted, society faces substantial safety and security challenges. At first glance, small drones may appear harmless, but their low cost, availability and versatility mean they can be used to cause severe damage to infrastructure and human life – whether unintended or deliberate.

To combat these security issues, TCI employed its 50 years of experience in radio frequency (RF) signal interception, classification and geolocation to develop an innovative solution, the TCI Integrated Drone Detection and Geolocation System. The TCI Drone Detection System detects and locates drones and their controllers and is available in multiple configurations for fixed, transportable and mobile deployments.

TCI’s solution delivers fully automated detection of drones and controllers. First, it scans the RF spectrum for the presence of drones and their controllers. When a drone or controller is detected, the system pinpoints the targets using multiple geolocation technologies and alerts the user. In addition to selecting between fixed, transportable or mobile deployment options, the user can choose to operate the TCI system interactively or automatically. The system has recently been purchased by several U.S. government agencies and is being used to protect critical assets and major event venues across the US.

With unmatched experience in RF monitoring, detection and tracking, the TCI Drone Detection solution provides top-tier performance and operational functionality across all environments.

Fremont, CA – July 2017 – During May through June 2017, TCI supported two of its military customers and one security agency who have purchased twenty-plus TCI Blackbird collection and geolocation systems for use with their mobile vans, light armored vehicles and transit-case based systems in cooperative exercises on the east coast of the United States. The purpose of these exercises was validation of data and information exchange between geo and collection sensors from US military, government agencies and trusted partner government and military organizations. TCI is happy to report that its customer met all of its exercise objectives, including all of those which included the use of TCI’s Blackbird systems.

As a stretch goal, TCI used Customer-delivered TCI systems to setup a geolocation tracking and drone detection system demonstration using Model 903s tactical COMINT systems. The demonstrations consisted of automatically detecting a drone that was launched from a densely wooded area 1.5 km from the FOB location and reporting the location of that drone. Once the TCI systems detected that the drone had started moving toward the FOB, a mitigation system was tipped that caused the drone to enter an automatic Return-to-Home mode.

These exercises provide real-world feedback that enable TCI to continuously improve the capabilities of our COMINT and Drone Detection product lines with the technologies to counter evolving and emerging threats.

About TCI
TCI brings over 46 years of innovation in radio direction finding and signals intelligence solutions for civilian, government and military agencies worldwide. TCI is also a recognized leader in the design and manufacture of antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. Selected for use in more than 100 countries, TCI products are supported by a global network of customer and training services. TCI, one of the businesses of SPX Corporation, is headquartered in Fremont, CA.

Fremont, CA — Attendees at the 53rd Annual AOC Symposium and Convention in Washington, D.C. from November 29 – December 1 will learn about TCI advances in signals intelligence (SIGINT) developed to address some of today’s most critical challenges. The event is widely recognized as the leading industry forum expressly targeted to the global SIGINT/EW community.

Among the technologies TCI will showcase are field-proven, fully automated solutions for detecting and geolocating drones and their operators. TCI is aggressively pursuing measures to help counter rapidly proliferating, low-cost, high-capability drones that pose immediate threats to safety, security and privacy.

TCI also will update attendees on the continuing evolution of its drone detection system technology, Blackbird NextGen. Building on proven Blackbird E3238S capability, Blackbird NextGen integrates TCI’s RF and DF hardware expertise with its advanced software engineering capabilities to set new benchmarks for integrated signal search, collection, geolocation and analysis.

Developments that will be highlighted at AOC include TCI’s 802W wideband HF system, which brings Blackbird versatility and simplicity to high-frequency SIGINT missions. TCI specialists also will explain the new Blackbird Partner Program that invites other hardware vendors to leverage the power of TCI’s Blackbird software.

TCI invites attendees at AOC to visit Booth 214, and explore the ways in which the company is employing its global perspective to support those responsible for facing the challenges of today’s and tomorrow’s electromagnetic operational domain.

About TCI
TCI International, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides spectrum monitoring, direction finding and signals intelligence solutions to civilian, government and military agencies, as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.

Fremont, CA – TCI will offer attendees at the 52nd Annual AOC Symposium and Convention a comprehensive view of its Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) technologies relevant to today’s spectrum-intensive missions. Scheduled for December 1-3 in Washington, DC, the AOC Symposium and Convention has been the leading industry forum expressly targeted to the global SIGINT community. Participants will “obtain critical information for day-to-day decisions in their jobs — across Active-Duty Military, Government and Academic sectors.”

A highlight of TCI’s presence will be the company’s Blackbird NextGen SIGINT and geolocation innovations. TCI’s NextGen solution leverages the expertise of the principal developers of the classic E3238S Blackbird system to achieve new benchmarks for signal search, collection, detection, visualization, analysis, geolocation and more. It also offers the invaluable ability to “go back in time” using TCI’s “Lookback Collection” capability to collect IQ and geolocation data on past signals of interest without interrupting wideband recording.

TCI also will present the versatile, man-portable Model 903S VHF/UHF/SHF COMINT system which provides detection, recording and DF capabilities in a package that weighs less than 40 kg.

For maritime operations, TCI’s booth also will feature the compact Model 803E shipboard DF COMINT system optimized for naval communications intelligence and direction finding missions. Also highlighted will be the Model 720 commercial radio direction finding system, which integrates easily into vessel traffic systems (VTS) to support maritime and coastal surveillance missions.

In addition, TCI staff will address the growing threat of UAS operations. Discussions will include the field-proven TCI UAS-tracking technology which was recently exhibited at the Patuxent River and Black Dart exercises. This technology is capable of scanning a wide range of frequencies to locate both moving UAS targets and operator positions in either in real-time or post-facto.

TCI invites AOC visitors to visit Booth 110, and discover the company’s next steps in its long history of providing effective tools to those whose mission is to monitor and control the spectrum.

About TCI
TCI International, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides spectrum monitoring, direction finding and signals intelligence solutions to civilian, government and military agencies, as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.

Fremont, CA – A U.S. Government customer has accepted and taken delivery of eighteen TCI Model 903S transportable COMINT systems. Equipped with TCI’s Blackbird NextGen signals intelligence software, these compact and rugged man-portable systems can survey, search, detect, identify, collect and analyze signals of interest in both the HF and VHF/UHF frequency ranges — and include an optional frequency extension capability of up to 8 GHz. The systems feature TCI’s Lookback Collection, which allows operators to view and collect past signals; and TCI’s wideband direction finding (DF) capability, which can be used stand-alone or in netted operation to geolocate VHF/UHF targets.

Each Model 903S unit delivered to the Government includes a TCI Model 649 compact VHF/UHF DF and monitor antenna array. Optimized for high performance and easy transport, the antenna’s unique design provides a balance between compact size and sensitivity over the 20 to 3,000 MHz frequency range. The antenna combines a multi-element direction finding array and magnetic flux gate compass with an omnidirectional monitoring antenna.

TCI also delivered four vehicle kits that employ TCI’s Model 645 DF/monitoring antennas, enabling the Government end-user to operate 903S units in both mounted and dismounted configurations.

Explore additional COMINT system solutions.

About TCI
TCI International, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides spectrum monitoring, direction finding and signals intelligence solutions to civilian, government and military agencies, as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.

Fremont, CA – TCI International, Inc., a recognized provider of communication intelligence (COMINT) systems and spectrum monitoring has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract by the US Government for quantities of its Model 903S man-portable radio frequency (RF) signal monitoring and direction finding (DF) COMINT system.

The TCI Model 903S employs precision RF and DF hardware based on the company’s modular platform, combined with software based on the next generation of the original Blackbird system. The 903S detects, collects and analyzes the newest signal threats in addition to determining their line of bearing. Using an integrated client/server architecture, the 903S supports multiple simultaneous remote or local clients for live or unattended operation. The 903S’s caching feature also allows the collection system to go “back in time” and precisely analyze past signals of interest.

The Model 903S incorporates a small lightweight antenna, the TCI Model 649, which can be readily combined or substituted with a variety of antenna solutions to meet mission-specific operational needs.

The Model 903S and 649 represent Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) solutions that reflect TCI’s commitment to meeting the evolving challenges of today’s tactical COMINT environments.

About TCI
TCI International, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides spectrum monitoring, direction finding, and signal collection solutions to civilian, government, military and intelligence agencies, as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.