Signals Intelligence

TCI Celebrates 50 Years of Spectrum Innovation

TCI International, Inc. celebrates its 50-year anniversary this month as a global provider of innovative solutions for Spectrum Monitoring (SMS), Spectrum Management (ASMS), Communications Intelligence (COMINT), Drone Detection and Intervention and high-performance broadcast and communication antenna system applications. During its first 50 years, TCI supplied more than 10,000 antenna systems, more than 900 SMS/ASMS solutions, nearly 500 COMINT systems and numerous drone detection solutions to more than 1,100 customers in 100+ countries.

Today, TCI delivers spectrum solutions that are field-proven, mission-ready and user-friendly to meet our customers’ complex requirements. TCI’s solutions incorporate the most recent digital direction finding and signal analysis technologies available. TCI’s proprietary DF First® technology is employed across the entire product line to provide accurate Angle of Arrival (AOA) direction finding and geolocation, as well as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) geolocation, for all signals of interest.

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

European Country Selects TCI 903S Man-Portable Systems Featuring Blackbird NextGen SIGINT Technology

Fremont, CA — TCI man-portable COMINT and DF technology will soon be supporting the signals intelligence and COMINT efforts of another European customer.

This recently awarded multi-million dollar contract will deliver TCI Model 903S man-portable COMINT systems to provide signal search, automatic detection and processing of wideband and narrowband signals and simultaneous DF/geolocation.

The Model 903S features TCI’s proprietary Blackbird NextGen software. Built by the principal developers of the classic E3238S Blackbird, TCI Blackbird NextGen’s sophisticated, user-friendly signal processing capabilities continuously detect and characterize all sources of intentional and unintentional RF energy. In addition, interlinked fast scanning detection and DF displays combined with powerful signal isolation capabilities enable real-time and post facto detection and DF/geolocation — including frequency-agile signals as well as signals in crowded RF environments.

The 903S utilizes TCI’s field-proven hybrid geolocation technology that incorporates conventional angle of arrival (AOA) with time difference of arrival (TDOA) techniques for precise emitter geolocation.

These Model 903S systems include TCI’s compact Model 649 omnidirectional monitoring and DF antenna. This lightweight antenna configuration including tripod weighs less than 40 lbs. (17 kg.) The TCI Model 903S may also be combined with a variety of unique antenna solutions to meet various operational needs.

Upon deployment, TCI will also provide training and supervision services.

TCI’s Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Model 903S systems are part of a proven family of SIGINT solutions tailored to meet today’s new and emerging threats in challenging conditions on land and sea.

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.

TCI Maintains Blackbird Legacy while Launching Next Generation

Fremont, CA – Building on a Technology License Agreement announced on January 18, 2013, TCI has introduced its new Model 850 Blackbird NextGen Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) system.

The TCI Model 850 employs new, precision RF and DF hardware based on the company’s modular platform, combined with the next generation of the original Blackbird software. This allows it to detect, collect and analyze the newest signal threats — in addition to geolocating them. New client/server architecture supports multiple simultaneous remote or local clients, as well as unattended operation.

A variety of advances make the system easy to deploy and intuitive to operate. The Model 850’s updated GUI includes auto-setup capability. TCI’s DF First® technology allows searches by direction and/or geolocation when configured with TCI DF/Geolocation options. Collection, alarming, tasking and other functions can be automated to occur when signals of interest are detected. And powerful search and look back visualization makes it possible to quickly find those signals whether they are live or previously detected. The Model 850 also retains the original Blackbird data interfaces to ensure compatibility with existing signal analysis and decode packages, including popular GOTS backend processors.

For further information on the new TCI Blackbird NextGen system, as well as the availability of Blackbird software and support services, contact Peter Savage, Director, COMINT Systems Sales at Peter.Savage@spx.com.

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.

TCI’s Pioneering Hybrid Geolocation Technology Selected by Macedonia

Fremont, CA – The Republic of Macedonia’s Agency for Electronic Communications (AEK) has awarded TCI a multi-million dollar contract to supply, install and commission a technologically innovative National Spectrum Monitoring and Geolocation system for the country.

The TCI contract provides AEK with the world’s first national system for hybrid geolocation of radio transmitters based on integrating angle-of-arrival (AOA) and time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) techniques for enhanced speed and precision. The system employs the latest digital signal processing technology to cover the 9 kHz to 40 GHz frequency range, and is fully compliant with ITU recommendations. It includes the following elements:

Eight HF/VHF/UHF fixed monitoring stations that will be installed in Skopje, Bitola, Shtip, Kumanovo, Tetovo, Ohrid, Furka and Strumica.
Three hybrid AOA/TDOA mobile monitoring units, covering the HF/VHF/UHF/SHF frequency range, to be deployed in Skopje, Bitola and Shtip.
Seventy-five TDOA Sensors capable of performing all ITU-recommended signal measurements, covering the main population centers of Macedonia.

The contract also includes portable test equipment, training and 36 months of warranty support.

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.

TCI adds Blackbird/Surveyor RF Surveillance and Signal Monitoring Software to its Product Family with signing of Technology License Agreement with Agilent Technologies

Fremont, CA — A recent Technology License Agreement between TCI and Agilent Technologies, Inc. has given TCI IP rights to Agilent’s well-established and widely deployed line of E3238S software. This includes Blackbird RF surveillance and Surveyor signal monitoring applications, as well as associated utilities such as the Snapshot Radio audio player.

The new agreement sets the stage for the next generation of Blackbird/Surveyor technology. Introduced under the TCI brand as part of a refreshed roadmap of associated RF surveillance and signal monitoring products, these solutions will offer proven Blackbird/Surveyor features and more in a redesigned, easy-to-use application.

This software will introduce sought-after new features such as TCI’s DF First® technology that allows search by direction/geolocation, as well as TCI’s Lookback Collection™ capability that enables operators to “go back in time” to visualize and retrieve IQ data for past signals of interest. TCI’s agreement with Agilent also ensures continued sales and support, as well as ongoing enhancements, for classic Blackbird/Surveyor solutions. Agilent will discontinue sales of these solutions on October 31, 2013.

In addition, TCI has announced it is developing a refreshed hardware platform for Blackbird/Surveyor software. This will offer HF and VHF/UHF RF support, multichannel DDC collection, wideband recording, and tight integration with TCI’s popular HF and VHF/UHF Direction Finding and emitter Geolocation solutions.

The Technology License Agreement also appoints TCI as the official Authorized Service Provider for E3238S software. This means new Blackbird/Surveyor users, as well as those with existing products in the field will now be able to look to TCI for extended software support services.

For further information on the availability of Blackbird software and support services, please contact Dennis Bathke, TCI Customer Support Lead, Dennis.Bathke@spx.com. For additional information on the roadmap for the next-generation products for RF Surveillance and Signal Monitoring, contact Peter Savage, Director, COMINT Systems Sales, Peter.Savage@spx.com.