{"id":58182,"date":"2021-01-28T18:01:33","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T10:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/hawkeye-360-prepares-to-expand-rf-tracking-capabilities-with-second-cluster\/"},"modified":"2021-01-28T18:01:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T10:01:33","slug":"hawkeye-360-prepares-to-expand-rf-tracking-capabilities-with-second-cluster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/hawkeye-360-prepares-to-expand-rf-tracking-capabilities-with-second-cluster\/","title":{"rendered":"HawkEye 360 Prepares to Expand RF Tracking Capabilities With Second Cluster"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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HawkEye\u2019s second cluster of RF satellites have been deployed to orbit. Photo: HawkEye 360<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

HawkEye 360<\/strong> is at an inflection point in its work to bring commercial Radio Frequency (RF) geolocation data to market, as its second-generation cluster is now in-orbit and being prepared for service. The second cluster of three RF tracking satellites launched on SpaceX<\/strong>\u2019s Transporter-1 rideshare mission over the weekend, and will expand the company\u2019s ability to provide data and insights to its target customers, the U.S. and international governments. <\/p>\n

HawkEye confirmed on Jan. 24 after the Transporter-1 mission that it has established communications with the satellites. These satellites will now be tested, commissioned, and moved into their final formation. <\/p>\n

The company was the first to offer commercially available RF tracking data after it launched its Pathfinder cluster of three satellites in 2018. These satellites can track and geo-locate RF signals \u2014 anything that emits a signal across a broad range of emitters from VHF marine radios, UHF push-to-talk radios, maritime radar systems, AIS beacons, and L-band satellite devices. One example of this in action is tracking X-band and S-band radar on dark maritime vessels. <\/p>\n

According to a recent report by Quilty Analytics, five companies have announced plans to build commercial RF mapping networks \u2014 HawkEye 360, Aurora Insight<\/b>, Horizon Technology<\/b>, Kleos Space<\/b>, and Unseenlabs<\/b>. These companies are expected to launch 50-60 satellites over the next two years. <\/p>\n

CEO John Serafini told Via Satellite<\/i> the Pathfinder mission was a \u201cphenomenal\u201d success in introducing customers to this type of capability, and it proved there was untapped demand for RF tracking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done meaningful revenue with our initial base of anchor customers. We have well over a dozen anchor customers who have been sharing with us their requirements, and their specific operating challenges,\u201d Serafini said. \u201cPathfinder served the function of testing and evaluation, research and development, customer engagement, and education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serafini said most of HawkEye\u2019s customers are defense, intelligence, and security, in both the U.S. government and international governments, and this is by design. \u201cTo be successful with selling to governments you have to be all in. You can\u2019t minor in U.S. government sales,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Some customers value that the data can augment national systems, and that it can be shared because the data is not classified. HawkEye also offers processing and data analytics for customers wanting geospatial intelligence, to track specific signals of interest. International customers have significant demand as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers who are in the international domain \u2014 the Five Eye countries, allies in Asia Pacific and Europe and in the Middle East \u2014 desperately need access to high quality RF data, but have never before had their own organic access. They now can use this to protect their borders, to protect their interests, and to understand adversary implications of actions,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

That focus has paid off, and HawkEye recently received a deal to support a commercial RF geospatial intelligence pilot program for the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency<\/b> (NGA). The company also participated in the U.S. Air Force<\/b> AFWERX Space Challenge and received a commercial imagery study from the National Reconnaissance Office<\/b> (NRO).<\/p>\n

Serafini also talked about future commercial applications, such an international spectrum inventory. He said the company\u2019s goal is to have a customer base made up of the U.S. government, international governments, and commercial customers, all in equal parts, and expects to reach that in the next three to four years. <\/p>\n

The second cluster that just launched offers roughly ten times the capability of the Pathfinder cluster, Serafini said, with double the collection capacity, a more capable software-defined radio, and a more robust antenna configuration. HawkEye is working to launch five additional clusters \u2014 15 satellites \u2014 over the next 18 months to establish its initial constellation, with the goal of offering a global revisit rate of less than one hour. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HawkEye\u2019s second cluster of RF satellites have been deployed to orbit. Photo: HawkEye 360 HawkEye 360 is at an inflection point in its work to bring commercial Radio Frequency (RF) geolocation data to market, as its second-generation cluster is now in-orbit and being prepared for service. The second cluster of three RF tracking satellites launched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}