Adam Brant, Eli Polovina
Nokomis, Inc., Pennsylvania, United States
Keywords: Unmanned aerial systems, threat detection, sensors, Radio Frequency, target identification
Hiawatha is a lightweight, multi-functional, ultra-sensitive RF sensor that provides unrivaled capabilities for the detection, identification, geo-location, and exploitation of electronic devices. This capability can be leveraged to detect, identify, track, and geo-locate electronic targets of interest, including Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Hiawatha has proven to be effective at the detection of adversarial UAS platforms, UAS payloads (EO/IR, downlinks, etc.), and UAS operators. The Hiawatha system provides unrivaled sensitivity (-170 dBm) that is critical to identifying low-level emissions associated with UAS targets of interest. Hiawatha leverages electromagnetic (EM) energy that is produced by electrically-active components within the target, allowing it to be a versatile system that can be employed against multiple types of electronic threats. These component emissions are specific to a given UAS type and serves as a unique signature leveraged for stand-off detection, identification, and geo-location of these targets through the passive emissions collection. Hiawatha is comprised of a suite of orthogonal algorithms that automatically analyze RF phenomenological features and correlate emission signatures with a specific electronic or device type. Nokomis has proven expertise in electronics detection from over a decade developing ultra-sensitive RF/microwave equipment and processing algorithms.