Radar Interference Tracker

Bellingcat's radar interference tracker can be used to locate and monitor active military radar systems.

URL

https://ollielballinger.users.earthengine.app/view/bellingcat-radar-interference-tracker#lon=49.9507;lat=26.6056;zoom=4;

Description

The Bellingcat radar interference tracker is a web-based tool that visualises radar interference which can then be used to search for and potentially locate active military radar systems around the globe.

The tool exploits a known flaw in Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. Systems like Patriot missile batteries emit a radar pulse when turned on that interferes with Sentinel's SAR signal creating a stripe of interference perpendicular to the orbital path of the satellite.

Locations where the tool has suggested radar systems are present according to Ollie Ballinger's original article include: Russia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Yemen, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, USA, and the Dimona Radar Facility in Israel.

According to the original article among other systems the tool has been used to identify:

  • US MIM-104 Patriot and PAC-2 missile defence systems

  • Russia surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems in Syria and S-400 SNAR-10M1 radar systems.

Although the RIT tool can help hone in on areas of interest, a manual search of what is underneath a signal is required to identify candidates of the interference.

Features:

  • Zoom tool: zoom in and out on the map.

  • Terrain: toggle terrain visualisation on or off

  • Labels: and toggle labels on satellite imagery off or on.

  • Search: search by address, general location or latitude and longitude.

  • Radio interference graph: shows dates with spikes representing when the radar source was most active.

  • Layers: change opacity of layers.

  • Example Locations:

    • Dammam, Saudi Arabia

    • Dimona Radar Facility, Israel

    • Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    • White Sands Missile Range, USA

    • Kashmir, India/Pakistan Border

    • Russian Occupied Crimea, Ukraine

The screenshot below show the White Sands Missile Range, USA example included with the radar interference tool.

Screenshot using the White Sands Missile Range, USA radar interference example in the radar interference tracker. The map show a satellite image of the area overlayed with a coloured stripe indicating the radar interference.
Screenshot of White Sands Missile Range, USA radar interference

Cost

Level of difficulty

Requirements

  • Web: any modern web browser.

Limitations

  • Other sources of interference: Not every instance of C-band radio frequency interference is caused by a military radar. Weather radar and telecommunications infrastructure among others use the same frequency – all of which are picked up by Sentinel-1, see Ollie Ballinger's original article.

  • Processing time: Aggregating by year can be slow according to the original article.

  • Data Currency: High resolution satellite imagery is not necessarily current. Although imagery is generally fairly recent, it can be a few years old, see Ollie Ballinger's original article.

  • Temporal refresh rates: Sentinel-1 has a five-day revisit time as the satellites circle the globe. However, a recent issue with one of the satellites in the constellation has doubled that time.

  • Facility verification: there could be multiple potential sources (weather, telecommunications, etc.) in the interference stripe, and just because something looks like a military base, it doesn’t mean that it is according to the original article.

Ethical Considerations

  • see General Ethical Considerations.

Guides and articles

To effectively use the Radar Interference Tracker, especially for beginners or those looking to refine their skills, the following resources are highly recommended:

Official Wiki

Tutorials and Articles

Video Tutorials

Community and Support

Tool provider

Bellingcat, Netherlands

Advertising Trackers

Page maintainer

Bellingcat Volunteer Team/Unassigned

Last updated

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