Radar Interference Tracker (RIT)
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
Inconsistent data loading
We have noticed during our recent review that the data on the Radar Interface Tracker (RIT) site is not loading consistently. This seems to be related to the recently updated Earth Engine quotas, which this tool is built upon. Users can find an alternative online platform through which to access radar interference data in the 'Similar Tools' section if the problem persists.
Description
The Bellingcat Radar Interference Tracker (RIT) is a web-based tool that visualises radar interference on Google Earth between 2015 and the present, which can then be used to search for and potentially locate active military radar systems around the globe.
The tracker shows the output of Copernicus Sentinel 1 mission, which provides global imagery using the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from two satellites (Sentinel 1C and Sentinel 1D) constantly circling the globe, separated by 180°. The Sentinel 1 imagery built from the SAR sensors is available regardless of cloud cover or time of day because it uses radio waves. In this tool, the Sentinel 1 images are overlaid with Google Earth imagery to enable both radar and visual analysis across the globe.
The tracker exploits a known flaw in Sentinel-1 SAR imagery. Military radar systems, such as 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.
Each of the two Sentinel-1 satellites captures the radar imagery from different angles, in some cases visualizing interferences as an X. Where two interference lines intersect, the location of interference source will be positioned within the area common to both lines. Note that the user will still need to search satellite maps visually for the source to confirm its existence and exact location within that common area.
The interference on the SAR imagery show up only if the source of the inteference is turned on while the satellite passes over the area. It is possible to have only one stripe of interference, as in only one of the Sentinel-1 satellites captured the interference. In this case, the land area to search visually is only reduced to the length and width of the interference stripe. Furthermore, since each location on the planet is passed over once every 6 days by one of the satellites, it is possible a radar interference will not be captured if a system is activated between each satellite visit.
Examples
Locations where the tracker 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 Ollie's article among other systems the tracker 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 the satellite maps to identify what is underneath the interference is required to identify candidates of the interference.
How to use
Features
Search bar
Radio Frequency Interference graph
Aggregation
Visit Example Location
Map Interface
The search bar enables searches of the map by the name of an address or a general location, such as a city. Note that entering coordinates in the Search Bar doesn't seem to work well. Instead, try entering them manually in the website address.
The graph visualizes the radio frequency from the satellites at a particular location.
y-axis = the strength of the reflected signal
x-axis = time
The spikes on the y-axis represent the interference. You can click on the points on the graph to get the map for that day, month or year. If you want to see the data for a day, you'll have to adjust the imagery aggregation to "Day" in section 3.
You can make the graph bigger by clicking on the expand button on the top right.
This dropdown menu allows the user to change how the SAR data is aggregated on the map. The map defaults to monthly aggregation.
Selecting "Day" will show the specific day that can be selected on the graph in section 2. Selecting "Month" or "Year" will visualize the aggregated SAR data for the month or year, respectfully. Note that the signal interefence has to be seen just once by the Sentinel 1 satellites within a time period in order to appear on aggreation levels by month or year.
Here, you can also change the opacity of the SAR data. 1 is the most opaque, while decreasing opacity below one will increase the transparency of the SAR data, for example if you'd like to look more closely at the visual map underneath.
If you'd like to see prior known examples of radar systems, as described by Ollie Ballinger's article, then you can find them here.
Example Locations Include:
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 shows the White Sands Missile Range, USA example included with the radar interference tool.
The map can be used the same as Google Earth:
Zoom tool: zoom in and out on the map.
Terrain: toggle terrain visualisation on or off.
Labels: toggle labels on satellite imagery off or on.
Potential use cases
There are two main use cases for this tool: 1. where you know of a specific location that you wish to study, and 2. where you wish to investigate cases of known interference. Below we guide you through some potential workflows for each use case.
Location known
If you have a location in mind and want to investigate whether any military radar systems have been used in that location, follow the proposed steps below. An application of this use case can be seen in the analysis of the 2019 Abqaiq Attack.
Summary of Proposed Steps:
Load the RIT tool and enter the coordinates and date in the browser address bar, or enter the name of the location in the search bar. The map will load to the desired location and time, and also show a corresponding radio frequency interference graph. Note that even though you are entering one date, the map will aggregate the data on a monthly level by default.
Use the radio frequency graph to find the specific date you're looking for and click on it once you find it, and furthermore change the Aggregation to "Day". You'll be able to see any interference for that day.
Once you've investigated a particular location at a particular time, you may want to explore further by searching the area around the location or by searching other dates.
Date search: Using the radio frequency graph, you can see if there are any spikes on the graph, which indicate that there was some sort of interference. Click on the spikes to further see the interference on the map.
Area search: aggregate the map to "Year" and on the map, zoom out to see a wider area. If you see any interference in the area, you can use the next workflow.
Once you've found a visualization of interference, use other sources to investigate the source of the interference. Feel free to use the tools on Bellingcat's Toolkit Satellite Imagery section.
Interference known
If you identified interference, either X patterns or single stripes in an area of interest and want to investigate further, you may follow these proposed steps, which are also discussed in Ollie Ballinger's article.
Summary of Steps:
Load the RIT tool and zoom in on the area with interference you wish to investigate.
Change the aggregation to "Year" to better see all sources of interference within that time frame. Note that the default will be the most recent year, however you can see earlier years by clicking on a date in the desired year on the radio interference graph.
On the map, click on the spot you wish to investigate further. If the interference creates an X, then click on the intersection of the two stripes of interference. If it's a single stripe, click anywhere within the stripe. A blue dot will appear to mark your location. The radio interference frequency graph will load for that particular point.
Use the radio frequency graph to further investigate interference at that location - each spike represents interference. You can click on any point on the radio interference graph to obtain the visual representation of the interference on the map. Change the aggregation to "Day" to see only the interference for that day.
Once you've found a day with interference, conduct a visual investigation of the area underneath the interference. You can start the search within the RIT tool by lowering the Opacity and visually searching for anything that may explain the interference, such as formation of military equipment or other telecommunication equipment. You may also use other tools on Bellingcat's Toolkit Satellite Imagery section.
It is a good idea to cross reference with other satellite maps and tools for more up-to-date imagery and information. Keep in mind that what may appear to be the source is not always the actual source within this tool.
Cost
Level of difficulty
Requirements
Web: any modern web browser.
Internet: a reliable network connection.
Limitations
Other sources of interference: Not every instance of SAR radio frequency interference is caused by a military radar. Weather radar, telecommunications infrastructure, other satellites, and other sources use the same frequency, which are picked up by Sentinel-1.
Processing time: aggregating by year can be slow according to Ollie Ballinger's RIT article.
Incomplete loading: sometimes not all of the SAR imagery loads for a location. Most likely the imagery exists, but needs to be accessed again via a refresh, by zooming in or out, by moving the map, or even by accessing from a different browser.
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 RIT article.
Temporal refresh rates: Sentinel-1 has a six-day revisit time as the satellites circle the globe. If a radar was turned on and off between the revisit time, then it will not be captured by the satellite.
Facility verification: there could be multiple potential sources (weather, telecommunications, etc.) of interference in the search area of the interference stripe, and just because something looks like a military base, it doesn’t mean that it is, so it is important to always verify your findings with multiple sources.
Ethical Considerations
see General Ethical Considerations.
Consider that it may well be inadvisable to publish known locations of military radar systems.
Similar Tools
The Copernicus Browser tool provides feeds for the Sentinel series of satellites. This includes the Sentinel 1 data, which is the main data source for the Radio Interference Tracker. It is possible to see the interference within the Copernicus Browser, though there are limitations on how the data can be viewed, for example a year aggregation of the radar interference data is not possible based on preliminary testing.
To navitage to the Sentinel 1 data, navigate to the Data Collections section, and click on the dropdown menu to select the satellite. Select "Sentinel 1 Mosaics".
Once on the Sentinel 1 Mosaic window, it is possible to see interference on the map (see image below). The user can also select a specific day (see 1 in the image below), or a time range (see 2). With the date range option, the data will show either the most recent, the least recent, or the default (average) data of the months being analyzed. There are also different layers (see 3 below) that can be viewed, depending on the needs of the researcher.
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
Ballinger, O. (2022) Radar Interference Tracker: A New Open Source Tool to Locate Active Military Radar Systems, bellingcat. Available at: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/02/11/radar-interference-tracker-a-new-open-source-tool-to-locate-active-military-radar-systems/ (Accessed: 21 June 2026).
Chojka, A., Artiemjew, P., & Rapiński, J. (2020). 'RFI Artefacts Detection in Sentinel-1 Level-1 SLC Data Based On Image Processing Techniques', Sensors, 20(10):2919. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/s20102919
Leng, X., Ji, K. and Kuang, G. (2021) ‘Radio Frequency Interference Detection and Localization in Sentinel-1 Images’, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 59(11), pp. 9270–9281. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2021.3049472.
Video Tutorials
Radar Interference Tracker within SAR data - Ollie Ballinger (UCL) (2022). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ96MaXJmGY (Accessed: 21 June 2026).
Community and Support
Tool provider
Bellingcat, Netherlands
Advertising Trackers
Bellingcat Volunteer Team. Updated by Alexandra Malikova on August 2026.
Last updated
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