OPERATION KESTREL ICE - Kestrel TSCM … KESTREL ICE Wilderness Deployment PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT...

OPERATIONKESTRELICEWilderness Deployment

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TSCM GROUP INC. Technical Security Branch (TSB)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TSCM GROUP INC. WWW.KESTRELTSCM.COM

Copyright © 2015 – All Rights Reserved

Operation: Kestrel Ice

Notice to Reader: For privacy and operational security reasons the following example data has been

extracted from the original case assignment files and is provided for illustration purposes only.

When high risk special events demand the inclusion of total radio spectrum dominance, Technical

Security (TSEC), tactical RF monitoring and direction finding, or spectrum control and analysis, in support

of large scale, high risk protective operations, the Kestrel TSCM TM Professional Software, Signal

Intelligence Support System (SISS) and our team of experienced technical operators, are often called

upon to actively deploy in a protective intelligence role in some of the most challenging remote

wilderness environments.

Tactical considerations, technical capabilities, and the vast remote Canadian wilderness demand the

experience, dedication and team work of our experienced Technical Security Specialists (TSS),

sophisticated equipment resources, unique deployment solutions, and the training and experience, to

manage a complex SIGINT assignment under all expected and unknown operational conditions.

| Security Zone | Signal Intelligence Support System (SISS) Deployment |

The Kestrel TSCM TM Professional Software, Signal Intelligence Support System (SISS) was successfully

deployed at a high operational elevation above 2180 meters (and above) in an extremely remote area of

the Canadian Rocky Mountains in support of a complex tactical spectrum monitoring assignment.



Throughout the day there were approximately 50 to 75 people involved within an extended area of

operation of approximately two (2) square kilometers during the deployment of the Kestrel TSCM TM

Professional Software, Signal Intelligence Support System (SISS).

The remote deployment of our innovative Software Defined Radio (SDR) based SIGINT / TSEC / TSCM

remote managed collection and monitoring system, was successfully accomplished and required that all

system components, tactical and technical personnel and support resources, and equipment be

transported, deployed and operated by our operators, for the purpose of providing a real‐time tactical

advantage, in support of our client’s protective operation.

Our working environment included a variety of wildlife issues and precautions, rapid and unpredictable

weather changes, with warm and sunny conditions at one location or moment, and high winds, freezing

temperatures, periodic freezing rain and snow at other locations, high working elevations, rugged and

unforgiving terrain, several minor avalanches and no on‐site electrical power, demanding careful

planning and precision execution of a complex operational protective plan.

| Remote Antenna Sensor Location |



The antennas of choice for this particular assignment included the Electro‐Metrics Wideband

Omni‐Directional Antenna, as well as the KestrelPod II TM Ultra Wide Band Surveillance Antennas feeding

multiple Signal Hound search receivers to create a complex, extensive wide area RF detection grid for

direct comparative analysis in real‐time.

The KestrelPod II TM antennas are light weight and have a small deployment foot print and have

excellent near‐field characteristics, making them ideal for remote surveillance, collection and spectrum

monitoring assignments of this nature.

The Electro‐Metrics Wide Band Antennas were selected for some of the remote antenna collection

locations and provided exceptional performance and portability.

The Kestrel TSCM Professional Software based remote surveillance and collection systems were

interrogated in real‐time utilizing a 3G / 4G (LTE) cellular modems, or other network connectivity during

active deployment.

During this particular assignment 3G cellular coverage was possible and provided communication for

several remote antenna locations. Collection stations in the vicinity of the Kestrel Command Post (KCP)

utilized the Kestrel LAN Remote (KLR), providing the ability to remote receivers approximately 100

meters, utilizing Cat 6 cable. Other remote units were established on fiber‐optic links and a mesh WI‐FI

network.

The KestrelPod II TM Ultra Wide Band Surveillance Antenna was specifically selected for our near‐field RF

surveillance perimeter, real‐time collection and traffic analysis within each defined TSEC Security Zone

during deployment, allowing our team to provide active Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), real‐time spectrum

analysis and technical review of all signal events occurring within the established Near‐Field active TSEC

Security Zone structure, and from (baseline) remote antenna locations.

Only a limited amount of advance planning was possible with the exception of the Kestrel Command

Post (KCP) and therefore most deployment related decisions were carried out on‐site based on the

client’s developing event planning and the terrain and conditions faced by the Tactical Deployment

Group (TDG).

The following photograph represents the typical terrain encountered by our deployment team during

the assignment, as photographed from one (1) of the high elevation remote surveillance antenna

location collection sites, identified for its strategic clear Line of Sight (LOS) down one of the few high

elevation passes that permitted exceptional 3G cellular coverage.

If you look closely, you will see one (1) of our technical operators heading back to the Kestrel Command

Post (KCP) approximately 1.2 kilometers from the remote surveillance antenna location collection site.

The inset image is a close‐up photograph of a warden cabin located at the top of the glacier visible in the

background of the main photograph.



Passive collection antennas were deployed at various strategic locations while exploiting natural

geographical terrain features and maximizing RF signal propagation factors to minimize the number of

remote deployment collection locations required.

Based on our assessment of the client’s operational threat level for this assignment and other

deployment factors, a 100 kHz to 10 GHz SPAN at 26 kHz RBW was established as our spectrum baseline

collection, monitoring and analysis frequency Range of Interest (ROI).

Differential Signal Analysis (DSA) across multiple search receivers and spectrum bands provided the

basis for Signal of Interest (SOI) localization.

Given the remote nature of the assignment, virtually all detected signal events were determined to be

within the 100 kHz to 1.5 GHz region with only a few exceptions.

The following spectrum plots represent the working ambient RF signal environment present during

deployment, as captured from a SEC ZONE ALFA from 100 kHz to 10 GHz over a period of approximately

30 minutes.



| 001 SEC ZONE ALFA | 100 kHz to 10 GHz | 26 kHz RBW | RTE + PEC + SAT |

The ability to capture and analyze all continuous and periodic signal events in near real‐time, or during

post event analysis, across spectrum multiple bands and multiple receivers, provide an unsurpassed

level of actionable intelligence during deployment.

The following plot illustrated a positional zoom to display factor to display 100 kHz to 1.5 GHz.

| 002 SEC ZONE ALFA | 100 kHz to 1.5 GHz | 26 kHz RBW | RTE + PEC + SAT |

The following plot demonstrates the ability to use the Positional Zoom Control (PZC) to review an

unknown near‐field signal event occurring in the GSM 850 band.



| 003 SEC ZONE ALFA | 750 MHz to 1 GHz | 26 kHz RBW | RTE + PEC + SAT |

The technical operator utilized the ASID and FDB feature to review all identified signal events against the

Industry Canada – Technical and Administrative Frequency List (TAFL).

| Advanced Signal Intelligence Database (ASID) | Free Space Propagation (FSP) | FDB Query |

Our Frequency Data Base (FDB) search query included all expected signal events within a 10 NM radius

with an expected signal level of ‐70 dBm or higher.

A total of 31 database entries were found across a 10 GHz SPAN that met this search query criteria with

most signal events concentrated within a 20 MHz SPAN (150 MHz to 170 MHz) as displayed on the

following Real‐time Event Trace (RTE) spectrum plot.

Each signal is displayed against the expected Free Space Power (FSP) level based on the geographical

location of the collection process.

The following image illustrates the RTE trace against the ASID FDB frequency overlay.



004 SEC ZONE ALFA | 150 MHz to 170 MHz | 26 kHz RBW | RTE + FDB FSP QUERY |

A review of the spectrum plot identified several periodic Signals of Interest (SOI) within the VHF band

flagged for further analysis by one of the technical operators.

The following two (2) “FDB Entry” dialog windows have been selected for the purpose of this briefing

and are not representative of the specific assignment related Signals of Interest (SOI) and are provided

as an illustration of the ambient RF signal environment present during the assignment.

| FDB ENTRY | Periodic Unknown Signal Event |

Unknown signal events occuring periodically over a period of time at 164.7900 MHz and 162.4500 MHz

were quickly confirmed to be of a friendly nature utilizing the Advanced Signal Intelligence Database

(ASID) and Frequency Database (FDB) containing the Industry Canada (IC) Technical and Administrative

Frequency List (TAFL) data.



The actual FDB Entry dialog window as illustrated above, provides significant details as to the nature,

origin and fixed station antenna location of these initially, unknown signal events with direct reference

to the collection antenna location.

| Current Geographical Position | Transmitter Antenna Location |

The ability to quickly plot and assess unknown signal events in near real‐time allow the technical

operator to potentially clear unknown threats and focus on potentially hostile signal events.

“Innovation is Simply the Beginning…”

OPERATION KESTREL ICE - Kestrel TSCM … KESTREL ICE Wilderness Deployment PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT...

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