Thread by @bellingcat

The Radar Interference Tracker (RIT) is a new tool that allows anyone to search for active military radar systems

It has already proven useful in spotting potential movement of military equipment near Russia’s border with Ukraine – as @oballinger explains bellingcat.com/resources/2022…

@oballinger The tool is free and designed to be intuitive to use.

If you are keen for a quick look to see what you can find (it covers the entire earth), you can access it here: ollielballinger.users.earthengine.app/view/bellingca…

@oballinger But first a note on how the tool works

@oballinger The RIT tool utilises synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images captured by the Sentinel-1 satellite and builds on the work and earlier observations by the likes of geospatial engineer @HarelDan

@oballinger @HarelDan Broadly speaking, Sentinel-1 operates by sending out radio waves that are reflected back at it. This is similar to how a bat uses sonar to “see” in the dark: by emitting calls and listening to echoes.

@oballinger @HarelDan Coincidentally, the radars on some missile defence batteries and other military radars operate using frequencies that overlap with those commonly used by open source SAR satellites like Sentinel-1.

@oballinger @HarelDan In the simplest terms, this means that when the radar on the likes of a Patriot battery (or a Russian surface-to-air missile system) is turned on, Sentinel-1 picks up both the echo from its own pulse of radio waves and a powerful blast of radio waves from the ground-based radar

@oballinger @HarelDan What the RIT tool does is allow anyone to check all instances of this type of interference picked up by Sentinel-1 over the last 7 years.

@oballinger @HarelDan Yearly aggregates of interference can also be easily calculated and displayed over big areas of interest, hopefully making searches quick and easy

@oballinger @HarelDan The tool has captured signals in the likes of Sweden, Qatar, Bahrain, Israel, the US and beyond, all of which appear to be active missile defence systems.

@oballinger @HarelDan More recently, signals have been picked up in western Russia as military hardware has begun to be transported towards the border with Ukraine.

@oballinger @HarelDan It must be noted that social media videos, satellite imagery and even licence plate data have also proven extremely useful in tracking the movement of military equipment in recent months bellingcat.com/resources/how-…

@oballinger @HarelDan But SAR, it seems, also has a part to play in identifying potential military radar systems on the move.

@oballinger @HarelDan For example, in September last year, the RIT tool detected what appears to be two strong signals near the Russian towns of Pogonovo and Liski, both of which lie close to the border with Ukraine.

@oballinger @HarelDan There was no signal recorded at these locations at any time through 2019 or 2020. However, in late 2021, as Russian military forces began to move towards the country’s western frontier, these impressions appeared.

@oballinger @HarelDan Several press articles have noted a military buildup at Pogonovo. However, none of these reports indicate the presence of radar systems.

And despite reports that Russia was moving equipment away from Pogonovo in late July, interference was detected on 29 September 2021.

@oballinger @HarelDan Liski, meanwhile, is home to a military base, although there have as yet been no major media reports of troop build up in this area. 

Could this signal show that it is an area worth looking into for researchers and analysts?

@oballinger @HarelDan While commercially-obtained, high-resolution satellite imagery has been utilised by many journalists and observers to monitor the buildup of Russian troops on its western frontier, this can be a time-consuming process.

@oballinger @HarelDan Researchers first have to figure out where to look and where to point a satellite. They then have to comb through each image they gather looking for visual evidence with the naked eye. Access to such imagery is also often behind a paywall.

@oballinger @HarelDan The beauty of identifying radar signals such as those detailed above using the RIT tool is that it allows a wide net to be cast before focusing in on areas and times of interest.

@oballinger @HarelDan This type of research (and this tool) could have further use as events potentially develop between Russian and Ukraine in the weeks ahead.

@oballinger @HarelDan But it can also help reveal a wealth of information about a variety of interesting locations elsewhere in the world.

Read more about the tool and get the full lowdown on how to use it here bellingcat.com/resources/2022…