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TCI Deploys Reliable Solution to Combat the Modern Drone Threat

Radio Frequency Drone Monitoring and Detection Protects National Infrastructure

Unmanned aerial systems, commonly referred to as “drones,” are transforming many aspects of modern society. While their widespread use brings benefits to certain industries – including medicine delivery to remote communities, disaster relief, aerial photography and broadcast media – drones also pose significant risks to air traffic control, security, police and intelligence activities and military operations. Real-life scenarios include:

  • Drones flown in close proximity to an airport, resulting in airport closure, passenger inconvenience and revenue loss.
  • Drones used to smuggle drugs, weapons and other contraband to dealers and into prisons.
  • Drones routinely used by terrorist organizations to spy or drop bombs on civilians, security personnel and opposing forces.

If the use of drones or remote-controlled model aircraft goes unrestricted, society faces substantial safety and security challenges. At first glance, small drones may appear harmless, but their low cost, availability and versatility mean they can be used to cause severe damage to infrastructure and human life – whether unintended or deliberate.

To combat these security issues, TCI employed its 50 years of experience in radio frequency (RF) signal interception, classification and geolocation to develop an innovative solution, the TCI Integrated Drone Detection and Geolocation System. The TCI Drone Detection System detects and locates drones and their controllers and is available in multiple configurations for fixed, transportable and mobile deployments.

TCI’s solution delivers fully automated detection of drones and controllers. First, it scans the RF spectrum for the presence of drones and their controllers. When a drone or controller is detected, the system pinpoints the targets using multiple geolocation technologies and alerts the user. In addition to selecting between fixed, transportable or mobile deployment options, the user can choose to operate the TCI system interactively or automatically. The system has recently been purchased by several U.S. government agencies and is being used to protect critical assets and major event venues across the US.

With unmatched experience in RF monitoring, detection and tracking, the TCI Drone Detection solution provides top-tier performance and operational functionality across all environments.

TCI Conducts Client Drone Detection Demos

Fremont, CA – July 2017 – During May through June 2017, TCI supported two of its military customers and one security agency who have purchased twenty-plus TCI Blackbird collection and geolocation systems for use with their mobile vans, light armored vehicles and transit-case based systems in cooperative exercises on the east coast of the United States. The purpose of these exercises was validation of data and information exchange between geo and collection sensors from US military, government agencies and trusted partner government and military organizations. TCI is happy to report that its customer met all of its exercise objectives, including all of those which included the use of TCI’s Blackbird systems.

As a stretch goal, TCI used Customer-delivered TCI systems to setup a geolocation tracking and drone detection system demonstration using Model 903s tactical COMINT systems. The demonstrations consisted of automatically detecting a drone that was launched from a densely wooded area 1.5 km from the FOB location and reporting the location of that drone. Once the TCI systems detected that the drone had started moving toward the FOB, a mitigation system was tipped that caused the drone to enter an automatic Return-to-Home mode.

These exercises provide real-world feedback that enable TCI to continuously improve the capabilities of our COMINT and Drone Detection product lines with the technologies to counter evolving and emerging threats.

About TCI
TCI brings over 46 years of innovation in radio direction finding and signals intelligence solutions for civilian, government and military agencies worldwide. TCI is also a recognized leader in the design and manufacture of antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. Selected for use in more than 100 countries, TCI products are supported by a global network of customer and training services. TCI, one of the businesses of SPX Corporation, is headquartered in Fremont, CA.

TCI Hosts Training for Field Service Engineers

Fremont, CA – June 2, 2017 – TCI International, Inc. hosted 11 of its Field Service Engineers at TCI headquarters for training on the installation, maintenance and servicing of TCI’s newest Model 709 and 739 Compact Spectrum Monitoring Systems; as well as the latest versions of TCI’s Automated Spectrum Management Systems (ASMS), and Scorpio Spectrum Monitoring software applications. TCI strategically locates FSEs around the globe at remote offices and customer sites to ensure rapid, regional support capabilities for its Spectrum Monitoring and Communications Intelligence (COMINT) solutions. Currently, TCI has FSEs deployed in 11 countries, including Algeria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Qatar, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tunisia and the United States.

TCI Conducts 5-day USTTI Course on Spectrum Management & Monitoring

Fremont, CA – May 18, 2017 – TCI International, Inc. hosted 25 spectrum management and monitoring professionals from 19 countries for a hands-on spectrum management training course, offered by the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) at TCI headquarters in Fremont, California (USTTI Course 17-113: Practical Applications of Spectrum Management and Spectrum Monitoring).

Spectrum management training classroom

The 5-day course covered integrated and automated management and monitoring systems, with special attention to automatic violation detection. The course combined classroom presentations and hands-on activities to focus on the practical application of ITU-compliant spectrum management and monitoring techniques, including:

  • Frequency assignment;
  • Propagation analysis tools;
  • Radio direction finding using Angle of Arrival (AOA) methods;
  • Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) geolocation;
  • Hybrid AOA/TDOA geolocation, and signal measurements for fixed, mobile and transportable applications;
  • Signal monitoring, identification, and correlation to the frequency management database;
  • Spectrum Occupancy Analysis.

The hands-on spectrum management training course demonstrated real-time application of the principles taught in the classroom and included mission planning, operational set-up, running missions, and data analysis. The delegates included spectrum regulators from Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

About TCI
TCI International, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides spectrum monitoring, direction finding, geolocation and signal collection solutions to civilian, government, military and intelligence agencies, as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California, USA. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.

Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) Awards Spectrum Monitoring Contract

The Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) in Maseru, Kingdom of Lesotho, has awarded TCI a contract to supply, install and commission a state-of-the-art spectrum management, monitoring and licensing system to replace older systems. The LCA joins more than 20 other spectrum regulators across Africa that have selected TCI’s solutions over the past 15 years.

The solution utilizes TCI’s newest Model 739 Compact Spectrum Monitoring System (CSMS) to provide full compliance with ITU-R Recommendations. The spectrum monitoring systems are coupled with TCI’s enterprise, integrated Model 710 Automated Spectrum Management System (ASMS) to provide fully integrated Spectrum Monitoring and Management capabilities. The contract includes fixed, mobile and transportable configurations to provide flexible deployments and operations across the country.

JB Ballard, President of TCI, stated: “We are excited the LCA selected TCI’s CSMS and ASMS solutions to fulfill their spectrum management and monitoring needs. The Model 739’s dual 10/80 MHz instantaneous bandwidths, and ability to monitor and geolocate signals from 20 MHz through 8.5 GHz will ensure the LCA is equipped to monitor all signals – on all frequencies – today, and well into the future.”

With the award of this contract, TCI further develops its presence, commitment and regional maintenance support in the Southern African region, adding LCA to its existing customer base of telecommunications regulators in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.

About TCI
TCI International, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides spectrum monitoring, direction finding, geolocation and signal collection solutions to civilian, government, military and intelligence agencies, as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California, USA. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.

About LCA
Lesotho Communications Authority is the national regulatory agency for the communications sector in the Kingdom of Lesotho. It regulates the communications sector made-up of telecommunications, broadcasting and postal services. For more information, visit www.lca.org.ls.

TCI and USTTI Offer Tuition-free, Five-day Program on Spectrum Management and Monitoring

TCI is once again pleased to host industry and government professionals from around the world at a tuition-free training course, offered by the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI). We invite you to join us at TCI corporate headquarters in Fremont, California for:

USTTI Course 17-113
Practical Applications of
Spectrum Management and Spectrum Monitoring
May 8 – May 12, 2017
Fremont, California (Northern Silicon Valley)

Emphasizing the benefits that derive from integrated and automated management and monitoring systems, the course will give special attention to automatic violation detection. You will understand how measurements from the monitoring system are combined with the management license database information to automatically detect licensing violations. In addition, the wide-ranging curriculum will combine classroom presentations and hands-on activities to focus on the practical application of ITU-compliant spectrum management and monitoring techniques, including:

  • License application processing
  • Frequency assignment
  • Propagation analysis tools
  • Radio direction finding using Angle of Arrival (AOA) methods, Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) geolocation, hybrid AOA/TDOA geolocation, and signal measurements for fixed, mobile and transportable applications.
  • Signal monitoring, identification, and correlation to the frequency management database
  • Spectrum occupancy observations and analysis as part of the frequency management function
  • Transmitter measurements as required to ensure compliance to the radio regulations.

The hands-on portion of the course will demonstrate real-time application of the principles taught in the classroom and include mission planning, operational set-up, running missions, and data analysis.

We recommend that in addition to applying for Practical Applications of Spectrum Management and Spectrum Monitoring, you also consider applying for USTTI Course 17-112, Introduction to Radio Spectrum Monitoring and Measuring. Scheduled for May 1 – 5, 2017 in Columbia, Maryland (Washington, DC area), Introduction to Radio Spectrum Monitoring and Measuring forms a natural precursor to our tuition-free, five-day course.

TCI’s longstanding commitment to spectrum monitoring includes advancing the state of technology, as well as enhancing the expertise of users. This year’s seminar offers you an unusual opportunity to acquire practical knowledge and technical insights from an exceptionally accomplished team of spectrum professionals. We hope you’ll join us.

For more details, or to apply for this course (17-113) today, please click here.

About TCI
TCI International, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides spectrum monitoring, direction finding, and signals intelligence solutions to civilian, government and military agencies, as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.