Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is an umbrella term for collecting and analyzing information through the monitoring of radio frequency signals. In the era of remote and wireless communications, intercepting radio information is crucial in any application involving the malicious use of the RF spectrum, including military surveillance, homeland security, and
monitoring of illegal RF transmissions. In this article, we discuss the basic concepts of SIGINT/COMINT, the requirements for system design, how software-defined radio (SDR) can contribute to the performance, and the various applications of SDR-based SIGINT.
By detecting strange signals in a hostile electromagnetic environment, SIGINT systems can rapidly adapt to emerging threats, locate unknown and/or illegal devices, and counteract against adversarial interference. SIGINT requires a large variety of devices, techniques, and algorithms for RF signal detection, measurement, processing, exploitation, and manipulation.
The most fundamental component in a SIGINT system is the spectrum analyzer. more
