Signals Intelligence (SigInt) isn’t something that you normally associate with home hackers, but the Deep Sweep project is looking to change that: it is a balloon platform that captures radio signals in the stratosphere, particularly conversations between drones and satellites. Created by three students at the Frank Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie-Mellon, Deep Sweep is a platform that is attached to a balloon and which captures signals over a wide range of frequencies, logging them for later analysis. The current version captures data on three frequency bands: LF/HF (10KHz-30KHz), UHF (650 – 1650MHz) and SHF (10-20GHz). The latter are often the bands used for satellite links between drones and satellites. They are difficult to intercept from the ground, as the signals are directed upwards towards the satellite. By creating a platform that can fly several kilometers above the earth, they are hoping to be able to capture some of this elusive traffic.
So far, the team has made two flights in Europe, both of which encountered technical issues. The first had a battery fault and only captured 10 minutes of data, and the second flew further than expected and ended up in Belarus, a country that isn’t likely to welcome this kind of thing. Fortunately, they were able to recover the balloon and are working on future launches in Europe and the USA. It will be interesting to see how the Department of Homeland Security feels about this.
Frequencies are wrong
LF/HF: 10khz – 30MHz (long range comms in transport, military, marine)
UHF: 650MHz – 1650MHz (military, weather, marine)
SHF: 10GHz – 12GHz (satellite communications, drones/UAVs)
Yep, now it all make sense. I didn’t understand how they cover 10GHz-20GHz with “AVENGER LNB(F) Avenger PLL321S-2 Ku-Band satellite TV antenna (internal downconverter)”
Yep unlikely to get that high, but likely to get at least to 13-15. I’ve been misusing one of those dvb-s tv lnbs to receive ham stuff on the 10GHz band
@Sinager – What is the likelihood of receiving 10Hz ham band on the Mattel Hot Wheels radar gun toy? They operate at 10.5 GHz I think. You can get them at thrift stores now for nothing as kids grow bored with them almost instantly. Here is a link to what they are: http://hackaday.com/2014/08/18/hot-wheels-toy-turned-radar-detector/
The LNB is a much more effective way: the “pll” models are stable in frequency and downconvert into the frequemcy range covered by the rtl-sdr stick. Those radar toys are wideband transmitters and detectors, only good to see if there’s a signal maybe but not for demodulating it.
@Sinager –I found out that they are a little above the HAM 10.5 Ghz. They are more like 10.5652 Ghz or something. I have more than one. I was wondering if 2 could QSO one another? I understand that 10.5 Ghz is great for tropo-bounce and reflects off water quite well. You may even be able to cloud-bounce over a mountain range? The demod part would involve some HaD hacking like adding a demod stage for that and then a final audio stage too. Not a real big deal these days with legacy ULSI+ IC’s and now Arduinos and such.
I also would like to do cloud-bounce with modulated light. I live near ARRL and some HAMS are doing that around here. I would really like to listen to that. I listened to your audio file of CW reception at 10.5 Ghz. The copy was almost the same as modulated light. A little scratchy with hiss (QRM? and QRN) but still very readable. I already know about the modulated light website and guys. Very interesting bunch.
1980’s 10GHz was done using that kind of gear, modulated in amplitude or wide band fm. Nowadays we tend to use narrowband modes and stability is not sufficient. Still there’s plenty of room for playing ☺
That LF/HF frequency range looks odd – are you sure it is not 10kHz-30MHz? 30kHz certainly isn’t HF, that’s just above audible frequencies.
BTW, this sort of thing could be very much frowned upon by authorities in any country, not only Belarus. It probably isn’t illegal per-se (but better check the laws of the country you are doing this in – there could be suprising differences!) , but it will sure as hell attract the attention of the secret services – counterespionage is pretty much one of their key responsibilities. I am not sure I would want to spend my day explaining why exactly am I recording all those signals, especially as military/government signals are pretty likely to be among them. “Selling it” as only an art project could be really tough with these guys.
Stay safe!
4Hz to 20KHz is roughly the audible spectrum for humans.
Yes, but that’s mechanical frequencies (pressure waves). The post is talking about Radio Freqencies, or electromagnetic radiation. As far as our sense organs, that’s light with a very very low frequency.
@Tomo – Well not so much 20Khz for adults only kids…
@Jan Ciger (@janoc200) – I think he meant ELF/VLF which was once a band for US Navy submarine communications. Not so much used today except for maybe Western Australia. I don’t think Chicago and Maine still transmit. Anyway don’t really need that old stuff now with SLC in use today. DeepSweep can’t pick up SLC (or anyone for that matter). You don’t need a balloon rig to intercept ELF/VLF just a frickin’ long wire on the ground or in the water. And subs NEVER transmit ELF/VLF, only receive. They use “OTHER” higher frequencies for that.
What type of antenna will DS use? An inverted Discone antenna? All they need to do is get some time on the SETI radio telescopes at Delaware Ohio not far from Carnegie Melon. They can aim up at any drone and monitor side-lobe traffic. Of course the observatory caretaker will need some sort of valid mission statement from their university president detailing the real “motivation” and “need to know” reasons for such an endeavor. Maybe this is why they are doing it “homebrew” style as no one will allow them access to their rad-t-scopes for such stuff,
The 3 CM students need to stop while they are ahead. Remember that Muslim kid in Texas with the electronic clock and what happened to him. Remember what happened to that curious cat?
The biggest questions here are:
But why? Why are they doing this?
It’s going to be a bit of a push to sell those as distinct questions… ;)
http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/648/881/862.jpg
Where the hack is the upvote button?
“Science isn’t about why, It’s about why not”
-Cave Johnson
Good point, but every scientific project should cover at least a good motivation (I assume you mentioned their motivation). So what are they doing with the data they get?
@Mattef – Agreed! Very good question!
I think that “why not” is a perfectly good motivation for science. Probably not for the people who want to use the science for their own good. But well… Maybe they should do their own science? Then they own the results and can do what they like with it. Instead of using other peoples results and doing what they like with it.
It depends whether it is “basic science” or “applied science”. The latter is done on purpose, to solve particular problem. The former… why not?
I can’t help but noticing that not all engineers understand this distinctions and even less can feel really excited about the “basic” stuff. I think it is because very few of us had a chance to attend to philosophy classes at the university.
And the only legit answer can be: Because he can. I see nothing wrong with what he did.
@Bishop Gundulf – “I see nothing wrong with what he did.”
Of course the American FAA might not see it that way. I can think of a whole bunch of other US alphabet soup agencies not agreeing with you either. There is a valid REASON why the UAV telemetry is aimed upwards to uplink with the DoD constellation. I’m sure it’s not to hide stuff from American citizens about their private stuff. I can only think of a few bad guy groups who would also like this SigInt data to analyze. Hmmm… I think one of them sounds like a ancient Egyptian goddess still worshiped today with the same name (albeit in Greek)..
I think you need to ease back on the caffeine just a tad and drop the kool-aid. You’re implying that people aren’t capable of independently coming up with this very same technique and that this is unique work – It isn’t. I bet you’re also against amateur submarines or groups like Copenhagen Suborbitals too, aren’t you?
@Bishop Gundulf – “I think you need to ease back on the caffeine just a tad and drop the kool-aid.” True. But the Jonestown Guyana Incident reference to “kool-aid” needs some more research on your part.…You’re implying that people aren’t capable of independently coming up with this very same technique and that this is unique work – It isn’t.” Actually no I’m not. I’m saying that without an open and posted MISSION STATEMENT of academic intent or motivation it sounds pretty suspicious to me. It’s it’s purely innocent scientific research then their website should have stated that. I don’t see it there. I think they should leave it alone UNLESS it’s for DARPA or something.… I bet you’re also against amateur submarines or groups like Copenhagen Suborbitals too, aren’t you?” First time hearing about it. However, yes I am against cartels building submarines to get around or USCG and USN to smuggle drugs into USA. I’m against the Russians and Chinese putting “suborbitals” up to identify and destroy our DoD constellation hiding in space junk. There’s a reason we need to spy on them. Anybody helping them to do R&D on that are not helping US.- more below in response to Leithoa…
@Leithoa – “The FAA could care less about an amateur balloon flight so long as you aren’t launching them over airports and obtain the appropriate flight path permissions. And that was my point about the FAA…
The only thing they may get in trouble for is recording the signals. Intercepting signals is not illegal in the US but depending on their frequency and if you record them you may violate sec 705. But that’s largely in regards to voice communications and wiretapping law.
I agree with you. I know Philadelphia PA has/had an city ordinance against intercepting police communications and Connecticut used to have a anti-speed-radar detection law. However, I believe they were repealed. But your right recording and distributing to others is verboten. I think manufacturers of radio scanners are required to block out military and some government bandwidths but since the USB SDR dongle came out that is impossible to enforce now. You are allowed to listen to whatever you like just as you say. But somehow I need to draw a line at decrypting and analyzing top-secret data from a military or government UAV drone if you really don’t have a need to know reason. There was that guy (student?) at U of T that demonstrated to DARPA that you can take over a GA Predator or a Global Hawk by spoofing GPS. That was for the right reasons. What’s these 3 guys reasons? UNKNOWN
DHS may silence them if they publish a decryption algorithm, but if a group on a few students combine budgets can foil DoD encryption, state sponsored SigINT certainly has and it needs fixed.
Yes I agree but there is a way to approach this through channels. This does not feel right to me. The 3 students names are on the website. Their last names may or may not be interesting to some. One of the students is Russian. OK maybe no big deal but some paranoid guberment’ psychopaths may find that a little too interesting.
There’s no super-above-top-secret reason the uplinks are aimed up, it makes for more reliable comms and you’re not gonna find a satellite on the ground. It’s purely practical and you’re over reacting.”Agreed, and I never said it was. However, aiming up does make it a lot harder to intercept. A drone could use a omnidirectional antenna and still hit a NRO bird easily. The birds have huge parabolic arrays and could pick up a flea-watt transmitter on the ground. A satcom telephone only uses a small helical omni antenna, as do many satcom devices on the ground. Gone are the old Col;d War days of a portable Magnavox fold-able dish or a turnstile antenna. The satcom antenna could even be an internal wire on the PCB now. The latest fleet of birds are an order of magnitude more evolved then the old CW days.
eot
SOTB
PS – If I made errors above or stepped on anybody’s toes I apologize in advance. Not trying to screw anybody’s pooches here…
@sonofthunderboanerges
Well, it’s just as well you don’t get a say in what people can or can’t build or no one would ever make any fun or interesting stuff. There is nothing unique or classified about this device, it’s in no way exceptional (sorry creators, not taking a shit across your work it’s very interesting stuff to be sure) or original. If were inclined to gather SIGINT then you bet your back teeth they’d have already come up with this shit.
As for narco submarines, you do realise semi-submersibles were made waaayyyy before things like UC-3 Nautilus and Euronaut came along, right? You do realise that amateurs have been making rockets since the 1950s, right? I think you’re either looking at things too simply or you’re a troll
@Bishop Gundulf –Could you actually read my posting please. I am PRO-RESEARCH and HaD style hacking. These guys are neither Americans nor DARPAesque researchers like all those robot hackers once were. I never thought their Deep Sweep device was “classified”. However, a DoD UAV drone’s encrypted telemetry is. Thhey really don’t want the bad guys to reverse engineer their MQ1 Predators, Global Hawks, etc. The 3 kids are NOT talking about SigINT on quadcopters and such as those gadgets don’t talk through satellites. This gadgets do:
http://euro-police.noblogs.org/gallery/3874/NG-GHawk-B20-POSTER.jpg
NOTICE THE SATELLITE DISH IN THE FORWARD SECTION?
I’m not against submarine and suborbital hobbyists. I’m trying to build one myself for a underwater camera trap for elusive marine biologicals. More power to those hobbyists you mentioned in Denmark. You do know that their are now commercial suborbital projects today not government connected?
Drug dealers are using MORE than just submersibles. Some south American countries have several of our retired diesel boats (subs) and we (USA) trained them on how to drive them. The USN trained them. Who knows what they are using them for today. That’s almost as bad as Putin selling retired diesel subs to Kim Jong Un which he still does. And Putin “forgot” to de-militarize them. Russians are NOT our friends any more…
@sonofthunderboanerges
It takes more than just a few seconds of frame samples to decrypt satellite uplinks, believe me. You’ve carved out an issue where one doesn’t exist. This device is not capable nor does the capacity exist in the creators framework for UAV uplink decoding of any kind. Please, though do tell me which bogey man you’d like to use this time. So far we have ISIS, narcos, China and Russia. Who else? I fail to see how 3 students with some electronics, a CCTV dome and a balloon are at all related to reverse engineering an MQ-1 downlink and decrypting it.
@Bishop Gundulf – Bishop I think you are better at the “straw man argument” than I am. I never implicated Julian Oliver (New Zealand), Bengt Sjölen (Sweden?), or Danja Vasiliev (Russia) as being foreign spies. I’m only talking about future evolution of the project and circumstances.
Let’s say they publicize the data as they promise (albeit just frequency sweep logs). Then Danja gets a call from a male Slavic voice in his native language: “Danja, someone would like to meet you tonight in Berlin. We want to discuss some funding for a more advanced version of your Deep Sweep device. We are fascinated with the possibilities.”
With SVR funding they could use the logs to pinpoint frequencies they already suspected where classified Global Hawk and Predator freqs. Remember Christopher Boyce from TRW? He was selling the same thing (satellite frequencies and codes) to these same guys in Mexico City and got caught. However, if THEY did it we’d notice it. But if 3 college kids did it over a US UAV testing site – well who knows?
And you know who was selling secrets to Israel got caught and is now probably going to be pardoned by Mr.Obama? How about all those submarine secrets sold to Israel? Why would Israel even need them? They are our friends right? These college kids may innocently be setting themselves up for targeting (or cultivation as they say). They should pick a different subject and stay away from SigINT traffic. How about something more astronomy-based?
A word to the wise is sufficient – or not…
@Bishop Gundulf – “This device is not capable nor does the capacity exist in the creators framework for UAV uplink decoding of any kind.”
Bishop I’d like to agree with your statement above if it weren’t for this comment on their website:
“Rather, data is extracted from the probe on recovery. All data captured is stored in open formats suitable for both data visualisation and signal analysis.”
OK agreed they did not say “UAV uplink decoding”, but the inference drawn from statement “data visualisation and signal analysis” makes some wonder what the heck they are actually going to do with this data and why they even need it in the first place. I wonder what their CMU professor has to say about this project.
eot
The FAA could care less about an amateur balloon flight so long as you aren’t launching them over airports and obtain the appropriate flight path permissions.
The only thing they may get in trouble for is recording the signals. Intercepting signals is not illegal in the US but depending on their frequency and if you record them you may violate sec 705. But that’s largely in regards to voice communications and wiretapping law.
DHS may silence them if they publish a decryption algorithm, but if a group on a few students combine budgets can foil DoD encryption, state sponsored SigINT certainly has and it needs fixed. There’s no super-above-top-secret reason the uplinks are aimed up, it makes for more reliable comms and you’re not gonna find a satellite on the ground. It’s purely practical and you’re over reacting.
Don’t underestimate the guys and gals in ISIS, etc. Many terrorists (May I refer to them that way? Hmmm?) are pretty tech-savvy. Wouldn’t be at all if I’m sharing the bandwidth with one right now…
@Mark Harder – I’m more worried about Mr. Putin than ISIL. Check the new today what he’s doing in Syria.
>>Why are they doing this?
“Deep Sweep is a platform that is attached to a balloon and which captures signals over a wide range of frequencies, logging them for later analysis.”
To analyze hard-to-obtain radio signals. War-ballooning mixed with signal analysis. Maybe they’ll discover something new in addition to gaining an understanding of the encodings being used.
“Science isnt about why! Its about why not! Why is so much of our science dangerous? Why not marry safe science if you love it so much?! In fact, why not invent a special ‘safety door’ that wont hit you on the butt on the way out, because YOU ARE FIRED!”
Actor Jeff Goldblum (playing mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm) in a famous movie about allegedly dangerous science said:
“Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
@Richard Baguley – I guess you using the Intelligence collection management acronym SigInt pretty much speaks volumes in and of itself. However, this project is a head-scratcher. One must ask “Why those particular bands?”, “What purpose would ENCRYPTED military/government UAV uplink telemetry do for the group?”, “What is their true motivation?” I’m pretty sure Secretary Jeh Johnson will be tasking some of his “suits” to pay them a visit to ask these and even more probing questions, either at Carnegie-Mellon or here: 19.9000° N, 75.1500° W
And for the European contingent: there are other “problem” locales other than Belarus to watch out for. Balloons can travel pretty far with trade winds. I would not think Israel, France, UK, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Ukraine, PRC, DPKR, etc. would take too kindly to college kids just doing some friendly RF snooping around with their Sputnik looking gadget (i.e. DeepSweep).
In any case a “buster” mechanism is called for. Put a solenoid on there that will bust the balloon on command and deploy the parachute and beacon locator. You could use an Arduino or Raspberry PI to monitor and track GPS coordinates and automatically generate a “Code Buster” over any coordinates that’s too close to a “hot zone”. However, retrieval would be a b****.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/21/article-2328629-19EB018B000005DC-699_634x392.jpg
LIKELY SCENARIO AT [Frank Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie-Mellon]. NOTE 3 STUDENTS IN HANDCUFFS ON THE GROUND IN FRONT OF STEPS.
Only kidding around… not real… yet… :-P
The buster or even just a latch is a good idea. Receiving RF should never be a crime IMHO.
@lwatcdr – OK explain “latch” to me. I probably know what it is but by another name I think.
“Receiving RF should never be a crime IMHO.” and like Leitoa said above it really isn’t… It’s what you do with it AFTERWARDS may be. What will Julian Oliver, Bengt Sjölen, and Danja Vasiliev going to do the the analyzed data after analysis? Passing it to Israel, SVR, MSS, etc. is not an option. Probably none of these 3 men have any NDA with US Govt nor do they have citizenship with US. It’s my bet all three are here on student visas and being sponsored by CMU or something. I’m afraid that this OP may have keyed up ICE (another alphabet soup) and may not bode well for their continued stay here in USA.
I am pro-research and HaD-style hacking… but in these post-911 days you must do the “red tape” to cover your curious butts. These guberment’ types are no joke. They take this kind of stuff very seriously. I mean you can’t even joke about certain things at the airport anymore. Try it and see what happens to you.
eot
You can call me SOTB for short
“Why not a drone?” they say. So much simpler. SHHHHHHzipBOOM! Bye, bye Carnegie-Mellon.
@Mark Harder – So many people think that only one drone is used on a Hellfire strike. The MQ1 can’t payload it. So it has a bigger brother partner its spotting for. SHHHHHHzipBOOM! but not from the drone you can see.Here is a classified top-secret video from Fort Sawyer of how it all works. The 3 CMU students need to watch this important groundbreaking video before it’s taken down: http://tinyurl.com/oy766wt
8-P
Before anyone infers something nefarious about the YOUtube video I posted about a groundbreaking whatever… and now it WAS taken down… It was only a BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD cartoon about how they took over 2 MQ1 Predators (one training mode and the other armed) at a fictitious Ft Sawyer, It was hilarious! Probably got taken down by MTV for copyright violations. You can watch it at MTV.com if you like. Funny as hell!!! It was NOT a “classified top-secret video” – just my attempt at tongue-in-cheek humor.
People really need to click on links and read stuff before freaking out.
Looking at the critical engineering link this device isn’t capturing much else than frequency sweeps. So, I think we can turn it down from 11 and bring it to like 2 or 3 for mild interest.
Considering the HackADay audience, I’m surprised that some were unable to determine that this device simply doesn’t have the capability to actually capture anything in real-time for later in-depth analysis.
Looks like early Russian satellites. The data will be useless unless government don’t protect against quantum computers..
@xorpunk – I agree with that. Looks like SPUTNIK doesn’t it?
http://citizenship.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cb34753ef0120a88d0064970b-800wi
However, what do you mean “…protect against quantum computers…”? Not a threat to public; just a very cool future innovation. Quantum Encryption is also just a method to see if someone is intercepting your secret message as there is no way to inject into it without disturbing it.
XORPunk’s not talking about quantum cryptgraphy, they’re talking about quantum computers.
As in computers sufficiently large and fast enough to make even the longest passwords little more than an annoyance if you’re using the wrong encryption algorithm. XORPunk’s talking about using cryptographic schemes that protect the message library even if an individual message is decrypted.
A practice I would hope the US government is using since we can be sure other nation-states are doing what these researchers are setting up to do.
@Leithoa – Well truth be told, we (USA) never encrypted the General Atomics MQ1 Predator feed. Big mistake as the “bad guys” (nicknamed: TANGOS) found a way to intercept the video feeds with a Russian owned company who sells offline internet satellite feed intercept software for approx $26 (USD) called SkyGrabber. Funny the owner’s name (Yaser Yaser) is Arabic though. There were many incidents in SW-ASIA in where these alleged UAV intercepts became problematic to USA. You can Google them.
Then we (USA) evolved to the Lockheed Martin RQ-3A DarkStar (a/k/a Tier Three Minus) which DOES use good encryption. But in the infinite wisdom of the E-Ring (i.e. US Pentagon DoD) it was allegedly shelved. However, Aviation Week & Space Technology is reporting as of 2003 that it is still in use under a “black project” budget.
My theory is that not only does DarkStar use good encryption but also using USN QinetiQ SLC system for communications with DoD satellites and not commercial birds like the older UAV fleet was doing. SLC can not be intercepted (easily). Certainly not with a SDR device and not by Deep Sweep as it uses no RF.
I think those quick flash signals the DS Group is reporting on their website is nothing more than some proprietary radar system scanning the DS craft not some military UAV attempting to phone home.Working out of CMU (in Pittsburgh PA) they are not far from UAV test facilities at local USAF bases in northeast USA. They’d better rethink their approach. Approaching DARPA first is a much better idea if they are trying to fix a security problem with US military drones. A student from Univ of Texas did and proved that a MQ1 and others could be taken over by GPS spoofing. They proved it at a local stadium demo DARPA set up just for the experiment. They are open minded about criticisms of their technology.. https://contact.darpa.mil/
They’re working with army research labs. Im not sure how more in touch with the right people you can get. The govt doesn’t hand out grant money without ever checking what it’s spent on.
But keep spinning your conspiracy theories if it helps keep the voices quiet.
@Leithoa – “They’re working with army research labs. Im not sure how more in touch with the right people you can get. The govt doesn’t hand out grant money without ever checking what it’s spent on.But keep spinning your conspiracy theories if it helps keep the voices quiet.”
No I see that through C.U.P.S. they are indirectly associated with National Science Foundation, the Army Research Lab, Microsoft, and Google. Wombat Security Technologies, Inc. That’s cool. But you really need to check out John Oliver’s website accessible through the link in the OP. Conspiracy theory or not John is into some really anti-US-Government stuff.
I really don’t know why some people here are so much against Mike Rogers (NSA Director) and what he’s trying to do – protect US’s national security? Yes under the last administration the reasoning for natsec was all wrong as it was only to protect private interests of a particular very rich American family and their cronies. Under this exiting administration it was really just about natsec only. No feathering anyone’s financial nests and spying on innocent Americans telephone calls, surfing porn, cheating on taxes, sexting, and cheating on their spouses (i.e. future leverage?). I agree that some of the alphabet soup is STILL corrupt and has duplicate teams serving diametrically opposed agendas as the late Senator Daniel Innoye (D-HW) tried to spell out to Congress back in the 90’s.
So what if drones are dealing violently with very bad guys in Yemen? So what that surveillance drones are now being deployed in CONUS (Continental United States)? The surveillance they are doing is for natsec reasons not spying on your wife sunbathing in the backyard with her top off. There are very bad actors out there (and here) desiring to hurt US. I’d rather have DHS, and Justice Dept keep a watchful eye on them rather than have another 911 happen – only this time worse. It’s bad enough we have to also watch our so-called friends too.
Edward Snowden is a real Boy Scout. He really did not need to get you people so worked up over this. Your personal privacy is not more important than our very lives. These CMU guys really should not be trying to open this can of worms as these worms bite back. The Army R&D does not need citizen scientists who are not on grant to DARPA. That’s why we have DARPA. Look at what the acronym means. If they are working directly with Redstone Arsenal (aka US Army Labs) then more power to them. However, US Army Labs is in Alabama not CMU or Europe where the boys have been operating. And if they were working “black” they would not be allowed to post anything about it.
eot
@Leithoa – And since we’re on alleged CONSPIRACY THEORIES, how much “DEEP SWEEPING” has the team done on the “new US drones”? Little do Americans know that JUSTICE (i.e. FBI) has a non-secret fleet of Cessna’s deployed all over CONUS to do the civilian job of military DRONES. Yes they have photo recon, SigINT, and ComINT equipment on-board. Will the DS team be sweeping for their signals too? I wonder how long FBI director James Comey will tolerate that.
http://www.trbimg.com/img-556da21b/turbine/ct-secret-fbi-flights-20150602
@George – I think most of us got that (even me). However, the disturbing part is WHAT IS THEIR REAL MOTIVATION FOR DOING THIS? They never post a mission statement only an Introduction and Process. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if this thing drifts over the Ukraine?
Here is a snippet from their website:
INTRODUCTION
The Deep Sweep is an aerospace probe scanning the otherwise out-of-reach signal space between land and stratosphere, with special interest placed in UAV/drone to satellite communication. Taking the form of a high-altitude weather balloon, tiny embedded computer and RF equipment, The Deep Sweep project is being developed to function as a low-cost, aerial signal-intelligence (SIGINT) platform. Intended for assembly and deployment by public, it enables surveying and studying the vast and often secretive world of signal in our skies… We intend to make many more, in Europe and beyond.
PROCESS
During the ascent the probe sweeps for signal… No collected data is sent live mid-flight – aerial transmission is detectable and illegal at the speed we require it, reserved for military and aerospace use. Rather, data is extracted from the probe on recovery. All data captured is stored in open formats suitable for both data visualisation and signal analysis…
Big questions is why is this needed? What purpose does it serve? I get the fun research part but this particular subject matter is quite suspicious. And posting the resulting data publicly is BENIGN? What makes them think we want those frequency sweeps posted publicly? Don’t you think this so-called SECRETIVE data would have already been in the public forum if it was desired to be so? Remember journalist Dan Rather’s violent 4-Oct-86 encounter with William Tager and Tager’s assistant? Remember what he asked Dan? “What’s the frequency KENNETH?” Obviously a mistake in identity about some desired US military frequencies by some un-named foreign power of the day. Later after Tager murdered a NBC stage hand in 1994, he claimed it was all do to paranoid-schizophrenia and that they were beaming radio frequency signals to his head via the TV news media, and he wanted the frequency. Yeah right! Great cover story!
eot (=end of text)
SOTB (=my initials)
It appears these 3 CMU students are supported by CyLab Usable Privacy and Security (CUPS) Laboratory at CMU http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/ but I fail to see what this Deep Sweep project has to do with “privacy”. CUPS appears to be a good project.
“The CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS) brings together researchers working on a diverse set of projects related to understanding and improving the usability of privacy and security software and systems. Our research employs a combination of three high-level strategies to make secure systems more usable: building systems that “just work” without involving humans in security-critical functions; making secure systems intuitive and easy to use; and teaching humans how to perform security-critical tasks.
CUPS is affiliated with Carnegie Mellon CyLab. Our research is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Lab, Microsoft, and Google. Wombat Security Technologies, Inc. is commercializing some of the technologies we developed. “
I think the discussion taking place here (and hopefully elsewhere as well) is part of their motivation to do this…
@SOTB: Holy Cow, dude… Chill the frack out already.
@Rob – Duly noted Rob. I am only reacting to dialog directed at me and then I am also proactively responding to indirect statements about these 3 intrepid guys. I really think John Oliver is treading into deep water over his head and the other two may just be following out of peer-pressure. I’m just trying to warn him of the POTENTIAL repercussions and consequences – not poorly-researched CONSPIRACY THEORIES.
I know it’s just simple war-ballooning and doing broad frequency sweeps with a SDR board. But when you post on a Liberal Arts website at CMU that your targets are different nation’s military and government UAV drones, you are only going to awaken a sleeping beast who was previously ignoring you before as it was just idle hobbyist playing around, but not now. I can almost 90% guarantee that certain people are reading this RIGHT NOW and planning a proactive response (albeit friendly – at first). And that’s no conspiracy theory (i.e. Edward Snowden?).
eot
@Rob – OK Rob that was my time at the soap box. Sorry if I hi-jacked the thread…Just trying to be a team player – ya’ know… SOTB