Hawkeye 360's first mapping product RFGeo is designed to help customers identify and geolocate maritime radio-frequency signals. Credit: Hawkeye 360

SAN FRANCISCO – HawkEye 360 unveiled RFGeo, its first radio frequency signal mapping product.

Initially, RFGeo will help customers identify and geolocate maritime VHF radio channels, marine emergency distress beacons and vessel Automatic Identification System signals, the company announced April 4.

“Many countries want better visibility of the oceans surrounding their territories,” Adam Bennett, Hawkeye 360 marketing director, said by email.

In the coming months, HawkEye 360 will expand the catalog of signals it identifies and pinpoints to support additional maritime, defense, border security, emergency response and telecommunications applications.

“Through RFGeo, customers will access the powerful RF analytics generated by our satellite constellation, so they can gain a more comprehensive view of the world,” John Serafini, Hawkeye 360 chief executive, said in a statement. “HawkEye 360 is bringing truly compelling RF analytics to the market, further cementing our position as an exciting and fast-growing leader in the new space field.”

Hawkeye 360, a Herndon, Virginia, company established in 2015, launched its first three satellites in December on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission. Hawkeye 360 announced in February that it had completed commissioning satellites in the constellation and could pinpoint the location of radio frequency signals.

“Although RF signals are ubiquitous, there has never before been a commercially available product that can independently locate, process and track a broad range of signals,” Hawkeye 360 said in its April 4 news release.

“RFGeo provides our customers with a new view of activities on Earth using the RF spectrum,” Brian Chapman, HawkEye 360 product director, said in a statement. “We are enabling customers to link RF signal geolocations from our RFGeo product to events occurring around the world. RFGeo will help customers monitor RF signals to support a wide range of high-value applications and missions, such as maritime domain awareness.”

RFGeo is designed to provide customers with the coordinates and observed characteristics of RF sources. RFGeo delivers information to customers in a format compatible with common commercial Geographic Information System software tools, the company said.

Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She...