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Nighthawk - HF Signal Acquisition System
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The Nighthawk System is a turnkey automated Signals Intelligence system designed to rapidly detect, analyze, locate, and record narrow and wideband signals across the HF spectrum with minimum operator intervention. Designed for the networking of multiple remote collection sites, the system is controlled by workstations located at a central operations facility.
Featuring system tasking, the Nighthawk system responds to specific mission or user requirements by establishing configuration parameters for signals of interest and by giving mission‑specific instructions to operating personnel. The system can be configured to operate in automatic mode, manual mode, or a hybrid of both.
System Features
- High‑speed signal acquisition
- Real‑time signal analysis displays
- Automatic signal detection and classification
- E‑copy signal enhancement
- High degree of system automation
- Single Site Location (SSL) option
- V/UHF extension option
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Nighthawk Subsystems
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The Nighthawk HF Signal Acquisition System is comprised of field proven commercial off‑the‑shelf (COTS) items configured into standardized subsystem modules.
(See system diagram)
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Signal Acquisition Subsystem
The Nighthawk System employs a fast acquisition wideband RF front end that performs new energy detection, modulation recognition, and signal parameter measurements. Our Signal Recognition software detects, analyzes, and qualifies newly detected signals, determining whether they are of interest to a particular mission. Once this analysis is complete, signals of interest and their respective technical characteristics are passed through the system for collection.
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Audio Subsystem
The Nighthawk Audio Subsystem provides the ability to stream live audio, record audio streams, and play back recorded audio over a LAN/WAN. The Audio Subsystem is comprised of 5 major components: Audio Server, Audio Recorder, D/A Client, Sound Card Client, and Voice (MIC) Recorder. The Nighthawk Audio Subsystem also employs industry standard compression techniques to minimize bandwidth requirements over the LAN/WAN.
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Signal Collection Subsystem
The signal collection process is managed from one or multiple Windows based PC workstations that employ our collection management software suite. A number of operator‑friendly user interface screens are presented to facilitate multiple operator functions to include drop receiver control, TIP requests to the DF subsystem, audio recording, and playback of intercepted signals, demodulation of data signals, and composition of intercept records.
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Gateway Service
Our innovative Gateway Service provides a central point for all communications between collection subsystem devices and users. This highly stable communications engine manages hardware control, connection types, and device status messages. The Gateway can manage hundreds of devices connected to the system over a LAN, WAN, dial‑up, or Internet connection.
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Geolocation
The Nighthawk System employs a high‑performance Direction Finding (DF) subsystem that provides both Line of Bearing and Elevation Angle of Arrival of intercepted signals. Geolocation results can be viewed on a graphic map display window that features zoom in and out functionality.
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