RF Maritime Surveillance — Standard Data Service
Unseenlabs
Space-based RF detection service that geolocates and classifies vessels at sea including dark ships, covering over 300,000 km2 per satellite pass.
Technical specifications
- Coverage per pass
- ~300,000 km2 per RF data collection
- Geolocation accuracy
- Up to kilometer-level accuracy
- Revisit time
- Multiple times per day over the same area
- Data file size
- Less than 1 MB per collection file
- Detection range
- Unlimited — far beyond shorelines
- RF collection type
- Multiband RF data collection in a single satellite pass
- Operating conditions
- 24/7, all-weather, day and night (cloud-penetrating)
- Signal types detected
- Navigation and communication RF signals from vessels (passive detection)
- Orbit type
- LEO nanosatellites
- Constellation growth
- 3-6 new satellite launches per year
- Data format
- GIS-compatible, standardized lightweight files
- Dark vessel detection
- Yes — identifies vessels with AIS disabled or spoofed
- Integration
- Compatible with SAR, optical imagery, AIS, VMS, hyperspectral sensors
About
Unseenlabs’ Standard Data Service delivers space-based radio frequency (RF) intelligence for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). Satellites in LEO passively collect RF signals emitted by vessels’ navigation and communication devices, enabling detection and geolocation of any ship at sea — regardless of whether its AIS transponder is active, disabled, or spoofed. The service covers over 300,000 km2 per data collection pass and operates 24/7 in all weather conditions, including under cloud cover, day or night.
Each data delivery consists of a lightweight, standardized file (under 1 MB) containing a comprehensive list of detected emitters with geolocation coordinates (kilometer-level accuracy), accurate timestamps, and RF technical parameters. Files are GIS-compatible and readily integrable with complementary intelligence sources such as SAR imagery, optical satellite data, AIS feeds, and VMS systems. The low file size and open format enable rapid ingestion into existing maritime operations centers and analytical workflows.
The service is particularly powerful for detecting ‘dark vessels’ — ships that deliberately turn off or manipulate their declarative systems to evade monitoring. Unlike coastal radars, Unseenlabs’ system has unlimited detection range far beyond shorelines, enabling surveillance in remote ocean regions, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), and open-sea corridors where traditional sensors provide no coverage. The constellation adds 3-6 new satellites per year, continuously expanding revisit rates and spectral coverage.
Customers can define their own areas of interest and adjust the daily revisit frequency to match operational priorities. The service supports coast guards, customs authorities, fisheries management agencies, marine insurers, offshore facility operators, shipowners, trade intelligence firms, and NGOs.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.