RadAround: A Field-Expedient Direction Finder for Contested IoT Sensing & EM Situational Awareness

TL;DR

RadAround is a portable, passive 2-D direction-finding system that creates high-resolution electromagnetic heatmaps for contested environments, aiding in spectrum monitoring, intrusion detection, and EM situational awareness.

Contribution

It introduces RadAround, a novel, field-deployable EM direction-finding system using mechanically steered antennas and low-cost components for resilient EM sensing.

Findings

Successfully detects computing machinery through walls.

Identifies sources of EM interference and EMI leakage.

Operates effectively in contested, adversarial environments.

Abstract

This paper presents RadAround, a passive 2-D direction-finding system designed for adversarial IoT sensing in contested environments. Using mechanically steered narrow-beam antennas and field-deployable SCADA software, it generates high-resolution electromagnetic (EM) heatmaps using low-cost COTS or 3D-printed components. The microcontroller-deployable SCADA coordinates antenna positioning and SDR sampling in real time for resilient, on-site operation. Its modular design enables rapid adaptation for applications such as EMC testing in disaster-response deployments, battlefield spectrum monitoring, electronic intrusion detection, and tactical EM situational awareness (EMSA). Experiments show RadAround detecting computing machinery through walls, assessing utilization, and pinpointing EM interference (EMI) leakage sources from Faraday enclosures.