Ever wondered what traffic is flowing through the many satellites in orbit above you? Have you wanted to intercept RADAR signals from air traffic control and visualise your local airspace in real-time on a 3D map? While youíre at it, check how many faults have been reported by the next plane youíll be travelling on (e.g. do the toilets work?). How about tracking down the source of a clandestine radio transmission that is interfering with your favourite channel, or probing the signals on your cable modem connection? If you have ever wanted to reverse engineer such systems, this is for you!
I will show how to analyse and hack RF communications systems using open source software and cheap radio hardware. The focus will be on how to use Software Defined Radio to create: a digital satellite demodulator for blind signal analysis, a souped-up Mode S aviation transponder/ACARS receiver with an Internet-enabled smooth-streaming Google Earth front-end, and a Radio Direction Finder.