Author(s)
Sarah Tanveer, Olivia D’Souza, and Ali Abedi
Abstract
The rapid growth of small satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) has enabled new applications in connectivity, IoT, and science, but their communication systems can introduce harmful radio frequency (RF) interference that disrupts sensitive observations such as radio astronomy. This interference may saturate low-noise amplifiers or leak into protected bands, and while telescopes can detect it, they cannot determine its origin. We present a novel system that identifies interference sources by combining empirical measurements with models of satellite orbits and signal propagation. At its core is Uninformed Doppler Compensation (UDC), a technique that matches interfering signals to their transmitting satellites while remaining robust to unknown waveform properties and frequency offsets. This makes our approach broadly applicable, including to satellites with proprietary protocols. We implement UDC on a low-cost prototype platform and evaluate its accuracy using real-world data. To establish ground truth, we also collect measurements with a highly directional radio astronomy antenna, enabling verification of satellite-specific signals. Our results show that the system can identify the source of interference with a high accuracy when satellites are at least 10 degrees above the horizon.