BRO constellation (Gen 1)
Unseenlabs' fleet of small satellites that listen for radio emissions from ships and work out where each ship is, even when it has turned off its AIS tracking beacon.
Why it matters
Ships doing illegal fishing, smuggling or sanctions evasion often switch off their public tracking beacon. Their radios and radars still give them away. Detecting those emissions from orbit lets authorities watch huge ocean areas that patrol boats and planes cannot cover.
How the technology works
Each BRO satellite detects ships' radio emissions from orbit and estimates where the transmitter is and what its signal looks like. Unseenlabs sells geolocation coordinates, timestamps and RF technical parameters, plus data fusion that helps identify vessels missing from tracking systems.
The first satellite, BRO-1, launched in 2019, and BRO-21 in April 2026 brought the constellation to 21 satellites.
Sources
Updated Oct 22, 2026 · How we source facts · Suggest a correction