Industry: Security & Defense
How Hack the Planet is Revolutionizing Anti-Poaching Efforts in Zambia
Hack the Planet is a non-profit organization dedicated to using advanced engineering and technology to address critical global challenges. They work on projects that have a positive social and environmental impact, collaborating with various partners like Greenpeace, WWF, and other conservation organizations. The team is a part of the digital product studio Q42, which provides them with access to a large pool of engineers to bring their ideas to life.
Combating Illegal Poaching Activities Within Zambia’s National Parks
Poaching is a significant threat to wildlife, particularly in regions with endangered species. Hack the Planet’s services were engaged to find a solution for monitoring and preventing poaching in Zambia’s National Parks. Traditional methods are often resource-intensive and limited in their effectiveness, especially in vast, remote areas where quick response times are critical.
To overcome the challenge of connectivity in these remote areas, the team needed a reliable communication system to ensure that detection data could be transmitted in real-time to park rangers. This is where Ground Control’s services became crucial, providing satellite connectivity that ensured that the sensors could communicate effectively.
Tackling the Problem
To mitigate poaching, Hack the Planet needed a way to detect unauthorized human presence in national parks, specifically the presence of individuals who might be involved in poaching activities.
The solution had to be reliable, able to cover large areas, and operate in environments with limited connectivity.
A key technical hurdle was ensuring that the team’s sensors could communicate data from remote locations to park rangers in real-time.
Hack the Planet developed sensor technology that detects the presence of cell phones in areas where they shouldn’t be, such as within national parks.
These sensors are strategically placed throughout the park and are capable of detecting signals from cell phones carried by individuals within a 3km radius, even in remote areas.
When a cell phone is detected, the sensor immediately relays this information to park rangers, who can then investigate and take action to prevent potential poaching incidents.
The Role of Satellite IoT
Ground Control played a crucial role in enabling the real time communication of Hack the Planet’s sensors by providing satellite connectivity through our RockBLOCK 9603 satellite modem.
This technology allows the team’s sensors to transmit data from remote areas of the park, where there is no cellular network coverage, to a central monitoring station.
This connectivity ensures that park rangers can receive alerts and respond swiftly, significantly improving the effectiveness of the anti-poaching efforts.
Looking ahead, Hack the Planet aims to expand this anti-poaching project to other national parks and regions facing similar challenges. They’re also exploring the potential of integrating additional technologies, such as AI-powered analytics, to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of their detection systems.
To contact Thijs and the Hack the Planet team, visit https://www.hack-the-planet.io/contact or email info@hack-the-planet.io.
“This ongoing collaboration with Ground Control and other partners is pivotal to our mission of using technology to protect endangered species and preserve biodiversity across the globe.”
Thijs Suijten – Hack the Planet
Can we help to solve your connectivity challenge?
If you have a project that’s limited by cellular coverage, we can help. We work with multiple satellite network operators and networking technologies to ensure our customers get the right combination of coverage, cost and reliability.
Please complete the form to tell us more about your project, or email the team at hello@groundcontrol.com. We’d love to help.
Ambrey is a global leader in maritime security, intelligence and risk management, supporting more than 24,000 vessels operating across over 34 of the world’s most complex and high risk maritime regions.
As GNSS jamming and spoofing become an increasingly common feature of commercial shipping, maintaining confidence in vessel position has become an important part of safe and efficient operations. Trusted situational awareness supports navigation, operational decision-making, regulatory compliance and the protection of crews and assets.
To enhance the services available to customers operating in these challenging environments, Ambrey has partnered with Ground Control to incorporate RockFLEET Assured into its wider maritime security offering.
The Challenge
Across key shipping routes including the Baltic, Black Sea, Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, deliberate GNSS interference is becoming an increasingly common operational challenge.
When GNSS signals are disrupted or manipulated, the effects can extend well beyond navigation. Bridge teams may receive conflicting information from connected systems, making it more difficult to assess vessel position and maintain confidence in the information available to them. This can increase operational workload and complicate decision-making in already demanding environments.
Ambrey was hearing these concerns from customers operating in higher risk regions and recognized the value of an independent positioning reference that could help validate vessel position whenever GNSS integrity is uncertain.
“Our customers consistently highlight the challenges of operating in GPS-denied environments as a major safety concern. We are delighted to be working with Ground Control as a world leader in this space, bringing assured tracking and navigation to our clients.”
Ben Westcott, Director of Digital Services at Ambrey
The Solution
RockFLEET Assured is Ground Control’s maritime Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) solution, developed to help vessel operators maintain confidence in position data when conventional GNSS is affected by jamming or spoofing.
Built around Iridium’s secure, independent PNT service, RockFLEET Assured provides an assured positioning reference alongside existing navigation systems. By continuously comparing GNSS-derived position with Iridium PNT, bridge teams and shore operators can identify discrepancies, recognize potential interference and make more informed operational decisions.
Ambrey has chosen to incorporate RockFLEET Assured into its maritime security, intelligence and risk management services, combining assured positioning with the operational support provided by its 24/7 Global Operations Centre.
How It Works
RockFLEET Assured continuously compares conventional GNSS with Iridium PNT, providing bridge teams and shore operators with an independent reference for validating vessel position. This allows discrepancies to be identified quickly, supports the detection of potential jamming or spoofing events, and helps crews maintain operational confidence in GNSS-compromised environments.
Positioning events can also be recorded and shared ashore, supporting incident investigation, operational reporting and discussions with insurers where appropriate.
Designed specifically for commercial maritime deployment, RockFLEET Assured is supplied as a compact above-deck terminal with flexible mounting options suitable for a wide range of vessel classes and superstructure configurations. Its rugged IP66-rated enclosure is engineered for harsh marine environments, while the standard installation requires no below-deck equipment, helping minimize installation time and operational disruption.
Combined with Ambrey’s Global Operations Centre, customers benefit from assured positioning alongside the intelligence and operational expertise needed to interpret navigation anomalies within the wider context of maritime risk.
“GNSS disruption is no longer a niche concern. It’s becoming an operational reality for commercial fleets operating in many parts of the world. We’re excited to be working with Ambrey to make RockFLEET Assured available as part of its wider maritime services, combining their operational expertise with our assured positioning capability. Together we’re helping ship and shore teams validate vessel position, identify anomalies and maintain confidence when GNSS integrity is in doubt.”
Alastair MacLeod, CEO of Ground Control
The Outcome
By bringing together Ground Control’s assured positioning technology and Ambrey’s maritime operational expertise, commercial operators gain greater resilience when operating in regions affected by GNSS disruption.
RockFLEET Assured provides an independent positioning reference alongside conventional GNSS, enabling operators to validate vessel position, recognize anomalies more quickly and maintain confidence in the information available to bridge and shore teams.
The result is improved situational awareness, better-informed operational decision-making and greater resilience for vessels operating in increasingly contested navigation environments.
Strengthen Your Navigation Resilience
Learn how RockFLEET Assured can help your organization maintain confidence in vessel position when GNSS signals are disrupted.
Complete the form or email hello@groundcontrol.com to speak with one of our specialists or arrange a demonstration.
Reliable Streaming, No Matter the Bandwidth
Videosoft delivers bandwidth-managed video streaming that performs even in the most unpredictable network conditions. While traditional systems struggle in low-bandwidth or variable throughput, Videosoft’s technology enables practical, real time video over connections as low as 1 Kbps, easily compatible with the 22 Kbps uplink available on the Certus® 100 network service from Iridium.
Ideal for remote monitoring and surveillance, Videosoft makes live video not just possible, but dependable – wherever it’s needed.
We’ve partnered with Videosoft to bring their unique video encoding and streaming solution to our RockREMOTE Rugged terminal. Available as a native application on the device, the integration allows customers to deploy robust live video surveillance using the Iridium Certus® 100 service, without the need for external encoders or bulky infrastructure.
From unmanned facilities in the energy sector to border security, remote utilities, and environmental monitoring, Videosoft’s ultra efficient compression technology means you can see what’s happening on site in real time, regardless of where that site happens to be. Combined with the global coverage and reliability of satellite, this capability enables faster incident response, improved operational oversight, and smarter decision making at the edge.
RockSTAR Provides Vital Tracking Telemetry for Soldiers and Ultra Runners
JCSys operate robust live tracking solutions, effective in any weather and terrain. They’re internationally trusted to provide situational awareness to clients as diverse as the military to adventure racing; schools, cadets, scouts and remote field workers. Their tracking and data management services reduce risk and provide reassurance, utilizing biometric and location data, essential for peace of mind and timely, mission-critical response.
Challenge 1: Biometrics and Monitoring for the MOD
Working to a specification from the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD), JCSys placed their clients’ needs and reliability at the heart of the proposition. Military tracking requires a solution that goes beyond mobile network coverage; one that can provide global, real-time location data on military operatives in the toughest of climates and conditions. Equipment must be extremely reliable, ruggedized, and self-powered to handle off-grid operations.
Soldiers need a handset that’s portable and durable, compact and waterproof. It needs to provide tracking in all weather and military attire, especially in conditions too cold to free fingers from gloves. Other firmware modifications were specific to the MOD: securely encrypting location data, disabling switch off without a PIN code, delivering the ability to pair to a BLE heart rate monitor, and integration to JCSys’ software.
Solution: The RockSTAR – Flexible Firmware and Software Integration
JCSys were looking for a satellite technology partner willing to tailor their hardware and firmware to meet the specifics, providing developer-friendly APIs so JCSys could add context to the telemetry data provided via the device. Ground Control (then Rock Seven) was more than willing to innovate in order to support JCSys with their end-to-end solution.
“Out of the box the RockSTAR handheld device was 90% there. With some tweaks to the Ground Control firmware and integration with JCSys’ software interface, we were able to provide the bespoke tracking solution the MOD were looking for. Ground Control ticked the box for adaptability, innovation and reliability.”
Nigel Kenyon, Head of Tracking Services, JCSys
Challenge 2: Race Safety in Extreme Conditions
Another area of JCSys’ expertise is supporting professional ultra-marathon experiences. Adventure sports test human endurance across terrain and environments in a way that puts risk firmly on the map, but only if you can track it. This is real time civilian monitoring, on a minute-by-minute basis, and without it there have been some very public incidents of races going wrong.
JCSys collaborates on a variety of Beyond The Ultimate (BTU) team events. These are individual endurance races which take place over jungle, desert and ice caps, some of the most remote and hostile environments on Earth, with minimal mobile coverage.
Providing race tracking systems that enable the BTU team to deliver safe race conditions requires a tracking solution built on life-critical metrics; knowing runners’ location, flagging real time alerts, providing situational awareness, reliability, battery life, text function and simplicity of use.
Solution: RockSTAR Tracking and Alerts
The RockSTAR gathers key telemetry and GPS data in a handheld device; waterproof, ruggedized and built to withstand the most challenging of environments. It’s robust, and yet still light, easy to set up and very user friendly. Once connected every runner out in the field is tracked and traceable.
With the RockSTAR, BTU are able to follow all race participants from their base location, tracking progress via geo-fences that provide early warning if a device has gone inside or outside a certain race area.
The device, coupled with JCSys’ software, sends real time alerts when data is received, indicating any incidents out in the field. This kind of solution has provided them with a strong reputation for safety.
“Our systems have proven their life-saving faculty on multiple occasions. We have built our reputation on the reliability of the RockSTAR and the data it provides. It’s how we are able to host some of the most high-risk events for both our UK military and civilian clients alike.”
Nigel Kenyon, Head of Tracking Services, JCSys
Future Development
JCSys continues to explore ways in which the gathering of biometrics can improve the safety and performance of remote operatives. Data gathered in military contexts is being utilized by a NATO project headed up by the Institute of Naval Medicine (INM) for the UK, to monitor operatives’ physical effort, and estimation of core body temperature (ECTemp) while out in the field. This is bringing new medical insight into the experience of operative performance under extreme duress, highlighting the potential of real time data and satellite tech in the future of innovative medical research.
Would you like to know more?
If you’re interested in handheld tracking devices, straight out of the box, or you have your own tracking software and want to explore partner integration options with Ground Control’s RockSTAR, we’d love to hear from you.
Call or email us, or complete the form, and one of our experienced team will be happy to help.
The Challenge for Journalists
Journalists can easily find themselves in remote and hostile environments, out of reach of cellular network coverage. Travelling from place to place, it might be a warzone one week, a natural disaster area the next. They need to be able to communicate with sources, studios and access relevant files, while maintaining diligent security practices.
They can only rely on the equipment they take with them. There’s no guarantee that there will be any communications equipment onsite when they get there – most of the time they don’t even know if they’ll get a pillow to sleep on.
The Solution – RockSTAR Unit
That’s where RockSTAR is useful. It provides a vital way for the journalist to keep in touch with both HQ and home. Position information is sent automatically from the unit, as regularly as every 15 seconds, or as infrequently as once per day. If HQ feel that they’re in trouble, they can remotely increase the transmission rate to get more regular fixes.
RockSTAR can also be used to communicate, sending short messages via email and SMS to the office and to loved ones. Some even use our Bluetooth link (via iPad, iPhone, Android) to write short articles and send them back for print.
Our units don’t rely on any terrestrial service – if the mobile phone network is down, that’s not a problem. As long as our devices can see the sky, they can transmit their position and message data back home. That means certainty – and when you’re stuck in a warzone reporting the news, that’s worth its weight in gold.
It’s cost-effective, too. Normally news organizations might have a stock of RockSTARs, but that doesn’t mean they’re always in use. Slow news days do happen. With our service, you just pay for what you use.
Getting Started With The RockSTAR
Before the start of the trip, HQ activate the line rental for the unit for a month or more, the journalist turns the unit on, and the RockSTAR will start transmitting a position fix once per hour (or whatever the customer chooses). When the units are sat on the shelf in the store-room, you don’t pay anything. Any credits left over from one deployment will still be there when the unit is activated next time, on its next trip.
Back at HQ, the customer uses Cloudloop Tracking to monitor the positions of all their workers.
In the case of an emergency, the RockSTAR unit can be used to alert HQ, using either the dedicated red button or, even better, using the messaging facilities to indicate the type of alert and any other relevant details. It can also be sent a command to go into ‘stealth mode’, which means the screen and LED are turned off. The unit continues to operate as normal, but it looks as though the battery has run out – useful if compromised.
Key Benefits For Media Teams
- GPS tracking
- Pay only when the units are being used in the field, no annual contracts
- Two way messaging between teams and the studio/HQ
- Various alert options including red button, timer alert, dead man’s switch, etc.
- Up to 3 month battery life, transmitting every hour
- Independently powered – rechargeable in the field using standard USB options
- Portable and can be covertly placed
- Access to Cloudloop for management across all deployed teams
In summary, RockSTAR is a private and reliable means of communication and tracking between journalists on the ground and the studio. Because of the erratic nature of news events, our pay-as-you-go service is cost effective, requiring no annual contracts.
Supporting Media teams worldwide
We have experience helping Media companies and journalists stay connected, wherever the story may take them. For expert, objective advice on your next project, simply get in touch.
Challenges in Maritime Security
In the anti-piracy and maritime security world, it’s vital to know the situation of your remote teams.
You can’t rely on the communication facilities aboard the vessels you’re protecting, both for privacy reasons and in case of possible compromise.
We provide RockSTAR units to a large number of marine security and anti-piracy firms worldwide. They provide accurate tracking, allowing the position of your teams/vessels to be monitored while in transit. They also give a secure and private means of communication for onboard team leaders.
The Solution – RockSTAR device
Typically, when marine security teams deploy onboard a vessel, they take a RockSTAR device with them. Before the start of the transit the unit is turned on and will start transmitting a position fix once per hour (or whatever the customer chooses). Back at HQ, the customer uses the Cloudloop management system to monitor the positions of all their teams/vessels.
The RockSTAR’s means of communication is completely separate from the vessel, so even if power is turned off aboard, the RockSTAR will continue to operate. A command can be sent to go into ‘stealth mode’, which means that the screen and LED are turned off and the unit continues to operate as normal, but it looks as though the battery has run out – useful if compromised.
In the case of an emergency, the RockSTAR unit can alert HQ, using either the dedicated red button or, even better, the messaging facilities to indicate the type of alert and any other relevant details.
Safeguarding personnel and assets with the RockSTAR
KEY FEATURES FOR MARITIME SECURITY TEAMS
- GPS Tracking – Frequency of transmissions between 15 seconds – once per day
- Up to 3-month battery life (when transmitting every hour)
- Portable and can be covertly carried/mounted
- Two-way messaging between teams and HQ
- Access to Cloudloop for management across all deployed teams
- Various alert options including red button, timer alert and dead man’s switch
- Pay only when the units are being used at sea, no annual contracts
In summary, the RockSTAR is a private means of communication and tracking between the marine security company and the teams on the vessel. It’s robust, reliable, and popular in the industry.
Want to know more?
If you’re interested in the RockSTAR device as a possible solution to Marine security or any other communication challenges, we’d love to hear from you. Call or email us, or complete the form, and one of our experienced team will be happy to help.