Polus Tech, the tech company of Niv Carmi, one of the founders of cyberattack company NSO, has entered the battlefield for the first time after initially focusing on the search and rescue sector. The company, which was founded in Switzerland, is currently launching a sensor for installation on drones, which can locate targets using the radio signals transmitted from phones. Sources have told "Globes" that the company is in talks with Israel's Ministry of Defense Directorate of Defense R&D (DDR&D) (MAFAT) about putting its products on the market. No response was forthcoming from Polus Tech, which operates in stealth.
The new sensor has applications in the field of search and rescue and among other things, its systems were deployed during the rescue of survivors from floods in Jakarta, Indonesia, as well as in floods that have hit Europe in recent years. Last March, it helped locate survivors from Tropical Cyclone Alfred, where it also activated a cellular signal sensor installed on a helicopter. But Polus Tech is also interested in providing the sensor to Western armies to help identify terrorist and war targets, assisted by military intelligence.
Identification from the sky
Identifying terrorists using their mobile phones is currently undertaken by expensive means, such as planting Trojan horse software on phones, as carried out by companies such as NSO and Paragon. But this is an operation that requires numerous approvals and, in democratic countries, also a judge's order and the involvement of many parties in the process.
Cellular location using sensors is an old method and much cheaper when performed from the ground, using devices called IMSI Catchers, or using cellular base stations that act as radars in 5G phone networks. However, such location has not yet been systematically conducted from the air using a direct line of sight to the target. A sensor that roams the air and is installed by a drone can track the target live and provide a better intelligence picture than other existing means, certainly when cellular infrastructure is more outdated. It is not clear what technology is at the core of the Polus sensor, but it is assumed that it involves detecting radio frequency (RF) signals emitted by mobile phones.
The Polus sensor is mounted on drones that fly in the medium-high range, usually at an altitude of over one kilometer - too high to be intercepted by simple devices but low enough to use relatively simple cameras. According to company executives who spoke with Israeli officials, it appears that in addition to the sensor, the company is marketing a smart mission manager capable of talking to other systems on the same drone, including the command and control system.
Using flying cellular sensors like these can, for example, could have quickly detected the movement of a group of terrorists, as happened on the night of the 7th of October, and swiftly alert military intelligence. As far as is known, Polus-Tech does not breach the mobile phone and its content, as is done by cyberattack companies.
The idea was conceived during the war
Polus Tech was founded in 2016 by Carmi in Zug, Switzerland with a joint investment from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) unit Elta Systems. Subsequently, Shavit Capital, a fund specializing in late-stage investments, whose investors include Leon Recanati, also backed the company. Eyal Danan, Elta's representative in Europe, still serves on the company's board of directors.
Carmi is a graduate of a secret IDF unit in the Intelligence Corps, and was one of the founders of NSO, which he left after less than a year. He founded Polus almost a decade ago with the aim of harnessing the skills he acquired during his life in the field of cellular communications for humanitarian purposes - using cellular means to locate those trapped in the rubble of natural disasters and war zones. Polus's intercepting cellular cell is a kind of intelligence compromise between a complete invasion of privacy like NSO, and passive listening like on telephone lines. The intercepting cells (IMSI catcher) simulate a regular cellular antenna, which manipulates the victim's cellular device to send signals to it instead of the cellular company's antenna. In this way, it is possible to listen to conversations, but also to victims of disasters, even if they are unconscious, due to cellular signals transmitted.
Since the start of the war, Carmi, who spent many years in the Israeli defense establishment in classified positions and was discharged with the rank of major, began searching for cellular-based solutions that could assist the army in the field of intelligence and counterterrorism, as a lesson from October 7, when the Ministry of Defense did not gather sufficient digital signal-based intelligence and those that were collected were not analyzed properly. For example, the operation of many SIM cards at once was not interpreted as a sign of an attack because of past exercises in which similar cases occurred - however, monitoring the mass movement of mobile phones to the border could have provided the appropriate warning.
A market worth billions
Polus is not the only company in the RF sensor market for detecting ground and air targets, although it is the only one that does so from medium-altitude drones. Other companies active in the field of radio sensors are CRFS, and also GAO Tex, which focuses on 4G and 5G applications, and cannot be used for security activities in war zones.
US defense giant Northrop Grumman is also experimenting with building radio sensors, and in Israel, R2 is operating to locate drones and their operators by detecting changing radio signals. Dr. Zion Hadad's RunEl is applying positioning technology to the civilian market, in which cellular signal sensors know how to locate subscribers at soccer stadiums to let them order food and drink directly to their seats. The market for AI sensors for organizations is estimated to be between $10 and $15 billion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 6, 2025.
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