FISINT

FISINT (Foreign Instrumentation Signals INTelligence) is intelligence from the interception of foreign electromagnetic emissions associated with the testing and operational deployment of foreign aerospace, surface, and subsurface systems.^[1] Since it deals with signals that have communicational content, it is a subset of COMINT, which, in turn, is a subset of SIGINT. Unlike general COMINT signals, the content of FISINT signals is not in regular human language, but rather in machine to machine (instrumentation) language or in a combination of regular human language and instrumentation language. FISINT is also considered as a subset of MASINT (measurement and signature intelligence).

Typical examples of such communication include:

• Telemetry data (TELINT). Missiles, satellites and other remotely monitored devices often transmit streams of data concerning their location, speed, engine status and other metrics.
• Video data links. These may be from UAVs or from satellites used for reconnaissance.
• Remote access and control transmissions, such as from remote keyless systems, wireless doorbells and wireless traffic light control systems.
• Command signals used in teleoperation, such as the control of aerial vehicles, missiles and remotely-controlled robots.

See also

• SIGINT: Signals intelligence
  • COMINT: Communications intelligence
  • ELINT: Electronic intelligence
• HUMINT: Human intelligence
• IMINT: Imagery intelligence
• MASINT: Measurement and signature intelligence
• Missile guidance
• Intelligence collection management

References

1. NSA-faq