Stage Talks with Bellingcat "Real-Time Monitoring For Research" with Aram Shabanian
Feb 27, 2026
Aram Shabanian, an open-source researcher known for real-time monitoring with scanners, webcams and sensors. He walks through using live radio, traffic and environmental feeds. He highlights building camera networks, spotting escalation cues, ethical sharing and archiving tricks. Practical tools and surprising data sources come up throughout.
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Match Scanner Hardware To Your Area
- Do know which scanner hardware fits your area: basic analog, trunked digital, or encrypted systems.
- Aram notes $60–$100 scanners work for trunked county systems, while encrypted metro radios may need ~$400 decoders or SDR setups.
Hunt For Unusual Public Webcams
- Try searching non-obvious public webcams like schools, memorial societies, and local ISPs to build monitoring networks.
- Aram found school webcams across Mariupol and a Kharkiv academy stream that showed convoys and later combat activity.
Business Cameras Can Show Strategic Targets
- Insight: Industrial or business webcams often unintentionally show strategic sites at distance.
- Example: a harbor webcam revealed the Kersh Strait Bridge arches at night, later showing fire when the bridge was struck.