For airborne public safety crews operating beyond reliable cellular coverage, maintaining awareness of aircraft, boats, and emergency beacon signals can require multiple systems and data sources. Zero Fox Worx is developing Arcus to bring those capabilities together in a single portable receiver.
Demonstrated during APSCON 2026 in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, Arcus is a lightweight, receive-only device designed to display nearby tracking information directly on smartphones, tablets, and computers. The first-generation system focuses on Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast, or ADS-B, aircraft traffic. The upcoming second generation will add Automatic Identification System (AIS) data from marine vessels and the ability to detect emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signals.
“In Gen 2, we’re adding AIS, which is tracking for boats, and also an ELT-tracking capability,” Zero Fox Worx founder and CEO Christy Lesko told Valor Plus. “You can see all three of those either on your ForeFlight or on your ATAK or CivTAK.” The combination could prove particularly valuable during search-and-rescue missions involving multiple aircraft, vessels, and ground teams. A crew could use Arcus to follow an aircraft responding to the scene, identify participating boats, and track toward an activated emergency beacon using one portable system.
“What that means to the law enforcement and first responder community is that you’re tracking toward the ELT or the downed pilot, you can see where your boat is, and you can see the ETA of where your helicopter is,” Lesko said. “You can view everything on one device.”
Zero Fox Worx initially developed Arcus for military users, but the company sees applications across law enforcement, firefighting, emergency response, and civil aviation. The device is intended to work with both Apple and Android platforms, including ATAK- and CivTAK-equipped Samsung devices. Zero Fox Worx says Arcus can operate offline without cellular service, external Wi-Fi, or a subscription by receiving locally transmitted ADS-B data directly from aircraft.
The second-generation unit is expected to be approximately the size of a handheld radio and could be carried by a crewmember or installed temporarily in a helicopter, airplane, boat, command vehicle, or off-road vehicle.
Arcus creates its own local interface, allowing users to connect through Wi-Fi and view traffic on a browser-based map. It can also connect directly to a phone or tablet through a USB cable, permitting users in sensitive operations to shut off the unit’s Wi-Fi radio. “It is a receive-only device,” Zero Fox Worx product developer Ryan Wallace told Valor Plus. “It is only listening for those signals.
Wallace said the internal interface also helps crews verify that the receiver is operating correctly, even when no targets are displayed.
When an internet connection is available through a mobile hotspot or satellite internet service, Arcus can supplement its locally-received line-of-sight data with information from beyond the immediate operating area.
“If you want to look 200 miles ahead, you can plug into a hotspot on your phone or through Starlink,” Wallace said. “Then you can get the internet pass-through to see what is happening over the horizon.”
Users operating through ATAK can identify targets by call sign, select a specific aircraft or vessel, and continue tracking that asset throughout an operation.
“So far, there’s nothing else on the market that we’ve seen that can put all three of those different systems into one device and be cross-platform between Apple and Android,” Lesko said.
Zero Fox Worx was demonstrating a working prototype at APSCON and expected to complete development of Arcus Gen 2 by the end of 2026, with commercial availability projected for the first quarter of 2027. Pricing hadnot yet been established.