Leonardo Granted Second ELSAG Patent (US 12,236,780 B2): RF Device-Fingerprint Tracking 'Without a Camera' and Statistical Forecasting of a Target's Future Location

On February 25, 2025, the USPTO granted US Patent 12,236,780 B2, “Systems and Methods for Electronic Signature Tracking and Analysis,” to Leonardo US Cyber and Security Solutions LLC (the US arm of Italian-state-controlled defense prime Leonardo S.p.A.; inventor Todd Child, priority Sept 9, 2021). It is the second patent in the family behind ELSAG SignalTrace, the system that extends license-plate readers into person-tracking by fingerprinting the RF signals personal devices broadcast. The first patent — US 11,941,716 B2 (Mar 26, 2024) — covered collecting and correlating device signatures with plate reads. The ‘780 patent adds the “and Analysis,” and that is the escalation.

Two capabilities in the specification move this from tracking to prediction (verbatim):

• Tracking with no camera: “the intelligence system will be able to detect the likely presence of a vehicle and its associated license plate without visual information, e.g., without the use of a camera.” Once the model is trained on plate-reader data, it can flag a target without a camera present — the reader becomes disposable scaffolding.
• Forecasting future location: “This allows an investigator to forecast the presence of a violation type, vehicle, or group of vehicles across time and location…” The first patent answers “was this device here?” (retrospective); the second answers “where will this person be next?” (predictive) — statistical forecasting of a named individual’s future location from ambient RF. Pre-crime-adjacent.

Significance. This patent is the under-reported core of the ELSAG SignalTrace story. The June-2026 news cycle (404 Media, Proton, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, the Drey Dossier) documented the first patent and the marketing brochure; none reported the 2025 ‘780 patent or its forecasting/no-camera claims. A continuation application (US 2025/0157327 A1, priority Jan 2025) shows the family is still expanding. This is the mechanism by which the ALPR dragnet detaches from the plate — and from any triggering act — and attaches to the person and their predicted movements: the “you don’t have to do anything wrong, you just have to exist in the system” logic, patented.

Guardrails (verified absences). No law-enforcement agency is confirmed to have deployed SignalTrace — three-source verified absence (404 Media, Valdes-Rodriguez, Proton all name no buyer; no USASpending record names it). SignalTrace is patented, vendor-marketed, and purchasable through existing procurement rails — not confirmed as field-deployed. The vendor (Leonardo US Cyber and Security Solutions) does separately hold direct ELSAG plate-reader contracts with the DEA ($6.9M anchor) and ICE/HSI (2016 + 2021), per USASpending. Numbered patent claims (vs. specification/abstract quoted here) should be pulled before quoting “Claim 1.” Full substrate: leonardo-elsag org profile.