CosmicWatch: Building an Open-Source AI Observatory for Unusual Radio Signals

Description and use

CosmicWatch automates the detection of anomalous radio signals, easing the workload for SETI researchers.

Problem

Radio telescopes generate massive data streams, making manual inspection of unusual signals impractical.

Outcome

CosmicWatch reduces manual inspection effort by automating detection and prioritization of unusual radio‑signal candidates, providing clear explanations for each flag.

Workflow

• 1. Ingest raw .fil/.h5 files via BLIMPY.
• 2. Apply CNN to detect candidate signals.
• 3. Run Isolation Forest to flag statistical anomalies.
• 4. Score candidates for prioritization.
• 5. Generate LLM explanations for flagged candidates.
• 6. Visualize results on a FastAPI/React dashboard.

Evidence

Radio telescopes generate huge amounts of data, making manual inspection difficult.

Source

CosmicWatch uses a lightweight CNN for signal detection, Isolation Forest for anomaly detection, candidate scoring for prioritization, and an open-weight LLM for explaining why a candidate was flagged.

Source

CosmicWatch does not claim to detect aliens. Instead, it identifies unusual radio‑signal patterns that researchers can investigate further, with SETI as one of its key applications.

Source