Octant intrusion detection
Octant is an intrusion detection system whose field panel, firmware and head end are designed together. Every alarm is authenticated, no acknowledged alarm is lost, and a power cut reports itself.
The gap
Conventional panels supervise the loop out to each sensor. The path from the panel to the monitoring station is where a replayed, suppressed or spoofed message, or a well-timed power cut, can blind a site without raising an alarm. We treat that path as part of the protected system.
Each frame carries an authentication tag and a sequence number inside a replay window. Five forged frames in 60 seconds raise a link-tamper alarm.
Every panel sends an authenticated supervision heartbeat. If the head end goes quiet for 3 seconds, the panel moves to a standby head end.
An analog power-fail circuit logs the event and sends a final authenticated message while the supply is still holding up.
The system
One team wrote the panel hardware, the firmware, the server and the operator console, so the guarantees hold from the sensor loop to the operator's screen.
Octant Control Center on a demonstration site (pre-release build). Panels that stop reporting are raised as alarms, each with its procedure attached.
Each zone is read against its end-of-line resistors (1k, 2k or 5k ohm packs), so the panel tells a real alarm from a cut wire or a bypass attempt before anything leaves the enclosure.
| Loop state | What the panel reports |
|---|---|
| Normal | Loop at its end-of-line value |
| Alarm | The sensor has tripped |
| Tamper | The sensor's tamper switch has opened |
| Alarm plus tamper | Both at once |
| Cut | Open circuit: the loop has been cut |
| Short | Shorted loop: an attempt to bypass the sensor |
Measured on silicon
Timed on the Octant 22 Panel firmware running on STM32H5 development hardware, from the moment the supply rail starts to fall.
Steps are in order, not to scale. µs is microseconds and ms is milliseconds. In simulation, the panel and network use 15.7 milliseconds of a 6-second annunciation budget, and head-end latency under burst load stays between 0.18 and 0.26 seconds at the 99th percentile.
Security
The controls an assessor asks about are part of the design: validated cryptography, strong sign-in, an audit trail that shows tampering, and logs that flow to the tools your security team already watches.
The head end does its cryptography through Windows CNG, the FIPS 140-3 validated module in Windows Server 2022. The next panel revision adds a FIPS 140-3 Level 3 secure element.
AES-256-GCM with per-session keys derived by HKDF, deterministic nonces, a replay window and a fresh key every 24 hours.
Panel firmware is signed, checked at every boot and delivered from the head end, so only images you approved run in the field.
Every operator action is written to an HMAC-chained log. A deleted or altered entry breaks the chain.
Operators sign in with Windows, a smart card or an authenticator app, and see only the partitions their role allows.
Syslog and CEF over TLS to your SIEM. The head end also checks its own security settings and raises a health alarm when one is wrong.
Where it fits
Protected areas and entry points where the detection system has to pass its own review, not just the sensors on it.
Keypad arming at the door, a supervised enclosure tamper, and documentation written for assessors.
Utilities, water and telecom sites with long fiber runs, no IT closet and nobody on site.
Supervised inputs and OSDP readers with open interfaces, without buying into a proprietary head end.
Status
We would rather tell you exactly how far along we are. The software is working; the hardware is designed and its first build is next.
Built and running, with 494 automated tests and 27 bench scenarios passing. An internal adversarial review found 12 issues, all fixed.
Zephyr RTOS firmware runs the encrypted link, command path, independent watchdog and power-fail path on STM32H5 hardware.
8-layer design complete and passing its design-rule checks.
Fabricate and bring up the first Octant 22 Panels (revision B), measure hold-up energy at worst-case load and temperature, and move link cryptography into the secure element.
Model-check the transport protocol, run independent red-team testing, and pursue UL 294 and UL 2050 listing. No listings are held yet.
Looking for pilot sites, integrator partners and research partners. If you run a site that has to prove its detection system works, we would like to hear from you.
Get in touchCompany
Eight November LLC, founded in 2026, builds high-assurance physical security products. Its first product is Octant. The Octant 22 Panel, its firmware, the head end and the Octant Control Center are all designed in-house.
The founder has more than a decade of frontline security experience and works as a network engineer who designs networks and programs and integrates access control systems. He holds a B.S. in Cybersecurity and Information Systems.
The system comes from both sides of the job: the person who depends on the alarm in the field, and the person who installs, networks and supports the system behind it.
Contact
Integrators, facility security teams, pilot sites and research partners interested in Octant: send a note and the founder will reply.