Radiomonitoring receivers are specifically optimized for spectrum monitoring tasks and differ fundamentally from test receivers and spectrum analyzers. Monitoring receivers are used for the following tasks:

• Detection of unknown signals in unknown environments
• Search for activities over wide frequency ranges with fast scanning modes
• Monitoring of individual frequencies, lists of frequencies or frequency ranges
• Measurement of spectral characteristics of very short or rarely occurring signals
• Triggering of further activities after a signal is detected
• Demodulation of communications and/or transfer of demodulated signals for processing
• Direction finding and radiolocation of signal sources
• Coverage measurements and measurements in line with ITU recommendations
• Storage of measurement results and I/Q data for reporting and offline analysis

The above tasks place special requirements on the hardware and software of the receivers, the type of control via front panel or remote control interface, the provision and processing of captured data, and the integration of receivers into complex systems. Monitoring receivers must be able to process antenna signals with high cumulative loads and wide dynamic range. In particular, gapless real-time processing is a requirement that other receiver types usually cannot meet.