A soliton antenna served as a sensor, allowing vessels to track each other when traveling in hyperspace. Its functionality relied on identifying the soliton wave generated by ships as they initiated a jump to lightspeed. The precise ability of this device remains ambiguous; it's uncertain if it could pinpoint ship locations or merely register soliton changes, which signify transitions between hyperspace and realspace.
The precision of the device could be compromised if adequate cooling wasn't performed between uses. Furthermore, the tracking vessel's own compression wave could interfere with and obscure the signals emitted by other ships.
By the year 17 ABY, soliton antennae were implemented on warships within the Deep Core, specifically on vessels like the Gorath and [Tobay] belonging to the Grand Imperial Navy. Whether the New Republic possessed similar technological capabilities is currently unknown.
The soliton and the compression wave both represent forms of waveforms that exist in the real world.