Introduction to electronic warfare

Abstract

The paper discusses the overall concept of electronic warfare (EW) and defines its three main subsets: electronic support measures (ESM), electronic countermeasures (ECM) and electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM). The requirements for ESM receivers are reviewed in the context of two specific scenarios: that of intelligence gathering for communications and radar. The different current ESM receiver designs for measuring the presence and frequency of pulsed radar signals, i.e. crystal video, instantaneous-frequency measurement (IFM) and scanning superheterodyne, are described and compared to show their capabilities. Specific ESM receiver equipments for identifying bearing and frequency information are discussed for both the communications and radar scenarios. In comparison, the significance of the new receiver architectures based on surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) channelised, compressive and acousto-optic Bragg cells are also discussed, illustrating their enhanced multiple-signal capability. The paper subsequently discusses active and passive EW techniques such as the use of jamming and chaff and the importance of integrating the ESM receiver and active ECM function into a single equipment. Finally, the paper reports on the use of ECCM coding techniques to retain use of the spectrum when jammers are present in radar and communications systems. The use of adaptive signal processing for cancelling out wide-and narrowband interference is also demonstrated. This outlines the relative significance and areas of application for adaptive antennas, based on fully phased arrays and coherent sidelobe cancellers.

Radar scan pattern analysis for reduction of false identification in electronic warfare support systems

“…Among the various radar parameters, the radar scan pattern has distinctive properties useful in identifying the enemy's radar [1][2][3][4][5][22][23][24]. Some new applications that utilise the radar scan pattern in emitter localisation have recently been presented [25][26][27].…”

“…EW has been classically divided into three subdivisions: EW support (ES), electronic protection (EP) and electronic attack (EA) [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The ES systems search for and intercept intentionally or unintentionally radiated electromagnetic (EM) signals emitted by the opponent whether in peace or in war.…”

“…To develop reliable and practical techniques that did not depend on an individual human's abilities, researches on the automatic identification of radars have been conducted [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The ES systems, however, confront an ambiguity problem where the multiple radar types are reported as the result of identification instead of picking out the specific one out of the emitter libraries mainly because of the advance of the low probability of intercept techniques and the increased number of emitters.…”

A Blue Print for the Future Electronic Warfare Suite Development

“…The main electronic defense systems that perform the functions of electronic warfare has been controlling /using the electromagnetic spectrum and they are broadly classified into the following categories 1 : Electronic support (ES) which supplies the necessary intelligence and threat recognition to allow effective attack and protection. The main objective is tactical interception.…”

A What-and-Where fusion neural network for recognition and tracking of multiple radar emitters

“…ESM hereby provide valuable information for real-time situation awareness, threat detection, threat avoidance, and for timely deployment of counter-measures (Browns, 1998;Davies and Hollands, 1982;Grant and Collins, 1982;Schleher, 1986;Schleher, 1999;Sciortino, 1997;Tsui, 1986;Wiley, 1993).…”