Technology Trends in Electronic Warfare (EW)

Surya Kumar (SK) Singh . Chief Scientist, eAge Technologies India Pvt Ltd ., #Bengalore

www.eageit.com

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Electronic warfare (EW) is warfare involving the use of the?electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy?to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy operations. At the same time, EW can disrupt, deny and degrade the adversaries' ability to use these signals. Radar warning receivers, signals intelligence, electronic intelligence and communications intelligence? Counter-improvised explosive devices jamming systems are ?part of the EW systems.

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Electromagnetic warfare generally consists of three parts - electromagnetic attack, electromagnetic warfare support and electromagnetic protection. With the evolution of technologies all these three divisions are merged into single device, thanks to innovations and the capabilities of Software Defined Radio (SDR). The trend in technological development embedded with Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Radio will be the nerve for the future of EW Technology.

?The need to integrate stealth technology and EW systems into military equipment is anticipated to act as a major demand driver for EW systems, as stealth technology on its own will not be sufficient to combat threats. For example, an aircraft is required to be able to detect radio frequency electromagnetic emissions of enemy aircraft while simultaneously leveraging its own stealth capabilities.

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Communications of Military environment get significant attacks across ?EW. EW deals with disruption or interception through emissions. In the instance of EW, communications hardening increased jamming and intercept capabilities are currently in ongoing development and it is a race to detect the others’ communications while securing its own.? Techniques of spreading the signal (making signal look like noise) or changing the frequency at random (Frequency Hopping) are old, proven techniques to avoid the jamming of communication by the enemies known as Spread Spectrum. This is also undergoing rapid evolution due to enhanced computational capabilities innovations of new Algorithms. The sudden move to a non-permissive environment has increased barriers to intercepting enemy communications and other electronics intelligence efforts, at the same time as imposing new and high demands for communications security.

?Militaries across the globe are being armed with ?portable jammers. The increasing focus on portable EW systems is facilitating ?the development of smaller lightweight personal protection devices to improve war fighting capabilities. Technology development trends are increasingly directed towards the development of jammers that will have selective and reactive jamming capabilities, rather than current generation jammers that simply barrage the environment with signals, but also block friendly communications.

?The next generation of active electronically scanned array radars features Transmitter and Receivers Modules ?which not only improves scanning performance but also outperforms travelling wave tube amplifier-based phased array radars in terms of range and peak output power. The development of new systems like directed energy weapons, quantum-based technologies and space based assets embedded with Artificial intelligence and Cognitive Radio will define the future of EW technology.

?The impact of Technological developments for EW will not only impact the Military capabilities but will also impact civilian applications over a period of time.