ELECTRONIC WARFARE

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Electronic Counter Measure encompasses all actions taken to
introduce signals into an electronic system which degrades the
performance of that system so that it is unable to perform its
intended mission.
ECM
Passive
Chaff

Decoy

Active
Noise
# Spectral
#Spatial
#Temporal

Deception ECM
(DECM)

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Type of Jamming
1.
2.
3.

Self Protection
Escort
Stand Off

Noise Jamming
1. Barrage
2. Sweep
3. Spot
4. Smart

(Denial / Obstruction )
Injects an interference signal into the enemys electronic
equipment such that the actual signal is completely
submerged by the interference. Optimum jamming signal
should have the characteristics of victim receiver noise.
Minimum details of victim radar is required.

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Barrage Jamming
Jammer instantaneous RF ( X - Band ) BW- 1 GHz
Victim radars IF BW
- 10 MHz
Jammer power output ( Noise Energy )
- 1000 W
Noise Spectral Power Density
- 1000 =
1W
1x 109
1x 106
Jammer Ant Gain - 13dBi
Effective Radiated Power Spectral Density
- 20 W/ MHz
Effective Radiated Power at IF BW( Noise Power) - 20 x10 = 200 W

Spot Jamming
Inst RF BW - 10 MHz
Spot Noise Power Spectral Density
10
Jammer Ant Gain
ERP at IF ( Noise Power )

- 1000W = 100 W/MHz

- 13dBi
- 20, 000 W

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Spatial ( Ref Fig 3.2 )
1.
2.

Main Lobe Jamming

Side Lobe Jamming

Stand Off or
R2 Vs R4
Support Jamming

Reduction in Radar Range Vs Jamming ERP Spectral Density

Self - Screening Jamming - Main Lobe
Spot Noise BW
10 MHz
Rx IF BW
1 MHz
Jammer Ant Gain
6 dBi
ERP Spectral Density reqd for reduction ofRadar range to
10% of nominal range ( from curve in fig 3.2 )
0.3W/MHz
ERP for 10 MHz BW
3 W/ MHz
Since Ant Gain is 6dBi (4) Power O/P at Tx
3/4 W/MHz
If Radars Rx is broad banded of the order of 1 GHz then
Broad band jamming power reqd = 3x1000/43000/4= 750 W

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Stand Off Jamming
Jammer at 50 nm from Radar and works through side lobes
For reduction in range to 30% of nominal range
jamming ERP spectral density reqd ( from fig 3.2 )
650 W / MHz
Jammer ant gain
13dBi
Tx ERP Spectral density reqd
32.5 W/ MHz
Spot Jamming Power Reqmnt ( 10 MHz ) 325 W
If Power O/P of Stand - Off Jammer is
2000 W
Jammer Ant Gain
13 dBi
Then ERP of Jammer is
40 kW
ERP density for 10 MHz BW at Tx -40 x 10 3 W/ 10 MHz = 4 x 103 W/MHz
Range reduction is 17% at 50 nm, 25%at 100nm, 57% at 50nm for ulta low
side lobe, for 100MHz BW 83% and for 1GHz 96%.

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

# RCS of Jammer aircraft broadside > end on ( x5)
# Limitd power availability
# SPJ are therefore are designed for front and tail.

Factors Affecting Noise Jammers Effectiveness

1. Antenna Polarisation
a. Slant / Circular Vs Vertical / Horizontal - 3 dB
b. RHC Vs LHC -15 to -20 dB
2. Quality of Jammer noise
a. Ideal noise - Gaussian noise
b. Poor quality noise - 17 dB
c. Direct Noise amplification DINA
Band limited Gaussian noise ( Rx or thermal noise )
d. Baseband generation and hetrodyned to RF , power amplified and
radiated.

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

e. Peak power limited TWTs resulting in clipped noise wave form
(Used where the jammer BW>> victim emitter BW )
f. Quasi-linear mode TWT operation - Full noise wave form

Frequency / Phase Modulation

1. FM / PM is not affected by power amplification saturation
2. Freq/Phase modulate noise waveform to obtain max power O/P from
jamming Tx
3. Use Gaussian distributed process to Freq modulate jammer Tx with
wide phase deviation then O/P spectral density will have an approx
Gaussian shape.Gaussian distributed freq control wave form when
passed through non-linear amplifier becomes uniformly distributed
random wave form.
4. Apply Combined sawtooth and noise waveform with large freq
deviation ( Wide Band FM. Mod Inex>>1 ).

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

5.If victim Rxs impulse response duration ( inversely proportional to Rx
BW ) is much greater than Jammers sweep rate, then a number of
randomly spaced , independent overlapping impulse responses will be
added together to form the victim Rxs O/P wave form. This results in
declaration of False targets.
6. Narrow Band FM produces many randomly spaced spurious targets
and creates confusion. However since these randomly occurring impulse
respones do not overlap as in the case of wide band, the real targets are
not obscured and can be extracted by appropriate temporal ECCM fix.
7. Digital Noise can be generated by regenerative Shift Register
techniques. Digital noise can be synchronised to victim radars waveform
This facilitates Spot Jamming / Smart Noise jamming against multiple
threats by programming the jammers transmission. This avoids gain
capturing in jammers TWT when multiple emitters are simultaneously
jammed. Helps in power management of jammer.

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Jammer Look -Through
Jammers radiation needs to be controlled :To save power
Not to reveal / compromise safety of jammer platform
Jammers operate on Look - Through mode interlaced with the jamming
transmissions so that intercept receiver can operate with full sensitivity
while the jammer is turned off to determine jammers effectiveness such
as correct tuning and adequate power level.
Emitter signal -85 dBm
Jammers power level + 63 dBm
Look through mode involves separation in Spatial domain Antenna isolation + Active cancellation (an attenuated
sample of transmitted signal is combined in phase
opposition with the leakage signal)

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Temporal Domain Average switching rate of 20 Hz between intercept

Spectral Domain

Rx and Jammer Tx. Gating of jammer for CW

signals. Switches in transmitting and receiving paths
of Repeater Jammer to avoid Ring Around Effect
Mis -Tuning jammers central Freq by hetrodyning +
Dummy Load

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Power Management
( ECM Resource Management )
Need for power management:1. High Density threat environment Vs Limited power availability of SPJ
2. Expanding Types of different types of advanced RADARS
Pulse Compression Builds up the signal coherently with respect to
Pulse Doppler
background noise
Spread Spectrum
3. Effective and efficient jamming through integration and automation
Elements of ECM power management ;1. ESM Rx To intercept threat signals and measurement of
attributes

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

2. Digital Computer

To analyse and interpret threat

To compare with threats in the memory
To develop an optimum strategy
To employ available jamming assets
3. Jammer
To radiate jamming pulses as per the strategy
developed by the digital computer
There is a need to define rules of engagement that can cope with a wide
variety of military situations and new types of radar threats. Based on
apriori information about location, type and operating mode of threat
emitters, program ( rules of engagement) should evaluate threat priority,
choice of type of jamming ( Noise or Deception ) select specific method
of operation and ERP levels ( including antenna directivity ), cope with
momentary threats and also monitor the effect / reaction of threat emitter
to jamming.

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Power management is carried out in Temporal, Spectral, Spatial and
Amplitude domains
Temporal :- Time sharing of jamming assets
Concentration of jamming energy in a time interval
surrounding the time threat pulse is received by RWR
Requires apriori knowledge of victim Radars characteristics
Typical Jam Window is of the order of 10% of PRI
Anticipation of arrival of emitter pulse ( Tracking )
Precise control of Txs and antennae on pulse to pulse basis
Deterministic Vs Random pulse waveforms
Spectral
Function of freq measurement accuracy
Need to know threat emitters BW
To decide whether Spot or Barrage jamming
Coherent threat signals requires coherent storage ( memory )

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Spatial

Use of narrow fan beam in azimuth provides high ERP in the

direction of threat
Electronically steerable phased array antenna - high ERP +
ability to engage multiple emitters by rapidly by switching
beam ( of the order of secs)
Amplitude To achieve a J/S ( Jamming to Signal) ratio of 10 to 13 dB
requires knowledge of DOA of threat signal, RCS in that
direction to determine the target amplitude received by the
radar.
Also determine jammers transmitting and receiving antenna
gain in that direction to arrive at power required to
achieve
the desired J/S ratio

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Deception Electronic Counter Measure ( DECM )
# Objective is to mask the real signal by injecting a suitably modified
replica of the real signal in to the victim radar system
Used by SPJ against Tracking Radars ( terminal threats ) as noise
jamming can only deny range information but can be tracked in angle and
is susceptible for attack/destruction by radiationseeking and other type of
guided missiles. DECM attempts to jam victim radar both in range and in
angle. Some DECM also attempt to jam velocity tracking circuits to
prevent cross checking between doppler measurements and differentiated
range measurement.
* DECM requires less energy as compared to equivalent noise jammer
which makes it possible to simultaneously jam a number of radars from a
single DECM
* DECM employs a waveform for which radar Rx is matched. Hence
develops additional processing gain in radars using coherent processing

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

# Advantages over noise jammer : 1. DECM operate at a duty cycle consistent with that of victim radar
2. As DECM signal has the properties of a bonafide signal experiences
full processing gain of the victim radar.
Repeater Jammer :- Radiates replicas of the victim radars signal,
possibly delayed in time , modulated in amplitude and shifted in doppler
freq as is appropriate to the jammer mode selected. ( Refer Fig 3.4). A
memory loop consisting off a delay line and an in line TWT forms the
core of repeater jammer. A switch to gate off Rx from the Tx and to
connect the signal to the output TWT for transmission, a preamp TWT for
reception of weak signal a detector to sense presence of incoming signal
and to activate the control circuitary for gating functions. In line TWTs
are of CW type while output TWTs are of Pulse type. Delay line is
implemented using either a co-axial line or a SAW device. Loop delay
must be less than the min expected pulse width. Typical loop delay is of
the order of 150 to 250 ns which includes 12- 20ns delayof the loop TWT

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Problems :1.Isolation between Rx and Tx to prevent self oscillation - Ring around80 to 90 dB isolation. Separation between Tx and Rx antennae 50 dB at 3
GHz and10 feet separation and 62 dB at 10 GHz. Ant coverage restricted.
2.Noise capture when no signal is present. Gating of inline TWT or by
opening the memory switch.
3.Phase discontinuity due to loop delay not being integral multiple of
carrier RF period.
4. Gradual deterioration due to noise build up and dispersion in the loop
delay line. Max storage time limited to 10secs min delay 100ns lags
behind real skin target echoes
5. Cannot accept intrapulse modulated signals.

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Digital RF Memory ( DRFM ) :- Based on the principle of sampling a
video signal at a rate which is twice the highest freq component of interset
and storing the digitised samples in a memory and recreating the the
signal at a later time using the stored sample. This concept can be
extended to complex or RF signals by storing both in phase and
quadrature components.
A reference oscillator whose O/P freq is same as that of centre freq of the
signal and a 900 phase shifted version of the same are mixed
( hetrodyned ) with the signal and the filtered output is stored as in-phase
and quadrature base band components. To get back the original signal
baseband digitised signal is converted into analog signals again mixed
with ref signals and combined with a 900 phase shift.
For multiple signsls ref osc freq varies from respective centre freq. Hence
the BW involved in the digital storage is not the signal BW but the max
freq difference between the ref osc and the extreme freq component of the
signal of interest. For example if a 10 MHz video BW radar signal is

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

mixed with a ref osc freq of 9.5 GHz , total BW stored must be 510 MHz
and not 10 MHz.
DRFM operation is independent of storage time and no deterioration of
signal fidelity with delay time.
Multiple simultaneous signals can be stored and replicated on command.
Intra pulse modulated signal such as Pulse Compression and Phase coded
signal can be stored and replicated.
Doppler shifts can be induced onto the replicated signal by simply
offsetting the freq of the ref osc at the DRFM input, which translates the
signal to baseband, and ref osc at the output which translates the signal to
RF.
The memory consists of high speed RAM digital devices. The memory
size is a function of the pulsewidth to be stored and the sampling rate
determined by the instantaneous BW. The instantaneous BW is typically
positioned about the local oscillsators centre freq.

ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE ( ECM )

Typical Digital RF Memory Specification
RF Outputs
Frequency
Pulsewidth
Level
RF inputs
Instantaneous BW
Tuning Range
Dynamic Range
Memory
Pulsewidth Capacity

Input 1 kHz
Input 40ns
-12 4dBm over RF band

400 MHz
5.4 to 5.9 GHz
- 30 dBm to 0 dBm
100 ns to 27 sec