Radar jamming is a form of electronic countermeasures (ECM), designed

to degrade the effectiveness of enemy radar systems. Usually, this is

done by emitting radio signals at specific frequencies which impair the
ability of radar systems to accurately detect and depict objects in the
operational environment. This can generate “noise” in the radio spectrum
which will confuse or mislead the enemy and affect their decision-making
accordingly.

Popular Types of Radar Jamming

There are multiple types of noise jamming.

Spot Jamming,  which involves concentrating jamming power on a single

frequency. In previous eras, spot jamming could be very effective when
the military understood which types of radars enemy forces were likely
to be using and on what frequencies.

Spot jamming is simply narrowing the bandwidth of the noise jammer so

that as much of jammer power as possible is in the radar receiver the
bandwidth.

Barrage jamming is using a wide noise bandwidth to cover several radars

with one jammer compensate for any uncertainty in the radar frequency.
It is also possible to wobble a spot jamming frequency in a wide band.
Therefore this is called swept jamming.

Often used in the World War II, chaff is a passive disturbing method
which cause high noise-similar clutter on reason of its own reflection.

Two types of chaff and their cannisters.

Clutter producing reflective materials (thin staniol stripes or metallic

covered glass fibers) are dispensed into the atmosphere. These stay quite
long time into the atmosphere and cause impenetrable clouds for the
radar signals. For better effect the length of the stripes is tuned with the
wavelength of the radar unit.

While spot jamming can be effective against a specific frequency, all the
enemy had to do is switch to another frequency, as frequency-agile radar
systems are designed to do, and the jamming was rendered ineffective.

Spot jamming is simply narrowing the bandwidth of the noise jammer so

that as much of jammer power as possible is in the radar receiver the
bandwidth. Barrage jamming is using a wide noise bandwidth to cover
several radars with one jammer compensate for any uncertainty in the
radar frequency. It is also possible to wobble a spot jamming frequency
in a wide band. Therefore this is called swept jamming.

Often used in the World War II, chaff is a passive disturbing method
which cause high noise-similar clutter on reason of its own reflection.

Clutter producing reflective materials (thin staniol stripes or metallic

covered glass fibers) are dispensed into the atmosphere. These stay quite
long time into the atmosphere and cause impenetrable clouds for the
radar signals. For better effect the length of the stripes is tuned with the
wavelength of the radar unit.

Barrage and Sweep Radar Jamming techniques were developed in

response to this challenge. Sweep jamming focuses the full power of the
jammer one frequency at a time while allowing for quick changes
between frequencies. Barrage jamming involves jamming more than one
frequency at a time, which certainly “covers more ground” in a manner of
speaking, but the power of the jamming is lessened since it is dispersed
across multiple frequencies at once. Related techniques like Pulse Radar
Jamming have been developed which add an additional layer of
protection for friendly forces by obscuring the location from which the
jamming signal is emanating.

All of these innovations have, of course, spurred the evolution of

sophisticated radar systems like AESA, which offer a higher degree of
resistance to jamming and a much lower probability of intercept than
older systems.

The Even More Devious - Radar Spoofing

Radar jamming as a concept is simple, and dangerously effective when it
works. Radar spoofing is arguably even more devious. Spoofing is not so
much about interfering with the functionality of radar systems, but
rather tricking them into displaying inaccurate information to deceive
enemy forces. Spoofing systems like the Digital Radio Frequency
Memory Units (DRFM) recently ordered by the US Navy  can confuse the
enemy by replaying captured pulses with a delay, making a target appear
to move when it may not be. These units can also trick enemy radars into
perceiving more than one target.

While this is only one example of radar spoofing, the fact that the
military is beginning to invest more heavily in this technology
demonstrates a renewed commitment to excellence and superiority in
electronic warfare — a domain in which the US military is, in some ways,
playing catch up.
The Next Generation of Radar Jamming & EW Tech

To close the electronic warfare gap, the Department of Defense is

investing in new radar jamming technologies. But in the 21st  century, it’s
not going to be enough to have defense systems in place only. The
military must have effective offensive electronic warfare capabilities as
well. This is where the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) comes in.

The NGJ will replace the AN/ALQ-99 system currently integrated into

the EA-18G Growler , the Navy’s specialized electronic warfare aircraft.
The US Navy recently awarded a $1 billion contract to Raytheon to
develop and manufacture the NGJ for the EA-18G. The NGJ is an AESA-
based system designed to not only provide awareness of enemy radar
and electronic attacks but to jam enemy radar and targeting systems on
multiple frequencies at once, especially surface-to-air (SAM) missile
systems.

Modern SAM systems have a much greater ability to detect and target
stealth aircraft than in the past. But aircraft equipped with the NGJ will
be able to avoid being targeted by these systems and launch electronic
attacks of their own against them. This will not only help improve the
electronic attack capabilities of friendly forces but allow them to carry
out their missions in hostile territory with a lower risk of being detected,
effectively enhancing the stealth attributes of NGJ-equipped planes. In
the words of one air force Commander speaking on the NGJ, “We are
making the enemy look at the sky through a soda straw.”

While the EA-18G will be the first plane to feature the NGJ, it is
designed to be compatible with many different aircraft. It is likely to be
incorporated into F-35 and the upcoming B-21 long-range strike-bomber
as well.

Radar jamming and spoofing has been a vital factor in military affairs for
decades, and in the 21st century, the importance of this technology is
going to increase dramatically. Firms serving the military in developing
ECM and ECCM solutions will want to make sure they have only the best
people and organizations on their side in this new era of electronic
warfare. With a track record of radio frequency excellence dating back to
World War II, the engineers at Bliley Technologies are more than up to
the task.
PESA Radar

PESA radar uses common shared RF source in which signal is modified using
digitally controlled phase shifter modules. A PESA is an array of individual
antennas. Each antenna radiates the same signal, except the phase. The
phase adjustment for each antenna allows for the non-moving array to behave
like if it could be rotated, i.e. the direction the energy is sent to or receive from
can be selected by adjusting the phase for the individual antennas.
Passive means the radiator receives the signal to be sent and just radiates it.
The signal must already have the required phase. This is usually done with a
single oscillator which feeds an array of phase shifters which in turn feed the
array of radiators.

Delaying an electric signal is quite easy: Just increase the length of the
conductor (see analog delay line). A length variation between 0 and the wave
length (e.g. 10 cm for a wavelength of 10 cm -- 3 GHz) allows to sweep the
whole range of possible phase values from 0 to 360°.

The switches are fast pin diode switches. A central computer calculates the
proper phase delay for each of the radiating elements and switches in the
appropriate combination of phase-shifters pathways.
Following are the features of PESA radar.
• As shown in the figure-1, it uses single transmitter/receiver module.
• PESA radar produces beam of radio waves which can be electronically
steered in different directions.
• Here antenna elements are interfaced with single transmitter/receiver. Here
PESA differs from AESA where separate transmit/receive modules are used
for each of the antenna elements. All these are controlled by computer as
mentioned below.
• Due to single frequency of use, it has high probability to be jammed by
enemy RF jammers.
• It has slow scan rate and can track only single target or handle single task at
a time.

Analog Beamforming
analog beamforming transmitter
The figure-1 depicts analog beamforming transmitter. As shown baseband
signal to be transmitted is modulated first. This radio signal is splitted using
power divider and passed through the beamformer which has provision to
change amplitude (ak) and phase (θk) of the signals in each of the paths
going towards stack of antennas. Power divider depends on number of
antennas used in antenna array for example 4 way power divider is needed to
address the need of 4 antenna array.

analog beamforming receiver

The figure-2 depicts analog beamforming receiver. As shown in the receiver
block diagram, complex weight is applied to the signal from each antenna in
the array. Complex weight consists of both amplitude and phase. After these
is done, signals are combined into one output. This provides desired
directional pattern from array of antennas.

Wk= ak *ejsin(θk)
Wk= ak*cos(θk) + j* ak sin(θk)
Where,
Wk represents complex weight for kth antenna in the array.
ak is relative amplitude of weight.
θk is phase shift of weight.

AESA Radar

AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array )uses electronically controlled

array antenna in which beam of radio waves can be electronically steered in
order to point the same in different directions without movement of the
antenna. It is considered to be advanced version of PESA radar.
Following are the features of AESA radar.
 Active means the radiator has its own oscillator to create its own signal. The
active element must receive the value of the phase shift to use from a
central element which coordinates the whole array.
• It uses multiple transmitter/receiver modules.
• The multiple Transmit/Receive modules are interfaced with multiple antenna
elements known as array antenna.
• AESA radar produces multiple beams at different radio frequencies
simultaneously.
Active Active Array Enables Higher System Clutter Attenuation Due to
Distributed Architecture /Distributed HPA/LNA Architecture
• Due to capabilities of multiple frequency generation over wide range, it has
least probability to be jammed by enemy RF jammers.
• It has fast scan rates and can track multiple targets or multiple tasks.

Digital Beamforming

The figure-3 depicts digital beamforming receiver. As shown in the figure,

amplitude scaling, phase shifting of each antenna elements and their sum
have been carried out digitally.

• Digital beamforming consists of RF translators, A/D converters, DDCs,

complex weight multiplication and summing operation.
• RF Translator converts higher RF signal frequency to lower IF signal
frequency. This is done using RF mixer. LO signal is fed to the RF mixer in
order to perform RF to IF conversion. Appropriate filters (bandpass and
lowpass) are used at the input and output of the RF mixer.
• This IF signal is converted to digital equivalent using A/D converter using
appropriate sampling clock.
• The digitized IF signal is passed to the DDC (Digital Down Converter). The
DDC using cos(2*π*Fc*t) and sin(2*π*Fc*t) and low pass filtering to convert
digital IF into baseband I/Q components or combined I+j*Q signal. The
combined signal is designated as s(t) in the figure-3.
s(t) = x(t) +j*y(t)
Where, s(t) -> complex baseband signal
x(t) -> i(t) i.e. real part (I)
y(t) ->-q(t) i.e. imaginary part (Q)
j = SQRT(-1)
• Complex weights are being applied to these baseband signals (s(t)).
• The results from these antenna elements are summed up to produce
baseband signal with desired directional pattern.
• The signal after summation is given to demodulator to retrive the information
from radio signal.
Cover same volume with fewer dwell positions
•Additional radar timeline made available
Shorter frame time -> quick target detection
Longer waveform integration -> higher detection sensitivity, clutter
mitigation
Incorporate multiple simultaneous radar functions

•Example: Number of dwell locations reduced by factor of 2 via multiple

digital beams

Increase waveform integration time by 2X –or -

Reduce search frame time by 2X

Following are the similarities between modern PESA and AESA radar types.
• Both modern PESA and AESA are generally pulse radars.
• Both modern PESA and AESA are frequency agile and frequency hopped at
different frequencies at different times.
• Both can have narrow band and wide band modes.
• Both can be used for ECM, passive scanning, beamforming etc.
Beam Forming Processor

Adaptive beamforming
By performing some processes with the received array signals, such as weighting and summation,
beamforming can help the antenna realize many advanced functions, such as beam shaping, beam
scanning, and beam nulling . Reception beamforming is independently achieved at each receiver;
however, the transmitter in transmit beamforming has to consider all receivers to optimize the
beamformer output . Adaptive beamforming is a technique for receiving a signal of interest (SOI)
from specific directions while suppressing the interfering signals adaptively in other directions using
an array of sensors. This technique can automatically optimize the array pattern by adjusting the
elemental control weights until a prescribed objective function is satisfied. This technique provides a
means for separating a desired signal from interfering signals.