RF Challenges in the Modern

EW Battlespace

▪ Dr. Patrick Ford

▪ Instructor, Erevno Aerospace Corporation
▪ patrick.ford@erevno.com

▪ March 12th, 2020

▪ 14:00 – 15:00 EDT
▪ 18:00 – 19:00 UTC
 Brock Sheets
Director of Marketing,
Communications & Education
2
Gold Sponsors

Interested in Sponsoring the AOC Virtual Series? Click here

4
Presenter:

Dr. Patrick Ford

Instructor, Erevno Aerospace
patrick.ford@erevno.com
5
RF Challenges in the Modern
EW Battlespace

▪ Dr. Patrick Ford

▪ Instructor, Erevno Aerospace Corporation
▪ patrick.ford@erevno.com

▪ March 12th, 2020

▪ 14:00 – 15:00 EDT
▪ 18:00 – 19:00 UTC
 Today’s discussion:

• Overview of the RF spectrum

• Pros and cons of various frequency bands

• Design and operational tradeoffs

7
 Electromagnetic Spectrum

Derived from: Joint Doctrine Note 3-1

8
 Electromagnetic Spectrum

Derived from: DOD Joint Spectrum Center

9
EW and Radar Spectrums

Electronic Warfare (MHz) Radar (MHz)

• A 0 - 250 • VHF 30 - 300

• B 250 - 500 • UHF 300 - 1,000
• C 500 - 1,000 • L 1,000 - 2,000
• D 1,000 - 2,000 • S 2,000 - 4,000
• E 2,000 - 3,000 • C 4,000 - 8,000
• F 3,000 - 4,000 • X 8,000 - 12,000
• G 4,000 - 6,000 • Ku 12,000 - 18,000
• H 6,000 - 8,000 • K 18,000 - 27,000
• I 8,000 - 10,000 • Ka 27,000 - 40,000
• J 10,000 - 20,000 • MM 40,000 - 300,000
• K 20,000 - 40,000
• L 40,000 - 60,000
• M 60,000 - 100,000
• N 100,000 – 200,000
• O 200,000 – 300,000

10
 The EW Spectrum Challenge
Software Defined Radios and Waveform Diversity:
Increased RF spectrum capability minimizes hardware changeouts

11
Some things don’t change…

Fortunately (or unfortunately),

there are laws/rules-of-thumb that
still apply across the spectrum

12
Antenna Resonance

v
l=
• Resonance occurs in a narrow region

• Most antennas are very limited in their

f ‘effective’ frequency range

Operating efficiently requires the right size antenna

for the frequency at which you are operating

13
𝛌 and Antenna Length

v
l=
f

14
 Antenna Gain
Antenna gain is the ratio of the power per unit of solid angle radiated in a specific direction, to
the power per unit of solid angle had that power been radiated using an isotropic antenna

Ae
G = 4
 2

G = antennagain at center of mainlobe

 = wavelength

A e = effective area of aperture

Image Source: Introduction to Airborne Radar (2nd Edition)

Used by permission of SciTech Publishing

“As a practical matter, the maximum directive gain (directivity) of an antenna

depends upon its physical size compared to wavelength” (NIST)
15
Antenna Patterns

Beamwidth
60 
BW =
D

BW = Beamwidth in
degrees
λ = Wavelength
D = Antenna dimension
(in same units as wavelength)

Image source: www.tutorialspoint.com 16

Signal Losses

Include (but not limited to)…

Signal Spreading
Diffraction Loss
Multipath Fading
Absorption Loss
Terrain Impacts
Atmospheric Impacts

17
Spreading Loss

18
 Absorption Loss

Tropical Downpour

Heavy Rain
Medium Rain
Attenuation (dB/km)

Light Rain

Drizzle

Rainfall rate
(mm/hr)

Frequency (GHz)
Derived from: EW & Radar Systems Handbook (2013)

19
Core Frequency Impacts

20
Does the antenna have ‘sweet spots’?

Work with the

manufacturer!

Example: Cobham Model 11D28500 Broadband Blade Antenna

21
 ES: Balancing things out…

• Compensate antenna issues with

increased RX gain?

• Compensate RX gain issues with

increased antenna gain?

• Keep RX and antenna configuration

but move closer?

Range
22
 EA: Balancing things out…

• Compensate antenna issues with

increased JX power?

• Compensate JX power issues with

increased antenna gain?

• Keep JX and antenna configuration

but move closer?

Range
23
 Wrap-up / Conclusions

• Don’t tunnel vision your design

• Don’t spend 90 percent of your funding on 10 percent of the

spectrum problem (don’t shoehorn…)

• Expect increased yet still limited RF flexibility

• There are limits to ‘antenna designs’ (caveat emptor)

24
RF Challenges in the Modern
EW Battlespace

▪ Dr. Patrick Ford

▪ Instructor, Erevno Aerospace Corporation
▪ patrick.ford@erevno.com

▪ March 12th, 2020

▪ 14:00 – 15:00 EDT
▪ 18:00 – 19:00 UTC
Gold Sponsors

Interested in Sponsoring the AOC Virtual Series? Click here

26
▪ Want to download the slides from
today’s presentation?
▪ Download the latest edition of the
Journal of Electronic Defense (JED).

You can do that right now in the

“Files” window below.

27
▪ Learn more about…
▪ AOC Conferences
▪ Virtual Series Webinars
▪ Virtual Series Archive (AOC Members Only)
▪ Professional Development Courses
▪ On-Demand Course Library
▪ Not a member of the AOC? Click “Join the AOC!” For $20 off a regular
1-year or 3-year membership, use this promo code when checking out:
WebinarMembership20

Navigate to those pages by highlighting the desired event, and

clicking “Browse To” in the “Web Links” window below.

28
Upcoming 2020 AOC Virtual Series Webinars
▪ 3/26/2020 – How America is Losing the GPS War – And risking
everything
▪ 4/9/2020 – Overview of Missile Design, Development, and System
Engineering
▪ 4/23/2020 – Pulse compression techniques inside LPI radars:
basic principles and technology trends
▪ 5/7/2020 - The Basic Concepts of ELINT
▪ 5/21/2020 - Leveraging Publicly Available Information to Map and
Track GNSS Interference
29
Upcoming 2020 AOC Educational Courses
▪ EW Against a New Generation of Threats
▪ 4/13/2020 – 4/29/2020
▪ Dave Adamy
▪ EW Modeling and Simulation
▪ 6/1/2020 – 6/17/2020
▪ Dave Adamy
▪ Missile Design, Development, and System Engineering
▪ 7/13/2020 – 7/31/2020
▪ Eugene Fleeman

30
RF Challenges in the Modern
EW Battlespace

▪ Dr. Patrick Ford

▪ Instructor, Erevno Aerospace Corporation
▪ patrick.ford@erevno.com

▪ March 12th, 2020

▪ 14:00 – 15:00 EDT
▪ 18:00 – 19:00 UTC