by Dennis-P. Merklinghaus, Spokesperson for Aerospace, Defense, Security at Rohde & Schwarz, Munich
Space is globally recognised as being critical to economic success, national security and societal well-being. It is also a domain where confrontation with adversaries is more and more important, as an extension of the classical dimensions of warfare. This confrontation in space may take several forms, one of them being electronic warfare (EW).
Definition of space electronic warfare
NATO defines EW as “a military action that exploits electromagnetic energy, both actively and passively, to provide situational awareness and create offensive and defensive effects”. It is warfare within the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) and involves the military use of electromagnetic energy to prevent or reduce an enemy’s effective use of the EMS while protecting its use for friendly forces.
Today’s EMS operations (EMSO) are very complex. Therefore, dominance through EMSO is a critical factor in determining a positive outcome for military operations.
Space EW is most commonly associated with satellites and their communications links – collectively known as satellite communications (SATCOM).
Spectrum dominance in the space domain
As today’s nations develop their space capabilities, spectrum superiority is just as important in space as it is for terrestrial operations. Space EW faces the significant challenge of operating throughout the entire electromagnetic spectrum under demanding environmental conditions. This in turn will drive the need for new EW techniques, technologies and systems that operate over a much wider spectrum and bandwidth.
As a communication market leader, Rohde & Schwarz provides indispensible technologies that apply to space EW, including COMINT and ELINT monitoring, signal analysis, interference hunting, handheld interference hunting, and more to capture long-term events.
Satellite monitoring
Satellite monitoring (SATMON) software solutions from Rohde & Schwarz for remote spectrum monitoring (SPM) and signal analysis combine traditional spectrum analyzer functions, advanced signal detection and identification algorithms. Modern, adaptive GUIs make it easy to implement use cases, eg interference identification or SATCOM transponder analysis.
Remote spectrum monitoring
The Rohde & Schwarz remote SPM solution provides an interface for communicating with remote spectrum analyzers via remote connections; users can access their devices from anywhere in the world. This supports the monitoring of signals for one device at a time and for many different devices at once, also handling different users monitoring the same device. Both a standalone application and a server/client solution are supported.
Signal analysis
Signal analyzers, or spectrum analyzers, from Rohde & Schwarz are useful in analyzing many aspects of space EW. Spectrum analyzers are wide bandwidth instruments used to acquire, analyze, display and demodulate radio frequency (RF) signals. They can give unique insights into:
- Tracking, logging, displaying and monitoring interference
- Jamming effects in time-frequency and amplitude domains simultaneously
- Demodulation of signals of interest
- Streaming interfaces to record signals of interest
- Autonomous monitoring of uplink and downlinks
These solutions provide wide dynamic ranges that enable the tracking of small signals and includes integrated preselection to reject out of band signals.
Signal generation
Signal generators, or more specifically RF vector signal generators (VSG), are used to create realistic RF environments through the use of arbitrary digitally modulated RF signals. The main uses for a VSG in space EW include:
- Creation of reference payload signals
- Generation of realistic jamming signals to measure the susceptibility of a system to jamming during development
- Generation of actual jamming signals with the addition of a wideband RF power amplifier and associated antenna
- Generation of non-standard waveforms to enable research and deployment of proprietary modulation schemes
- Multi-channel RF generation, enabling generation of bona-fide signals and interference signals in a single box
Handheld interference hunting
Handheld interference hunting can be used to geolocate the location(s) of sources of interference, whether intentional, in the case of jamming, or accidental, such as an RF source emitting on an incorrect frequency. Portable receivers and directional handheld antennas from Rohde & Schwarz give operators lightweight, flexible solutions for interference hunting in the field. Portable direction finders can be used to take bearing measurements, even on short-duration emissions. The heart of an interference hunting system are portable handheld spectrum analyzers.
Satellite link planning
Satellite link planning can be used to understand both the total budget for a SATCOM link, as well as to assess the potential impact of jamming and the associated required jamming power. Rohde & Schwarz SATCOM analysis and optimisation software solutions cover all aspects of modern satellite communications. These solutions accurately model weather conditions and atmospheric effects, while covering all RF transmission impairments of transparent payloads among all SATCOM bands of interest (C, X, Ku, Ka band etc). Major signal impairments due to intermodulation and power robbing, for example, are
accurately modeled and verified against vendor data and in orbit test campaigns.
Conclusion
Space EW is a complex and emerging warfighting domain that presents a number of unique operational challenges. The ability to operate without constraint in space provides integral support to military, commercial and civilian applications. Traditional cost barriers to space are rapidly falling, enabling more countries and a wider range of commercial endeavors to be undertaken. These advancements are creating new opportunities, but they are also creating new risks to space and ground-based communications, navigation, weather and reconnaissance activities.
Foreign governments have recognised the benefits of space-based operations and are taking steps to maximise their advantages and formulate methods to minimise their adversaries’ capabilities. In the 1960s, the space race commenced. 60 years later, the race is on to field technologies that facilitate control over the space environment and the ground support services. At the forefront of this new space race is the invisible fight for control of the electromagnetic domain.
