Encapsulated electronic warfare architecture

• US 10,365,348 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2015
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Markel, Matthew, Bedio, Nicholas A., Sangillo, Jr., Michael Anthony, Logan, Jeffery Jay, Fina, Michael, Rather, Tyler Linden, Miller, Tyler
• Primary Examiner(s): Windrich, Marcus E
• Application Number:
  US14/958,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20170160379A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 342159
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/021 Auxiliary means for detecting or identifying radar signals or the like, e.g. radar jamming signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/38 Jamming means, e.g. producing false echoes
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/16 for telephony
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/18 for wireless local area networks or WLAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/22 for communication related to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/45 characterized by including monitoring of the target or target signal, e.g. in reactive jammers or follower jammers for example by means of an alternation of jamming phases and monitoring phases, called "look-through mode"
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/825 by jamming
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/827 using characteristics of target signal or of transmission as countermeasure against jamming H04K3/25, e.g. using direct sequence spread spectrum or fast frequency hopping spread spectrum techniques H04B1/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/94 related to allowing or preventing testing or assessing

Abstract

Electronic devices and a method of providing electronic warfare (EW) data in an encapsulated architecture in a vehicle are generally described. Emitters targeting the vehicle during a mission may be detected and an observable history of each emitter obtained as a function of time. Properties of each emitter may be both inferred based on the observable history and extracted from locally-stored pre-mission intelligence. The emitter properties, as well as current and historical state and threat level of the emitter and effectiveness of various countermeasures may be stored in an adaptive radar model (ARM) for the emitter. Each emitter may have its own ARM. The ARM may be used to take appropriate countermeasures for a particular emitter, based on the emitter alone or taking into account all of the emitters.

Claims

1. A method of employing electronic warfare (EW) data in an encapsulated architecture of an EW system in a vehicle, the method comprising:

detecting, by a detector of the EW system in the vehicle, an active emitter targeting the vehicle by at least in part detecting illumination received from the emitter at the vehicle;

deciding whether or not the emitter is a known or unknown emitter;

in response to deciding that the active emitter is an unknown emitter, obtaining an observable history of the emitter while the emitter is targeting the vehicle;

inferring in a processor of the EW system in the vehicle properties of the emitter from the observable history;

aggregating information of the emitter, including the properties and the observable history of the emitter and response and effectiveness of countermeasures to the emitter, and storing the aggregated information in an adaptive radar model (ARM) as Pulse Descriptor Words (PDWs) in a memory of the EW system, each ARM associated with aggregated information of a different emitter and able to adjust information regarding countermeasures to an associated emitter based on new information obtained regarding the associated emitter, the ARMs running in parallel to permit multiple countermeasures to be undertaken simultaneously; and

taking appropriate countermeasures based on at least some of the aggregated information, wherein the ARM causes the EW system to interact with a navigation system of the vehicle when the appropriate countermeasures comprise automatically rerouting the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more countermeasures for the vehicle to take based on the aggregated information, the aggregated information further including current state of the emitter and current threat level of the emitter, the current state comprising search, track, or identify, the countermeasures determined by calculating expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and jammer-to-noise ratio (JNR) for each countermeasure taken by the EW system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the observable history of the emitter includes raw observables and the manner in which the raw observables change with countermeasures as a function of time.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a radar class based on at least some of the aggregated information, the response and effectiveness of countermeasures dependent on the radar class.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

taking the appropriate countermeasures comprises taking into account other emitters targeting the vehicle, the appropriate countermeasures for the emitter when the other emitters illuminate the vehicle are less optimal than the appropriate countermeasures for the emitter when the other emitters do not illuminate the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the emitter is an unknown emitter, and

the ARM is compiled during a mission such that the ARM for the unknown emitter is available locally during the mission.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the EW system comprises pre-mission data specific to a plurality of known emitters,

the ARM, after determining the emitter, includes information from the pre-mission data files into the ARM.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

inferring properties of the emitter comprises determining performance capabilities of the emitter through at least one of pre-mission intelligence and inference within a mission, the performance capabilities including emitter detection range and potential degradation from jamming.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

limiting the EW system to respond to only a predetermined number of detected emitters.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating Mission Data Files (MDFs), which map an electromagnetic environment of the EW system to known threats and provide predetermined responses, to incorporate the emitter and effectiveness of responses to the emitter, the emitter having no known response in any of the MDFs.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sharing in real time, data of the emitter obtained and analyzed by the ARM and a resulting countermeasure determination, with another vehicle during a mission using a predetermined radio frequency or optical link; and

undertaking cooperative countermeasures and joint operations by the vehicle and other vehicles.

9. An electronic warfare (EW) device comprising:

a memory arranged to store an adaptive radar model (ARM) for each of a plurality of emitters, each ARM associated with aggregated information of a different emitter and able to adjust information regarding countermeasures to an associated emitter based on new information obtained regarding the associated emitter the ARMs running in parallel to permit multiple countermeasures to be undertaken simultaneously;

I/O devices arranged to;

detect an emitter targeting a vehicle during a mission,

communicate with a plurality of platforms to download ARM information of the emitter after termination of a mission, and

a processor arranged to;

obtain an observable history of the emitter as a function of time while the emitter is targeting the vehicle,

infer properties of the emitter based on the observable history,

extract other emitter properties from pre-mission intelligence stored in the memory,

aggregate the inferred and extracted emitter properties and the observable history of the emitter into the ARM as Pulse Descriptor Words (PDWs) for the emitter; and

take appropriate countermeasures based on at least some of the aggregated information, wherein the ARM causes the EW device to interact with a navigation system of the vehicle when the appropriate countermeasures comprise automatically rerouting the vehicle.

10. The EW device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

determine response and effectiveness of countermeasures to the emitter based on the inferred and extracted emitter properties, the inferred and extracted emitter properties including emitter detection range and potential degradation from jamming, the current state comprising search, track, or identify, the countermeasures determined by calculating expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and jammer-to-noise ratio (JNR) for each countermeasure taken by the EW device, and

aggregate the determined response and effectiveness of the countermeasures to the emitter into the ARM.

11. The EW device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

determine or estimate a current state of the emitter, historical states of the emitter and current threat level of the emitter, and

aggregate the current state of the emitter, historical states of the emitter and current threat level of the emitter into the ARM.

12. The EW device of claim 9, wherein:

the observable history of the emitter includes raw observables and the manner in which the raw observables change as a function of time with countermeasures taken by the EW system.

13. The EW device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

determine response and estimate effectiveness of countermeasures to the emitter,

determine a particular set of countermeasures to take in response to being illuminated by the emitter, and

take the particular set of countermeasures based on the aggregated information, wherein other emitters illuminating the vehicle are taken into account in determining a particular set of countermeasures to take in response to being illuminated by the emitter, the particular set of countermeasures for the emitter when the other emitters illuminate the vehicle less optimal than countermeasures for the emitter when the other emitters do not illuminate the vehicle.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an electronic warfare (EW) device in a vehicle, the one or more processors to configure the EW device to:

detect a plurality of emitters targeting the vehicle during a mission;

for each emitter;

obtain an observable history of the emitter as a function of time while the emitter is targeting the vehicle, the observable history comprising raw observables and a manner in which the raw observables change as a function of time with countermeasures taken by the EW system;

infer properties of the emitter based on the observable history;

extract other emitter properties from pre-mission intelligence stored in the memory,

aggregate the inferred and extracted emitter properties and the observable history of the emitter into an adaptive radar model (ARM) for the emitter and store the aggregated information in the ARM as Pulse Descriptor Words (PDWs) in a memory, each ARM associated with aggregated information of a different emitter and able to adjust information regarding countermeasures to an associated emitter based on new information obtained regarding the associated emitter, the ARMs running in parallel to permit multiple countermeasures to be undertaken simultaneously; and

take appropriate countermeasures based on at least some of the aggregated information, wherein the ARM causes the EW system to interact with a navigation system of the vehicle when the appropriate countermeasures comprise automatically rerouting the vehicle.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors further configure the EW device to:

determine response and estimate effectiveness of countermeasures to the emitter based on the inferred and extracted emitter properties, the inferred and extracted emitter properties including emitter detection range and potential degradation from jamming, and

aggregate the determined response and effectiveness of the countermeasures to the emitter into the ARM.

16. The medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors further configure the EW device to:

determine a current state of the emitter, historical states of the emitter and current threat level of the emitter, the current state comprising search, track, or identify, the countermeasures determined by calculating expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and jammer-to-noise ratio (JNR) for each countermeasure taken by the EW device, and

aggregate the current state of the emitter, historical states of the emitter and current threat level of the emitter into the ARM.

17. The medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors further configure the EW device to:

determine response and effectiveness of countermeasures to the emitter,

determine a particular set of countermeasures to take in response to being illuminated by the emitter, and

take the particular set of countermeasures based on the aggregated information, the particular set of countermeasures for the emitter also taking into account other emitters illuminating the vehicle.