Software Defined Instrument Based Electromagnetic Warfare Test System

Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) is a critical component to what some have called Fifth-Generation Warfare (5GW). [1] 5GW is principally the use of Non-Kinetic Action (NKA) to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum to enable kinetic fires, offensive NKA and Deception and Denial (D&D) through EW Tactics Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) and is an integral function of Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) [2]. EW systems designers are therefore charged with developing advanced waveforms, dynamic algorithms, multi-function/domain systems, and active operating modes to support this crucial mission space. To satisfy this dynamic environment, designers are turning to adaptive Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology, referred to as adaptive SDR based EW (SDR/EW). SDRs are wireless communication systems in which many of the radio functional elements, including filtering, frequency translation, and modulation demodulation, are implemented in software via Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques using embedded processors and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) as described by Harris and Lowdermilk in 2010. [3] This has led to the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware thus significantly speeding up the development process of new EW systems. Additionally, these systems can be customized with the use of application specific firmware and software. Consequently, the development of adaptive SDR/EW systems has outpaced the development of test and measurement instruments required to test these new systems. The challenge facing EW test system designers revolves around accelerating the transition from classical test and measurement instruments to software defined instruments (SDI) based on the same SDR concepts found in EW systems to ensure continuity between Test and Evaluation (T&E) and fielded systems (including surrogate assets). Classical test and measurement instruments are dedicated instruments built for a specific application. As opposed to SDI that define multiple instruments (i.e., spectrum analyzer, vector signal analyzer, Radio Frequency (RF) receiver, and vector signal generator) with FPGA based DSP software and firmware. SDIs exhibit several advantages over classical test and measurement instruments, including reconfigurability and reduced development costs and time-to-market. SDIs also enjoy long life cycles since they can readily be adapted to meet future needs. SDIs employ adaptive DSP technologies to implement spectral measurement and analysis. This gives the SDI the ability to deliver increased instantaneous effective bandwidth and improved quality of measurement. This paper will present an approach for EW test systems that leverages proven SDI technology. A comparison between a classical instrument-based test system and SDI based test system will be presented. The SDI based test system employs multiple tunable hardware receiver and stimulus channels containing FPGA based DSP resources that provide engineers with access to the electromagnetic spectrum for complex waveform analysis and generation.