| The need to effectively and efficiently manage the electromagnetic spectrum, and in particular, that portion used for defence communications has never been so important. Radio frequency (RF) "radiowaves" allow forces and platforms to communicate with each other on land, sea and in the air. It is imperative therefore, to detect both active and passive sources of RF that occur in a wide range of defence related scenarios. |  |
As the radio spectrum bandwidth used by both military and commercial users becomes ever-more crowded, with the quantity and complexity of signals increasing year on year, the need for sophisticated equipment to monitor, record and review signals has never been greater. Add to this the possibility of manipulating and ultimately re-transmitting signals, the demands upon such equipment becomes ever more pressing.
Product development in all military systems, whether it is an EW system, a new radar system, a satellite communications system or an ECM system will need extensive testing during the design validation, verification and installation stages to ensure the system works to its full capability in the midst of both friendly and hostile interference.
In the world of SIGINT, this increase in RF activity puts even more demands upon the capacity and capability of systems to monitor and capture signals of interest. The use of frequency agile and frequency hopping transmitters means that broad sections of RF bandwidth need to be monitored simultaneously. Signals of interest need to be identified, demodulated and in some cases decoded in order to extract useful information. The possible requirement for the deployment of direction finding capabilities only adds to the complexity of the task at hand.
Product development in all military systems, whether it is an EW system, a new radar system, a satellite communications system or an ECM system will need extensive testing during the design validation, verification and installation stages to ensure the system works to its full capability in the midst of both friendly and hostile interference.
In the world of SIGINT, this increase in RF activity puts even more demands upon the capacity and capability of systems to monitor and capture signals of interest. The use of frequency agile and frequency hopping transmitters means that broad sections of RF bandwidth need to be monitored simultaneously. Signals of interest need to be identified, demodulated and in some cases decoded in order to extract useful information. The possible requirement for the deployment of direction finding capabilities only adds to the complexity of the task at hand.
Limitation - Recent developments in the use of real time spectrum analysis have certainly helped, with systems capable of monitoring up to 160MHz of continuous bandwidth, being commercially available. However, most products are limited by a) the amount of information they can record (typically limited by lack of usable memory) and b) the level of detail with which recorded information can be analysed (typically limited by poor software and hardware design). In short, the available solutions are just not quick enough. In addition, systems are typically configures using products from different manufacturers and as such total systems integration becomes difficult as compatibility issues arise. In understanding all the requirements and potential issues, X-Com Systems has, for the last ten years, been working on an integrated platform that provides users with a single solution containing the hardware and software required. Using the X-Com Systems IQC91000A solution as a piece of test equipment, users can undertake measurements, plus perform real life, real time simulation routines to verify and validate their system design. During installation, users can record signals, undertake measurements and add real life, real time test simulations to confirm installed system performance.
Using the X-Com Systems' SigAnalyst workstation solution as a system component, users can undertake RF monitoring tasks with extended analysis capability. Whilst the hardware can be configured to capture signals over a wide bandwidth and for extended time periods, the software allows complex signal analysis, together with the ability to modify and re-transmit signals using the RF Editor software.
Looking at the X-Com Systems' products in more detail, there are two main hardware systems available, the IQC5000B Series, a high fidelity, dual channel, RF record and playback system, plus the IQC91000A Series providing full 1GHz instantaneous bandwidth measurement capability. These two products are complimented by two software packages - the Spectro-X Signal Analysis Toolkit and the RF Editor - Graphical RF Signal Editor. The Spectro-X Toolkit is a versatile package that lets users visualise and analyse up to four recorded RF spectrum files at the same time. It is a valuable tool for system and test engineers, developing and analysing the performance of radar, ELINT, SIGINT, ECM, ESM, multi-channel communications systems, or characterising and testing conventional and AESA radar systems.
Recordings can be from seconds to hours in length, dependent upon the capture system configuration. Signal capture files can provide the raw I&Q data that can be analysed using commercial software such as MathWorks MATLAB. Users can operate on specific data samples identified by date, time, scale factor and other parameters without having to convert the data, simplifying and increasing the speed at which post-processing can be performed. Then, using the Spectro-X Signal Analysis Toolkit, with it's four discrete search engines (carrier, wireless standard, arbitrary waveform and pulse), users can "zoom in" to specific sections of capture likes in frequency, time or both to find signals of interest. Results in frequency and time are displayed graphically at the same time. The "zoomed" portion can be exported in a file format usable by vector signal analysis software for demodulation and detailed analysis.
Applications - A practical application of the Spectro-X software would be characterisation of pulsed radar signals. Measuring their rise and fall times, pulse width, pulse repetition interval, peak and average power, and carrier frequency, it is possible to fully characterise a measured signal providing a detailed emitter profile for signal recognition applications.
The X-Com RF Editor Graphical RF Signal Editor is a drag-and-drop graphical editing tool that lets you easily modify I&Q signals of any length or create entirely new ones. It's an invaluable tool for modifying and building signal waveforms in the time and frequency domains and is integrated with X-COM's Spectro-X signal analysis software. RF Editor's utility spans defence applications such as creating simulated signal threat scenarios, to laboratory, production and field testing of communications, EW and radar systems using custom stimulus signals.
In conclusion, the X-Com Systems' product range is designed for the next generation of RF defence electronic systems that occupy large information bandwidths. Performance validation of these designs requires extensive testing on the bench, in the chamber and on the range to ensure system readiness prior to deployment. In applications in tactical systems where signal capture, analysis and rebroadcast are required.
Looking at the X-Com Systems' products in more detail, there are two main hardware systems available, the IQC5000B Series, a high fidelity, dual channel, RF record and playback system, plus the IQC91000A Series providing full 1GHz instantaneous bandwidth measurement capability. These two products are complimented by two software packages - the Spectro-X Signal Analysis Toolkit and the RF Editor - Graphical RF Signal Editor. The Spectro-X Toolkit is a versatile package that lets users visualise and analyse up to four recorded RF spectrum files at the same time. It is a valuable tool for system and test engineers, developing and analysing the performance of radar, ELINT, SIGINT, ECM, ESM, multi-channel communications systems, or characterising and testing conventional and AESA radar systems.
Recordings can be from seconds to hours in length, dependent upon the capture system configuration. Signal capture files can provide the raw I&Q data that can be analysed using commercial software such as MathWorks MATLAB. Users can operate on specific data samples identified by date, time, scale factor and other parameters without having to convert the data, simplifying and increasing the speed at which post-processing can be performed. Then, using the Spectro-X Signal Analysis Toolkit, with it's four discrete search engines (carrier, wireless standard, arbitrary waveform and pulse), users can "zoom in" to specific sections of capture likes in frequency, time or both to find signals of interest. Results in frequency and time are displayed graphically at the same time. The "zoomed" portion can be exported in a file format usable by vector signal analysis software for demodulation and detailed analysis.
Applications - A practical application of the Spectro-X software would be characterisation of pulsed radar signals. Measuring their rise and fall times, pulse width, pulse repetition interval, peak and average power, and carrier frequency, it is possible to fully characterise a measured signal providing a detailed emitter profile for signal recognition applications.
The X-Com RF Editor Graphical RF Signal Editor is a drag-and-drop graphical editing tool that lets you easily modify I&Q signals of any length or create entirely new ones. It's an invaluable tool for modifying and building signal waveforms in the time and frequency domains and is integrated with X-COM's Spectro-X signal analysis software. RF Editor's utility spans defence applications such as creating simulated signal threat scenarios, to laboratory, production and field testing of communications, EW and radar systems using custom stimulus signals.
In conclusion, the X-Com Systems' product range is designed for the next generation of RF defence electronic systems that occupy large information bandwidths. Performance validation of these designs requires extensive testing on the bench, in the chamber and on the range to ensure system readiness prior to deployment. In applications in tactical systems where signal capture, analysis and rebroadcast are required.