DIGITAL RADAR INTERCEPT AND COUNTERMEASURES INSTALLATION ON THE A/C - VirtuaLabs S.r.l - Radar & EW Systems Innovation

DRIAC-A is a new Digital Integrated EW System capable of providing very advanced performances by exploiting very few SW

controlled electronic modules, so being able to meet the changing requirements of the modern airborne environment in a very cost

effective way.

DRIAC-A can be provided for fighters or for helos / transport aircrafts.

Beside the features of an advanced digital ESM, DRIAC-A is capable of producing both Self Protection Jamming (SPJ) and a very

effective Electronic Attack Jamming (EAJ) in a very wide frequency band. EAJ is very useful in airborne operations because it

facilitates the platform penetration in a hostile territory.

Both high sensitivity and high POI over the whole RF range

Extremely high sensitivity in any 2 GHz band of interest

High Dynamic Range

High Traffic handling (Pulsed and CW)

Interferences immunity thanks to the right design

Very accurate (ELINT class) and reliable measurements

(DOA, Frequency, Frequency Law, PW, MOP, PRI, PRI Law,

ASP, Amplitude)

Fully integrated Countermeasures

Multithreats capability (up to 4 multibits DRFMs)

Low Weight, Volume and Power Consumption

Low production cost and simple Installation

The fulfillment of the conflicting requirements of an ESM (a high sensitivity together with a high POI) overcomes the main limitation of

most of the presently available systems.

Moreover, the real-time and accurate channellisation allows both accurate measurements in a very high traffic conditions and a very

high robustness to interferences in extreme conditions.

DRIAC-A is composed of two sections: the Passive (ESM) and the Active (ECM)

The ESM has the capability to instantaneously cover the whole frequency range of interest (e.g. 2 – 18 GHz) and, at the same

time, to perform detection and measurements at high sensitivity, thanks to the exploitation of the following main modules:

A proprietary Front-End (IFR, Instantaneous Frequency Router), able to instantaneously convoy all the traffic present in

the e.m. environment in the wide IF band (2 GHz) of the following Digital Receiver.

A proprietary Dual DRX Module (DDRX), composed of two 2 GHz IBW Digital Receivers (DRX), which provides a

continuous real-time “Spectrum Analysis” on the whole operational e.m. spectrum. Moreover, the DDRX Module hosts a

proprietary Very Fast Processing which grants the exploitation of the DRX as the main measurement device to produce, at

the required very high sensitivity, extremely accurate PDMs associated to all the received signals, even if overlapped in

time.

A Sorter & Jamming Program Module (SJP), following the DDRX Module, which processes the PDMs stream in order to

detect all present emissions and to analyse them providing an accurate description of their characteristics.

The ESM section inputs are provided by the:

ESM Antennas Array

The ESM array is composed by four pre-amplified log-p antennas working in the frequency band from 2 to 18 GHz.

When an emission is designated for Jamming, the DDRX is instructed to load the DRFMs, implemented in this Module, with the

proper emission signal samples.

Then, a Digital Modulator, present in the SJP Module, takes care of the digital generation of the Jamming Technique to be

applied as well as of the base band conversion via a fast Digital to Analog Converter.

Finally, the base band jamming signal is converted to the appropriate RF band by an Up-Converter Module and transmitted by

means of the ECM Antenna set composed by two sets of Jamming AESA: the Low Band (2-6 GHz) and the High Band (6-18

GHz). The standard ECM Antenna configuration is composed by:

2 or 4 HB Jamming AESA (6 - 18 GHz)

The wide band AESA Jamming Antennas (one/two for the front sector, and another one/two for the rear sector) are

composed of a small effective planar AESA, each one covering 90 deg azimuth.

Excluding the Antennas, the above modules (Passive and Active sections) are housed in a Digital Main Unit (DMU) which also houses

a CPU Module (having the tasks of the Emitters Identification, DRIAC-A management and Platform Interface) and the Power Supply.

Architecture Wide Open Channellised

RF Instantaneous Bandwidth 2 -18 GHz

POI 100 %

Max Receiver Sensitivity Very high (Sensitivity can be programmed as a frequency function)

On board Compatibility granted by the high Dynamic Range and by SW algorithms

Traffic > 1 Mpps and CW signals

Emitters type Pulsed, MOP, CW

Tracked emitters 256

DOA accuracy “Amplitude DOA + ”Phase DOA” (in 2-18 GHz)

option: “Amplitude DOA + “Delta TOA

Emitters detection Digital Automatic Extractor

ECM Frequency Coverage 6- 18 GHz and 2-6 GHz, as option

Angles Coverage 360° Azimuth & 30° Elevation (ty pical)

Multi-threats 4+4

Jamming Techniques Programmable and suitable for SPJ and EAJ

Weight and Power Consumption 15 Kg, 1500 W