3 ms·

Would active ECM not be a source of illumination of the target that passive radar could take advantage of?

by mannykannot 7y ago

inetknght 7y ago
Sure it would if you also assume that the ECM transmitter is also the target. Decoys might break your assumption though. It seems logical to mount ECM on a decoy target.
- mannykannot 7y ago
  Passive radar depends on the reflection of ambient RF by the target. A drone radiating for ECM purposes (or any other) might illuminate the airplane it is supposed to be protecting. On the other hand, the algorithms behind passive radar might depend on knowing where the transmitters are. Maybe one could triangulate the drone directly, but not so easily if you have multiple drones transmitting short bursts asynchronously. And if there are enough decoys, it would be like chaff.
  - inetknght 7y ago
    > Passive radar depends on the reflection of ambient RF by the target. A drone radiating for ECM purposes (or any other) might illuminate the airplane it is supposed to be protecting. That's a very good point which I neglected to consider.
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
If someone is shining a spotlight in your face, the spotlight may also be illuminating the room. That doesn't help you see any better.
- mannykannot 7y ago
  You can shield your eyes from the direct glare. If the enemy does not know where you are (unlike conventional radar, you are not radiating), he can only spotlight you by chance.
angry_octet 7y ago
Not passive RADAR no, that is looking at distortion of a known signal. Picking up ECM is one aspect of ESM or ELINT, which through wide area triangulation can provide approximate location. But it's tricky, ECM can be a lot lower power than a search RADAR, e.g. repeating echos, distorting the return signal to have a different signature, etc. If it is a powerful jammer it's likely to be quite directional so distant receivers might not pick it up well.

3 ms·

Would active ECM not be a source of illumination of the target that passive radar could take advantage of?

by mannykannot 7y ago

Would active ECM not be a source of illumination of the target that passive radar could take advantage of?

inetknght 7y ago
Sure it would if you also assume that the ECM transmitter is also the target. Decoys might break your assumption though. It seems logical to mount ECM on a decoy target.
- mannykannot 7y ago
  Passive radar depends on the reflection of ambient RF by the target. A drone radiating for ECM purposes (or any other) might illuminate the airplane it is supposed to be protecting. On the other hand, the algorithms behind passive radar might depend on knowing where the transmitters are. Maybe one could triangulate the drone directly, but not so easily if you have multiple drones transmitting short bursts asynchronously. And if there are enough decoys, it would be like chaff.
  - inetknght 7y ago
    > Passive radar depends on the reflection of ambient RF by the target. A drone radiating for ECM purposes (or any other) might illuminate the airplane it is supposed to be protecting. That's a very good point which I neglected to consider.
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
If someone is shining a spotlight in your face, the spotlight may also be illuminating the room. That doesn't help you see any better.
- mannykannot 7y ago
  You can shield your eyes from the direct glare. If the enemy does not know where you are (unlike conventional radar, you are not radiating), he can only spotlight you by chance.
angry_octet 7y ago
Not passive RADAR no, that is looking at distortion of a known signal. Picking up ECM is one aspect of ESM or ELINT, which through wide area triangulation can provide approximate location. But it's tricky, ECM can be a lot lower power than a search RADAR, e.g. repeating echos, distorting the return signal to have a different signature, etc. If it is a powerful jammer it's likely to be quite directional so distant receivers might not pick it up well.