SIGN A L P RO C E SSING Electronic Counter

Measures
Authored by Lee Pucker
Application Note Chief Technology Officer

[ Introduction ]
The generic functional reference design for an Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system is
shown in the figure below. This system is used to lock onto and jam threat signals emitted by an
enemy. These include both sensor signals, such as are used in RADAR, and communications
signals. This system typically works in conjunction with an electronic support measure system
performing wideband spectral analysis and direction finding to identify threat signals. In
addition, the ECM system may target a single frequency band, jamming all threat signals within
that band, or it may employ a search strategy where the RF front end will step through a larger
frequency band in a pre-defined manner.

Channel Processing
(Coherent or Non-coherent)

RF Jammer
Channelizer Target Modulator
Front End D/A RF Band
(DUC) (1 to M Signals)
FSM Target
Designation

10 MHz
Reference
Delay or Channelizer Target
Snapshot (DDC) Correlator

RF Timing
Sequencer Reference
Target
Signal
Channelizaton
Parameters
Control
10 MHz Reference
10 MHz 1PPS, IRIGB
Reference

Input from
Wideband
Wideband Wideband Signal
RF Spectral
A/D DDC or DDC or Window Detection/ Operational
Front End Analysis and DF
DHEF DHEF FFT Frequency Control
Subsystems
(optional) (optional) Estimation
(Target/Threat
Analysis)
IF Converters Spectral Analysis

Local
"Look Through" Operation Control
to RF Sequence and IF Converters Algorithm
Storage
Gating

RF Control Interface
(Hard Real Time)

[ Electronic Counter Measures Application ]

Processing in an ECM system is generally broken into three sections: IF Conversion, Spectral
Analysis, and Channel Processing. The primary purpose of the IF conversion section is to
provide wideband analog to digital conversion of the IF signal from each RF front end to be
used in target acquisition, and wideband digital to analog conversion for the jamming signal.
Transmit and receive elements within the IF Conversion section are gated to support "look
through", allowing shut down of receiver functions during jammer transmission. This gating
function is also distributed across multiple channels when jamming is employed over multiple
bands. In addition, the converted data from the receive channel is time-stamped to allow
synchronization of threat signals with the time of day.
 The IF Conversion block interfaces directly to the spectral analysis and channel processing sections. The spectral
flexComm Electronic Counter Measures

analysis section is used to allow a "fast follower" approach, allowing the system to detect active signals in the
target band. This is typically done using a large FFT and windowing function with follow-on processing to identify
the exact center frequency and bandwidth of the target signal. Channel processing is then used to isolate the active
signals from each digitized IF channel, and then correlate these signals against the current threat database received
from the wideband analysis system or user input to identify active threat signals. If a threat signal is identified, a
jamming signal is then created and sent out to the IF conversion section. The latency between the time a signal is
detected and the time that the jammer signal is transmitted must typically be very small, often times less than a
few microseconds, to provide effective jamming of short duration of frequency agile signals. As a result, the delay
buffer utilized in this system to allow for the latency associated with the spectral analysis process is typically very
small.
Coordination of these three processing sections is facilitated through an operational control element consisting of a
finite state machine and a number of control ports. This control element typically maintains the threat database,
and is used to dynamically load and unload jamming modulation schemes. In addition, when used in conjunction
with electronic support measures, the operational control element must provide a gating mechanism to these other
systems to coordinate "look through".
[ Implementation on Spectrum’s flexComm Platform]
Support for this application at 160 MHz IF is provided two modules: the XMC-3311 Dual Channel Analog IO
Module operating at 213.33 MSPS and the ePMC-8120 VirtexII Processing Engine. These modules are hosted on
PRO-1900/1901 carriers as illustrated in the figure below. The XMC-3311 provides the IF Conversion and Channel
Processing functions of the ECM application, maintaining tight integration between transmit and receive processes.
Threat and jamming signal parameters are stored in the local SRAM associated with each FPGA processor,
minimizing the latency associated with each "look up" of this data. Time-stamping of each IF channel is supported
through the 1PPS interface, and coordination of multi-channel "look through" between multiple XMC-3311
modules is supported through a front panel gating connector. The ePMC-8120 modules provides for the spectral
analysis section, with support provided for up to a 32K point FFT per IF channel while maintaining real-time
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performance. Operation control of this system is distributed, with local control shared between the XMC-3311
FPGA processors and the embedded MPC8240 processor on the PRO-1900.

Rx Signals Sequencer
Tx Signals
Synchronization &
Control Signals

RF Receiver RF Exciter

160 MHz IF 160 MHz IF

XMC-3311 XMC-3311
A/D D/A

XMC-3311
DDC
Targeting
ePMC-PPC ePMC-PPC Jamming
Operational Control FFT, Signal Detection DUC

PRO-1900/1901
Spectrum Signal Processing Inc.

(1 of M)

SIGN A L P RO C E SSING
Rev 06/05
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