IMPROVED ELECTRONIC SUPPORT MEASURES SENSOR CAPABILITIES

PRESENT SHIPBOARD AUTOMATED BROAD BAND ELECTRONIC SUPPORT MEASURES (ESM) SYSTEMS HAVE MULTI-TARGET, AUTOMATIC DETECTION AND DISPLAY CAPABILITIES. BECAUSE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNAL DENSITY AND THE REDUCED TIME ELEMENTS REQUIRED BY AUTOMATED SYSTEMS FOR SELF DEFENSE. ESM RECEIVER THRESHOLD SENSITIVITY HAS BEEN REDUCED TO PREVENT SYSTEM AND OPERATOR ENVIRONMENTAL OVERLOADING. THEREFORE, A PHASE I STUDY IS PROPOSED TO GENERATE AN OPTIMUM DESIGN FOR AN ADVANCED MANUAL ESM RECEIVER TO SUPPLEMENT THIS AUTOMATIC THREAT RESPONSE SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED SPECIFIC SIGNAL DETECTION AND CLASSIFICATION RECEIVER WILL CONCENTRATE ON LONG RANGE SIGNALS WHICH CANNOT BE HANDLED IN THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM DUE TO NECESSARY COMPROMISE BECAUSE OF SIGNAL DENSITY AND NEEDED SPEED TO RESPONSE. THE ADVANCED SUPPLEMENTARY SSDC RECEIVER WILL CONCENTRATE ON SIGNALS WILL UNUSUAL SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MODULATIONS, ESPECIALLY SPREAD SPECTRUM AND OTHER LOW PROBABILITY OF INTERCEPT (LPI) SIGNALS. IT WILL BE DESIGNED TO SHARE AS MANY PARTS OF THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM AS POSSIBLE, FOR EXAMPLE, ANTENNAS, PARAMETER MEASUREMENT AND DATA PROCESSING (ON A NON PRIORITY, AS AVAILABLE BASIS). SPECIAL DISPLAYS WILL BE INCLUDED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF POTENTIAL INTEGRATION AND OPERATOR RECOGNITION CAPABILITY BUT WITH ADDITIONAL DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING TO RELIEVE OPERATOR LOADING.