Military operators need better visibility of spectrum and signals of interest to gain battlefield advantage. When you consider that targeting just a few key enablers can have cascading effects across the entire enemy force, it is easier to see why spectrum intelligence has become vital for the modern battlefield. 

In particular, destroying or neutralizing enablers undermines the enemy’s ability to plan, adapt, and respond effectively. Meanwhile if you know where and how the enemy coordinates and sustains operations, you will have a decisive edge. 

However, this kind of spectrum intelligence has been challenging for the defense sector to achieve for a number of important reasons.

1. The Modern Battlefield is Huge

Back in the days of shortrange combat, conflicts were contained to a small area. That is certainly not true today with the battlefield generally spanning thousands of kilometers. It stands to reason that surveillance is hard the larger the area you need to cover. Not only is it difficult, it also takes up a huge amount of resources, something that is increasingly challenging for defense organizations. With resources often being diverted to immediate danger, it can be seemingly insurmountable in today’s conditions.

2. Detecting LPI Emissions 

In the defense sector, there are a number of techniques that can be deployed to minimize the chance of detection of radar and communication systems. This is referred to as Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) emissions. While these are crucial for keeping your signals safe, it makes it challenging when you are trying to detect your adversary. Terrain-induced signal obstruction and low emission levels mean that many systems can simply not detect them. 

3. Small UAS Platforms Are Close Range 

While using drones in defense applications is nothing new, they can come with certain limitations. Small UAS platforms, for example, are technically constrained to operate at close range. In a world where the battlefield is huge, this of course causes unmeasurable challenges. There are a number of UAS platforms that are designed to operate in these environments. One example is Skyeton’s fixed-wing UAS platform, Raybird, known for its battlefield-proven performance in Ukraine. It has proven an unmatched endurance, with up to 28 hours of flight time, while being easy and rapid to deploy and extremely resilient. 

4. Electromagnetic Contestation is Rife 

Electronic Warfare has become an integral part of every combat. This includes: 

• jamming – where signals are blocked to stop your equipment / communications from working.
• spoofing – your equipment is sent a signal which feeds it with wrong information.
• spectrum saturation – where the spectrum gets purposely filled up to a point where it becomes unusable for any other signals.

Whatever the method, these techniques deny access to your vital communications and radar equipment. This has the double pronged effect of minimizing your operational efforts, as well as making it challenging to gain the much-needed spectrum intelligence.

How Quadsat Is Making the Uncertain Certain

Quadsat has developed a payload which can transmit and receive RF signals. It is coupled with purpose-built software that is able to communicate with the payload and receive data in realtime. The Quadsat solution is able to scan the area giving a wider field of view and enabling our customers to more precisely detect signals of interest. Our solution enables detection, recognition, and analysis of hostile signals to support jamming, spoofing, and countermeasure strategies.

The Quadsat system is platform-agnostic which means it can be integrated into existing infrastructure where required, or added to any given platform depending on the use case. One example is our partnership with Skyeton which means customers can make the most of its proven battlefield endurance and resilience while using our payload to detect signals of interest at very long range.

The Quadsat team will be exhibiting at AUSA from 13^th – 15^th October. Get in touch to book a meeting.