With military communication systems becoming increasingly resilient to electronic countermeasures, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing an advanced system to counter 'smart' or cognitive radio networks that use artificial intelligence to evade detection and jamming.
Christened the Smart Communication Jammer System (SCJS), the system will be a large vehicle-mounted platform capable of detecting, analysing, classifying, direction-finding, monitoring and jamming tactical communication mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs).
Cognitive radios and MANETs are advanced wireless communication systems that can sense their surrounding environment and automatically alter their settings to use the radio spectrum more efficiently. They can continuously scan for unused or underutilised frequency channels and rapidly switch frequencies, making them difficult to monitor or intercept using conventional jamming systems.
The Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, a DRDO establishment, is the nodal agency for executing the project. It is seeking Indian industry partners for the design and development of the SCJS.
According to DRDO's requirements, the system should be capable of monitoring and jamming radios operating in the 30 MHz to 6,000 MHz frequency range, with 360-degree detection coverage and a range of 20 km. It should also be capable of countering radios that change frequencies at rates of up to 2,000 hops per second.
The wide frequency range covers several tactical communication bands used by modern military systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), loitering munitions and software-defined radios.
Unlike conventional radios that operate on preset channels, cognitive radios use artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse their operating environment and dynamically switch between spectrum channels, potentially within microseconds, to evade interference.
Traditional static or brute-force jammers, which use high-power radio-frequency signals across fixed bands, can therefore be less effective against such rapidly changing systems, an officer explained.
Army officers said cognitive radio networks improve the reliability of military communications and the availability of information, but also make it more difficult to monitor an adversary's activity.
Such networks, however, have significant civilian applications as well, including reducing spectrum congestion and improving the efficiency of wireless communications.