My car uses electronic warfare principles, you’re messing with me, right?
21 Mar 24
Technical and Strategic Services OBUElectronic Warfare
BY Dave Marriott
Did you know that many of the modern complex military electronic warfare (EW) principles are being used in everyday life? Let’s explore this in more detail in the case of my car.
All modern vehicles are packed with innovate features. We often take these for granted, without really understanding how they work, how they keep us safe or where they come from.
One example of this is adaptive cruise control (ACC). This is similar to conventional cruise control in that it maintains the vehicle's pre-set speed. However, this new system can automatically adjust speed in order to maintain a proper distance between vehicles in the same lane. This is achieved through a radar sensor, a digital signal processor, and an antenna array. If the lead vehicle slows down, or if another object is detected within the field of view, the system sends a signal to the engine or braking system to automatically decelerate. Then, when the road is clear, the system will re-accelerate back to the vehicle’s set speed.
But how does my car know how far away the vehicle in front is? How does it not react to the parked cars I pass or the overpass I’m approaching? How does my car know if the vehicle ahead is slowing or accelerating away from me?
When the road is clear, the system will re-accelerate back to the vehicle’s set speed - but how does my car know how far away the vehicle in front is?
Modern fighter jets use radars to detect targets which transmit at a frequency around 10 gigahertz (that’s 10,000,000,000 completed sinusoidal waveforms every second). My car ACC uses a radar frequency between 74-78 gigahertz – so much more! So how do I not fry pedestrians with radiation?
My car’s ACC radar system has a forward-looking range of up to 500 feet (150 meters) and operates at vehicle speeds ranging from 18 miles per hour (30 kph) to 115 mph (180 kph). To work autonomously, it needs to create a radar resolution cell around my car to accurately calculate range and tell if detected items are left or right, or up and down, in relation to my car. This is termed azimuth and elevation.
How can my car tell its signal from all the other thousands of vehicles?
It's also calculating changes in frequency to determine the speed of the vehicle in front. Feeding into my car’s ACC brain is a Global Positioning System (GPS). This signal originates in space and the power level of the signal in my GPS receiver is the equivalent of looking at a 100-watt lightbulb from 450 miles away, it’s infinitesimally small! How does it not get swamped by the local radio station?
Finally, autonomous cars are expected to be the next big thing. How can my car tell its signal from all the other thousands of vehicles?
So many questions! We have the answers, and all can be explained during one of our many EW learning events.
Our week-long Fundamentals of Air Electronic Warfare course is for all individuals who want to learn more about EW, from military and civilian personnel with a role in the design, development, acquisition, or operation of EW capabilities, to those with an active interest in the topic.
Here, we can teach you the latest complex military-focussed EW capabilities and techniques and relate them to everyday examples to aid your learning.
Let’s explore the amazing and massive field of EW together. There’s more going on than you think!
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