EVERY RECEIVER A SENSOR


FIGURE 1 8 billion Population increase by 2025 2 billion 1950


Waveform complexity


1975 SOURCE: UN Population Division (2017 Revision)


Frequency range & BW


Signal/spectrum density


Signal diversity


Processing power


Propensity toward micro cells and shorter-range communications


2000 2025


LTE advanced, 5G ultra-wideband, etc.


VLF, HF to ->mmW, FSO, LiFi


20-50 GB over the air


12B devices today, 100-200B devices anticipated by 2025


IOT M-to-M communications 802.11.xxx 803.15.xxx


CPU & GPU performance increase by 100x


KEY MORE PEOPLE, MORE DEVICES, MORE DATA


Commercial communications are growing in complexity with multi- ple improvements anticipated over the next decade. Coupled with congested and contested environments, this type of envi- ronment will challenge the Army’s ability to operate on the electromagnetic spectrum, and in real time. (Graphic by CERDEC)


BW: bandwidth CPU: central processing unit FSO: free space optics GB: gigabyte GPU: graphics processing unit HF: high-frequency IOT: internet of things


Li-Fi: light fidelity wireless communications LTE: Long Term Evolution technology mmW: millimeter wave M-to-M: machine-to-machine VLF: very low frequency


Signal range


major technical barriers that will need to be overcome. To address this new challenge, the military must re-evaluate how its systems can be tasked to do more than just their intended function. It must develop new and novel sensors, and find new and novel ways of using existing sensors, that can acquire and discern signals of interest within such dense information environments. And it must use innovative data-processing techniques, such as machine learn- ing, to help make sense of all this information.


A SPECTRUM OF CHALLENGES To support mission planning and execution, commanders will need situational understanding of both the physical and cyber- space domains. For instance, what adversaries exist in the area and how are they communicating? Are they using the available local infrastructure? What applications are they using to communicate


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and share information—are they using Gmail? Are they chatting on Telegram or Snapchat? What radio frequency spectrum do they use? Where are they? To help answer these and other ques- tions, the U.S. Army’s research and development community is investigating innovative approaches to identifying signals of interest from such future multifaceted and signal-rich environ- ments. (See Figure 1.)


To obtain situational awareness of the electromagnetic spectrum, the Army currently uses large, dedicated electronic support and intelligence collection systems, mostly mounted on aircraft. Such assets are relatively few in number, overtasked and, if air superior- ity is not assured, must be situated a considerable distance behind friendly lines to maintain freedom of maneuver. In the electron- ically dense battlefields of the future, this traditional approach


Army AL&T Magazine


October-December 2018


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