‘Nowhere to hide’: Chinese scientists develop game-changing military surveillance device for electronic warfare

Scientists say they have achieved seamless, wide bandwidth, real-time monitoring and analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum
It covers a massive frequency range which picks up everything from amateur radio broadcasts to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites

Science

Stephen Chenin Beijing

Published: 12:59pm, 6 Feb, 2024

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An enemy in the battlefield will have “nowhere to hide” after Chinese scientists claim to have made a huge technological breakthrough in the field of electronic warfare.

The team of scientists from Beijing said for the first time they have achieved seamless, wide bandwidth, real-time monitoring and analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum, leaving any enemy completely out in the open during a conflict.

The Chinese military will be able to use this technology to detect and lock on to enemy signals at unprecedented speeds, decode the physical parameters of these signals almost instantly, and effectively suppress them – all while ensuring the smooth flow of their own communications, according to the researchers.

Details of the game-changing technology were published by project lead scientist Yang Kai, a professor from the school of information and electronics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and his team in a peer-reviewed paper in the Chinese academic journal Radio Communications Technology on January 17.

In the paper, Yang wrote that the new breed of electromagnetic spectrum monitoring gear is “small in size, high in performance and low in power consumption”.

Due to the enormous amount of data to be processed in the heat of combat, this technology was previously considered a pipe dream.

The scientists said it will cause “a profound shift in the art of war”.

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China and the United States are currently locked in an intense tussle for dominion over the electromagnetic spectrum.

In recent months, civilian weather radars in the South China Sea have reported mysterious interferences, leading some military experts to suspect a covert “dance” was taking place between Chinese and American naval forces. While bullets and bombs have yet to fly, the electronic battlefield is already ablaze.

But while China was once at a disadvantage, now it seems to be gaining ground, with reports that its military is growing more assertive. Chinese state media reported last month that its advanced Type 055 destroyer had single-handedly blocked the advance of an entire US aircraft carrier strike group – something which was unimaginable in the past.

Although there may be exaggerated elements in China’s propaganda, interviewed officers and soldiers revealed an important detail: they had activated electromagnetic emitting equipment including high-power phased array radars and firmly locked on to a series of targets including US carrier-based aircraft in the offensive and defensive contest of electronic warfare.

Details of the electronic warfare prowess of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) remain scant. But the research by Yang’s team, which is deeply involved in shaping this covert arsenal, offers a glimpse into China’s strides in the area.

The Chinese scientists have greatly extended the frequency range of what signals it can analyse. Photo: Shutterstock

Hamstrung by hardware limits, the real-time analysis bandwidth of traditional spectrum monitoring systems is generally restricted to a range of 40-160 MHz, according to Yang.

Signals outside this range, especially high-frequency ones, are typically monitored via sampling scans. With this method, there is a good chance of missing something important.

But Yang’s team claims the new Chinese equipment has extended the frequency range of seamless detection real-time monitoring into the gigahertz zone, which covers the frequency range used by amateur radio enthusiasts and even Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites.

This means that even if the US military suddenly switches to civilian frequencies and emits a pulse signal in a short period of time, it can still be captured and analysed by the Chinese military. As a result, wireless communications between US military units may be affected or interrupted due to Chinese suppression.

To attain this broader capability, the scientists said they developed a series of new signal processing chips.

On the battlefield, there is not just a multitude of military units like satellites, aircraft, drones, radar stations, tanks and infantry, but there are also civilian facilities and electrical appliances that emit electromagnetic signals.

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When all these signals are captured by high-performance antennas, they produce a massive data flow. Previous digital processing chips were unable to handle such a huge workload.

But Yang said the new chips can effectively split this flood of data into smaller streams before computational processing. This reduces the processing burden and makes it possible to monitor a large number of signal sources simultaneously over a wide frequency range.

The scientists have also revamped the structure of the electromagnetic signal filter that works with the chip, and with new mathematical methods it improves the processor’s work efficiency without sacrificing any signals.

The surveillance device also needs to conduct automatic analysis of the processed signals to obtain high-value information, such as the signals’ physical parameters, modulation methods and the identification of friendly or civilian sources. Traditional methods have not been able to immediately provide reliable analysis.

To address this challenge, Yang’s team introduced artificial intelligence (AI) into the most critical data analysis process, and at least two different AI technologies are employed to work closely together to solve the various challenges encountered.

The integration of in-house chips and AI has enabled the Chinese military to achieve unprecedented information perception capabilities at a lower cost. Even in the face of enemy jamming, they can still find the enemy’s weaknesses from strong background noise and effectively counter them, Yang’s team wrote in the paper.

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Yang is not only engaged in the research and development of electronic warfare equipment; he is also involved in civilian technologies such as mobile phone communications and satellite links. He has previously been awarded a top prize by the China Communications Society.

He is also very active internationally, having worked at Bell Labs and taken part in the development of multiple international telecommunications standards. He currently serves as the secretary general of the Green Communications and Computing Technical Committee of the IEEE, the world’s largest organisation of electronic engineers.

Some scientists put the rapid development of China’s military electromagnetic technology down to its world-leading telecommunications industry.

Leading Chinese telecommunications firms, such as Huawei, have invested heavily in cutting-edge wireless communication technologies, reaping significant rewards.

In contrast, the US now relies primarily on European companies like Ericsson and Nokia for equipment and technology in building its 5G networks, which are only a fraction of the size of China’s.