Study on the Jamming to Synthetic Aperture Radar

Xianfeng Tian Guangyou Fang

Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

1. Introduction

The history of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) may retrospect to 50's last
century. The main purpose of SAR is to image the terrain of the detected area
using microwave [1, 2]. It can work at all time and all weather; moreover it
has ability to penetrating foliage. Owing to these features, it finds its way in
many civil and military applications. The susceptibility of SAR system to
interference is of concern in both military and civil applications [1,2].
Synthetic aperture radars play very important roles in the just passed war.
How to protect keystone areas to avoid reconnaissance by opponent SAR
becomes key field for the study of ECM [2].
The synthetic aperture radar has special features different from conventional
radar, such as high processing gain in range and cross-range, large antenna
aperture achieved by movement of radar platform and much wider signal
bandwidth [1, 3]. So studying on jamming to SAR is significant to war in the
future. According to the relationship of noise interference and echo, there are
several jamming types, such as, noise jamming, coherent jamming, part
coherent jamming and deceptive jamming [2]. This paper introduces a novel
radar equation relating the effectiveness of SAR ECM jamming to the main
system parameters. Through analyzing the signal power of the video data
(image data), it is found that deceptive jamming to SAR is a good method; and
coherent jamming is feasible.

2. SAR ECM Radar Equation

An expression for a measure of the susceptibility of a SAR to jamming as a

function of system parameters is derived. It is shown to be a simple
relationship between average transmitted power of SAR, the jammer’s
equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP), the incidence angle and the
normalized clutter backscatter. The assumption is made that the SAR follows
the conventional design constraints [3, 4, 5].
The echo power that radar received is presented by:
t tσ A t t Gr σλ
2
PG PG
 Prs = =  (1)
(4π r ) (4π ) r
2 2 3 4

σ = σ 0 A; A = ρ a ⋅ ρ gr , ρ gr is ground resolution. Taking into account system loss,

loss gene ( K S ) is introduced. Equation(1) can be changed:
t t Gr σλ
PG 2
1 λ PG
t
2
σ 0 λ 3 ⋅ PRF ⋅ ρ gr
 Pr s = ⋅ σ 0 ⋅ ( ) r ρ gr ⋅ Ta ⋅ PRF =  (2)
(4π )3 r 4 K s 2 Ta vs 2(4π )3 r 3 vs K s
The power intercepted by the radar is represented by:
Pj G j λ2 B Pj G j λ2 B
 Prj = ⋅ L jγ j Ga (θ ) r Prj = ⋅ L j γ j Ga (θ ) r  (3)
4π R j 2 4π Bj 4π R j 2
4π Bj

The noise single ratio (SNR) is presented by:

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 Prj 4π p j G j r 4 Ga (θ ) L j γ j
 KJ = = ⋅ ⋅ ⋅K S  (4)
Pr s Pt Gt σ R j 2 Ga Kf
The jamming equation is presented by:
Pr Gr K J σ R j 2 Kf Ga
 EIRP=G j Pj = ⋅ ⋅ ⋅K S  (5)
4π r 4
L jγ j Ga (θ )
Pj G j is jamming power. Pr Gr is transmitter power. R j is the distance between
radar and jammer. r is the distance between radar and target; K f = B j / Br is
receiver bandwidth and jamming signal bandwidth. B j is jamming barrage
bandwidth. Br is SAR chirp signal bandwidth. L j is jammer loss. γ j is
polarization loss. Ga / Ga (θ ) is the ratio of SAR major lobe gain and minor
lobes gain.
Basic condition of valid jamming to SAR is J / S ≥ K J , so jammer valid
working range can be presented by:
t t σ R j Gt (θ ) L j γ j
PG 2
 Ga (θ )r 4 ≥ K J ⋅ ⋅  (6)
4π p j G j Kf
When jammer and target stand on same position, Ga (θ ) = Gt (θ ) and least valid
target distance Rt min can be got:
t tσ R j
PG L jγ j 1
2
 Rt min ≥ ( K J ⋅ )4  (7)
4π p j G j K f
Least jamming power is presented by:
t t σ R j Gt (θ ) L j γ j
PG 2
 EIRP ≥ K J ⋅  (8)
4π Rt min 4 Kf

3. Jamming Energy Distributing

Jamming power is a best way to scale jamming effect. It is better to attain

same jamming effect, if the jamming power is less. Jamming equation is
deduced from energy distribution at this chapter. The power that jammer needs
to transmit is analyzed at different jamming modes [6, 7].
Suppose there is a ground distinguish cell ρ x × ρ g , one echo power E (m, n) is:
Gt ρ x ρ g σ At
 E ( m, n ) = K ⋅ Pt Δt  (9)
(4π R 2 ) 2
At is effective receiving area; K is gain of receiver power, Gt = 4π At / λ 2 , Δt is
sampling holding time. Equation(9) can be changed:
Gt2 ρ x ρ g σλ 2
 E ( m, n ) = KPt Δt  (10)
(4π )3 R 4
At one echo jamming power E j (m, n) is presented byΚ
G j At (θ j ) L j γ j
 E j ( m, n ) = KPj ⋅ Δt  (11)
4π R j 2 Kf
From equation(11) and equation(4), K J of one echo is presented by:
E j (m, n) (4π R) 2 R 2 Pj G j At (θ j ) L j γ j
 KJ = = ⋅  (12)
E (m, n) R 2j Pt Gt2 ρ x ρ g σλ 2 K f

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 At (θ j ) is
valid caliber at jammer direction. After imaging to echo data, NSR
of video signal is presented by:
E j (m, n) J r J a L j γ j J r J a (4π R) 2 R 2 Pj G j At (θ j )
 KJ = = ⋅  (13)
E (m, n) MN Kf MN R 2j Pt Gt2 ρ x ρ g σλ 2
Jr is gain of jamming signal in range. Ja is gain of jamming signal in
cross-range. MN is energy gain; M = τ ⋅ B is range gain; and N = R ⋅ Δ ⋅θ PRF / v ,is
azimuth gain. Now, the energy gain of SAR amounts to 60Д70dB, so much as
more.
From equation(13) and equation(8), EIRP can be get:
Kf MNPav Gt2 ρ x ρ g σλ 2 R 2j
EIRP ≥ KJ
L j γ j J r J a (4π R) 2 PRF ⋅τ ⋅ At (θ j ) R 2
Kf RΔθ / ( v / PRF ) BPav Gt2 ρ x ρ g σλ 2 R 2j
 = KJ  (14)
L jγ j J r J a ( 4π R )2 PRF ⋅ At (θ j ) R2
Kf Δθ ⋅ Pav Gt2 ⋅ ( c / 2 ) Δyσλ 2 R 2j
= KJ
L j γ j J r J a ( 4π )2 R ⋅ PRF ⋅ v ⋅ At (θ j ) ⋅ sinα R 2

ρ x = 1/ B ⋅ ( c / 2 ) / sinα ; Pav is average transmitter power. α is angle of incidence;

Δθ is beam width.
JaJr
is different, if jammer works in different modes. Active noise jamming
belongs to barrage jamming. It put noise interference over the echoes of
targets to diffuse target information. Noise jamming signal is not coherent to
SAR echo, so JaJr = 1 . Coherent jamming signal is mainly coherent to echo in
range, and JaJr = N . Deceptive jamming is coherent to echo in range and
cross-range, and JaJr = MN . Part-coherent jamming is intervenient, and
1 < JaJr < MN . Fig1 shows the jamming effect of four modes. For the purpose is
to express focusing and distributing of jamming energy, coordinate data has
not actual meaning.
In noise jamming mode, energy distributes averagely in video signal, and
jammer power required can amount to 106 watt. So it is too difficulty to obtain
valid jamming effect. Deceptive jamming is a good mode, and the main
energy focuses one spot. Parameters of SAR need to be reconnoitred
accurately. Coherent jamming or part Coherent jamming is easy to implement,
and needs not too large power, and energy focuses some area. Jamming effect
is similar to noise jamming in jammed region.

4. Conclusion

The paper manly relates jamming power and jamming effect of four
jamming modes. Jamming equation associating with the SAR and jammer
parameters is got. Jammer’s working distance is got through analyzing the
jamming equation. Characteristic of four jamming modes is analyzed through
the gain of video signal. Deceptive jamming is a preferred mode, if SAR
parameters can be acquired accurately. Coherent jamming or part-Coherent is
an important mode.

References

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS. Downloaded on May 28, 2009 at 22:35 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
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[4] Per Hyberg, “Assessment of Modern Coherent Jamming Methods against
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[5] K Dumper eta1, “Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar and Noise
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Figure

Fig1: Numeric Simulation Result of Four Jamming Modes

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