Communications and data link jammer incorporating fiber-optic delay line technology
AssigneeSierra Nevada Corporation
InventorsPatrick E. Clark, Michael F. Lawler, John H. Russell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A communications and data link jamming system employs a fiber-optic RF delay line to provide rapid responses to threat signals. A sample of the RF signal threat environment is stored within the delay line, and a jamming video signal is added to the stored sample by modulation as it is being extracted from the delay line. The extracted signal is re-circulated back into the delay line, thereby effectively stretching the sample for highly efficient jamming. The jamming system is effective in countering burst communications and in defeating multiple simultaneous threat signals.
Claims22
A telecommunication countermeasure system, comprising:
- an analog RF memory configured to produce a jamming signal from a received signal sample representative of an incident signal;
- wherein the jamming signal and the incident signal are characterized by a selected baseband frequency, wherein the received signal sample is received over a predefined sampling interval, and wherein the analog memory is sized to correspond to a predefined sampling interval and to the selected baseband frequency.
A telecommunication countermeasure method, comprising:
- receiving an incident signal at a selected baseband frequency;
- generating a received signal sample from the incident signal at a selected baseband frequency over a predefined sampling interval;
- generating a jamming signal from the received signal sample;
- and
- transmitting the jamming signal responsive to the incident signal.
A radio frequency (RF) jamming system, comprising:
- an RF front-end assembly configured to generate a received signal sample from an incident signal at a selected baseband frequency over a predefined sampling interval;
- a fiber optic delay line assembly coupled to the RF front-end assembly and configured to store a jamming signal at the selected baseband frequency;
- an automatic gain control assembly coupled to the fiber optic delay line assembly and configured to convey at least a portion of the stored jamming signal for transmission at the selected baseband frequency;
- a controller coupled to the RF front-end assembly and to the automatic gain control assembly, and configured to selectively control at least one of an incident signal length, the predefined sampling interval, a received sample signal characteristic, and an operating mode;
- an RF switch coupled between the RF front-end assembly, the automatic gain control assembly, and the controller, wherein the operating mode includes a sampling operating mode and a jamming operating mode, and wherein the controller causes the RF switch to select the sampling operating mode or the jamming operating mode;
- and
- an amplifier assembly coupled to receive the jamming signal from the automatic gain control and to amplify the stored jamming signal into a broadcast jamming signal for transmission at the selected baseband frequency;
- wherein the stored jamming signal is generated in the sampling operating mode and the broadcast jamming signal is transmitted in the jamming operating mode.
A system for jamming an external RF signal, comprising:
- a video signal generator that generates a video jamming signal
- a channel assembly configured to receive an external RF signal and the video jamming signal;
- a modulator in the channel assembly configured to modulate the external RF signal with the video jamming signal to create a modulated RF jamming signal;
- a signal storage element, comprising a delay line, configured to receive the jamming signal from the modulator and to re-circulate the jamming signal to the channel assembly a predetermined number of times;
- and
- an output assembly, comprising an amplifier and an antenna, that receives the jamming signal from the channel assembly after the predetermined number of re-circulations and that transmits the jamming signal so as to jam the external RF signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.