Keysight Technologies Inc. announced a cost-effective reference solution for creating multi-emitter signal environments used for electronic warfare (EW) simulation and test. The Multi-Emitter Scenario Generator Reference Solution, another in a series of Keysight Reference Solutions, is based on multiple coherent N5193A UXG agile signal generators. With the industry-leading UXGs and N7660B Signal Studio software for multi-emitter scenario generation, this reference solution enables engineers to quickly and accurately simulate realistic and dynamic radar threats at a fraction of the cost of similar systems.

Creating realistic multi-emitter signal environments or scenarios is a complex task. Multiple pulse trains must be correctly interleaved and pulse conditions must be identified, counted and prioritized. With hardware configurations that easily fit on an engineer’s desk, the reference solution coherently changes frequencies and settles amplitude in 180 ns – allowing thousands of threat-emitters to be simulated with millions of pulses per second.

Angle of Arrival (AoA) and kinematics simulations within the multi-emitter signal environment add even more complexity. Kinematics provides dynamic power levels, Doppler frequencies and pulse amplitudes, phase and time offsets for AoA simulation. In order to achieve AoA simulation, the reference solution provides a tailored calibration system capable of aligning the different UXGs in time, amplitude and phase. The calibration system is comprised of calibration software, N7660B Signal Studio software and leading-edge Keysight hardware: the PNA or PNA-X vector network analyzers for amplitude and phase calibration; the Infiniium series oscilloscopes for time, amplitude and phase calibration; and the U2000 series USB power sensors for lower-cost amplitude-only calibration.

“The Multi-Emitter Scenario Generator Reference Solution delivers realistic radar threat-emitter signal generation support at multiple stages in the development cycle,” said Mario Narduzzi, marketing manager of Keysight’s Communications Measurement Solutions division. “Engineers working in reprogramming labs or developing new platforms will now be able to procure and implement an EW test system in two months rather than the typical two-year procurement cycle.”

Engineers can now easily configure radar parameters such as frequency, amplitude, antenna scan, pulse repetition interval, pulse width and modulation-on-pulse, and then interleave multiple radar threat-emitters with Signal Studio’s graphical user interface. The EW engineer can combine threat-emitters into scenarios and use dropped-pulse reports to optimize pulse density and reduce pulse collisions by changing emitter start times, priorities and pulse-repetition intervals. Additionally, AoA and kinematics parameters like changing time offsets, power levels, signal phases and Doppler frequencies between ports can directly be controlled and configured with Signal Studio. The user can visualize all of this with the new time domain analysis feature that shows the antenna scan patterns and motion of any emitters and their associated platforms.

Multi-emitter scenarios, created in Signal Studio, may be downloaded directly to one or more UXGs as pulse descriptor word (PDW) lists. In addition, PDWs can be computed and then streamed to the UXGs via LAN for virtually unlimited-length scenarios. The high-performance UXG provides phase-coherent frequency and amplitude transitions as fast as 180 ns, timing resolution of 10 ps, and spurious-free dynamic range of -70 dBc. The UXG can also be used as a dependable local oscillator or a scalable threat simulator. Its capabilities enable aerospace/defense engineers to generate increasingly complex simulations that get closer to reality for increased confidence in ECM system performance.

Additional information about the Multi-Emitter Scenario Generator Reference Solution is available at www.keysight.com/find/solution-mesg.