The problem of interference within the electromagnetic spectrum has existed for a very long time and has lost none of its topicality and priority in recent years. Interference, whether intentional or unintentional, causes a system to be interrupted in communication or position finding. The service provided by global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) can be intentionally disrupted or distorted, especially during military or terrorist actions, so that no or incorrect position or time information can be obtained from the widely used GPS or Galileo receivers. In recent years, the BMLV has put a great deal of effort into raising awareness of this problem and has been able to gain a great deal of research results through its participation as a requirement bearer in various projects. The focus has always been on establishing a GNSS testbed. Both hardware and software components were purchased and adapted to the technical requirements. The responsible persons succeeded in uniting renowned international teams from research and industry for realistic tests in order to jointly evaluate developments in the field of GNSS reception and interference suppression. In order to localize such interferers, suitable antennas are required. Commercially available systems do not always cover military applications, are hardly optimized for the relevant frequency bands and are therefore only of limited use. Antenna systems that incorporate a certain "intelligence" can quickly become complex systems. In this case, intelligence means that the antenna system is not a FRPA (fixed reception pattern antenna) but a CRPA (controlled reception pattern antenna), which consists of an array of antennas and can thus suppress interference from certain directions by means of suitable beamforming. If one also wants to include the military component and the demand that is placed on such antennas, it is essential to create a comprehensive design that integrates many considerations. The proposed NAWASCAN project builds on the results of a study conducted in another project and is intended to provide the basis of a limited-function demonstrator as a proof-ofconcept. This is intended to falsify design decisions in preparation for a field-usable operational solution for the Austrian Armed Forces.
NAWASCAN – Navigation Warfare Scan Antenna
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Call 2021
The service provided by global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) can be intentionally jammed or spoofed, especially during military or terrorist actions, so that no or incorrect position or time information is obtained from the widely used GPS or Galileo receivers. The NAWASCAN project aims to design an antenna system optimized for the GNSS relevant frequency bands and to provide decision bases for the active (jamming/spoofing) and passive (direction finding/locating) use of field deployable Navigation Warfare antennas.