Because of their proliferation to many regions groups in the world and easy availability by the groups, the infrared (IR) missiles are probably the most dangerous threats for the aircraft platforms. The first generations of the infrared guided missiles which are surface-to-air or air-to-air guided missiles use non-imaging reticle-based seekers. On the other hand, there are some IR countermeasure (IRCM) techniques which may be applied by the aircraft to protect itself from the approaching IR guided missile. One of IRCM techniques for protecting aircraft platforms against IR guided missiles is to use a modulated jamming signal. But to be effective, optimizing the parameters of the jammer modulation is an important issue. The jamming operation may not be successful for protecting the aircraft if the required jamming characteristic is not satisfied. To define the jammer signal modulation characteristic several parameters must be optimized. In the present paper, we consider protection of a helicopter platform against conical-scan reticle based seeker systems. We investigate the optimized value intervals of the jamming parameters via self organizing maps and multidimensional particle swarm optimization methods. The data for investigation is retrieved from a simulator. The corresponding MATLAB-coded simulator includes the model of the guided missile with reticle-based conical-scan seeker, the aircraft model with aircraft radiation and aircraft motion models and jammer system model on the aircraft.
A missile warning system can detect the incoming missile threat(s) and automatically cue the other Electronic Attack
(EA) systems in the suit, such as Directed Infrared Counter Measure (DIRCM) system and/or Counter Measure
Dispensing System (CMDS). Most missile warning systems are currently based on passive sensor technology operating
in either Solar Blind Ultraviolet (SBUV) or Midwave Infrared (MWIR) bands on which there is an intensive emission
from the exhaust plume of the threatening missile. Although passive missile warning systems have some clear
advantages over pulse-Doppler radar (PDR) based active missile warning systems, they show poorer performance in
terms of time-to-impact (TTI) estimation which is critical for optimizing the countermeasures and also “passive kill
assessment”. In this paper, we consider this problem, namely, TTI estimation from passive measurements and present a
TTI estimation scheme which can be used in passive missile warning systems. Our problem formulation is based on
Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The algorithm uses the area parameter of the threat plume which is derived from the
used image frame.
Being passive systems and due to their proliferation to many regions in the world, the infrared (IR) guided missiles constitute probably the most dangerous threats for the aircraft platforms. Early generation surface-to-air and air-to-air IRguided missiles use reticle-based seekers. One of the IR countermeasure (IRCM) techniques for protecting aircraft platforms against these type of threats is to use a modulated jamming signal. Optimizing the parameters of the modulation is the most important issue for an effective protection. If the required characteristic is not satisfied, jamming may not be successful for protecting the aircraft. There are several parameters to define the jammer signal (modulation) characteristic. Optimizing them requires a good understanding of threat seekers’ operating principles. In the present paper, we consider protection of a helicopter platform against conical-scan reticle based seeker systems and investigate the effect of the jammer signal modulation parameters on jamming performance via extensive batch simulations. The simulations are performed in a MATLAB-coded simulator which models reticle-based conical-scan seeker, aircraft radiation, aircraft motion and jammer system on the aircraft. The results show that if the properties of the jammer signal are similar to those of the reticle-modulated signal in the missile, the jamming can be successful. Otherwise, applied jamming may not deceive the threat seeker.
Infrared guided missile seekers utilizing pulse width modulation in target tracking is one of the threats against air platforms. To be able to achieve a “soft-kill” protection of own platform against these type of threats, one needs to examine carefully the seeker operating principle with its special electronic counter-counter measure (ECCM) capability. One of the cost-effective ways of soft kill protection is to use flare decoys in accordance with an optimized dispensing program. Such an optimization requires a good understanding of the threat seeker, capabilities of the air platform and engagement scenario information between them. Modeling and simulation is very powerful tool to achieve a valuable insight and understand the underlying phenomenology. A careful interpretation of simulation results is crucial to infer valuable conclusions from the data. In such an interpretation there are lots of factors (features) which affect the results. Therefore, powerful statistical tools and pattern recognition algorithms are of special interest in the analysis. In this paper, we show how self-organizing maps (SOMs), which is one of those powerful tools, can be used in analyzing the effectiveness of various flare dispensing programs against a PWM seeker. We perform several Monte Carlo runs for a typical engagement scenario in a MATLAB-based simulation environment. In each run, we randomly change the flare dispending program and obtain corresponding class: “successful” or “unsuccessful”, depending on whether the corresponding flare dispensing program deceives the seeker or not, respectively. Then, in the analysis phase, we use SOMs to interpret and visualize the results.
The reticle systems which are considered as the classical approach for determining the angular position of radiating
targets in infrared band are widely used in early generation surface-to-air and air-to-air infrared guided missile seekers.
One of the cost-effective ways of protecting aircrafts against these missiles is to dispense flare decoys from the countermeasure
dispensing system (CMDS) integrated into the aircraft platform. Although this counter-measuring technique
seems very simple, if not optimized carefully, it may not be effective for protecting the aircraft. Flares should be
dispensed in accordance with a specific dispensing program which determines the number of flares to be dispensed from
each dispenser of the CMDS and timing sequence of dispensing. Optimizing the parameters of the dispensing program is
not trivial. It requires a good understanding of the operating principle of the threat seeker, operational capabilities of own
platform and engagement scenario between them. In the present paper, we propose a complete simulation-based
procedure to form an effectiveness boundary of flare dispensing programs against the spin-scan and conical-scan reticle
seekers. The region of effectiveness is determined via Gaussian mixture models. The raw data is collected via extensive
number of simulations using a MATLAB-coded simulator which models reticle-based seeker, aircraft radiation, aircraft
motion, aircraft CMDS system, flare motion and flare radiation.
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