Interesting Engineering informs: the US Air Force commissioned the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to develop a new « cognitive» electronic warfare system. Scientists will have to create AI-algorithms that will help to more quickly detect and respond to unknown enemy radar threats in real-time mode.
The new EB system will be able to "think" regardless of the crew, guaranteeing the safety of the aircraft in combat situations. According to the developers' idea, the system will analyze the environment and the signals coming from various equipment with the reliability inherent in a person, but with higher accuracy and a shorter response time.
The developers explained: normal EW procedures require gathering intelligence before the fighter enters certain areas. In such cases, pilots are provided with data on the potential of the enemy they may encounter. This information is then pre-loaded into the aircraft's electronic warfare system. And after that, the system notifies the pilots when it detects threats and automatically protects the plane if necessary. This tracking method allows you to detect familiar signals, but it is unable to identify unknown threats. This is where the new EW can be a game-changer.
SwRI engineers are working on a more powerful, faster and more accurate tool to protect service members and improve their capabilities.
"Previously, we relied on a signal library, which allows us to recognize and compare familiar signals. This library — the limit of the information available to us. Thanks to cognitive EB and the use of machine learning, we will be able to instantly identify new signals that are not yet in the library», — explained SwRI research engineer Damon Plyler, who is part of the development team.
SwRI engineers are developing an autonomous EW system using a two-stage approach. In the first stage they use artificial intelligence and machine learning processes to identify specific features of threatening radar signals. These features are then used in the second stage to group millions of pulses, revealing how dangerous or vulnerable the signals are. Developers also hope to implement neuromorphic computing systems that use impulse neural networks to mimic how the human brain stores "memories", making processing faster, more accurate and more efficient.
According to Dr. Stephen Harbor of SwRI, which is involved in the development, the implementation of neuromorphics in the equipment, which will be used for the first time in an operational combat environment, will allow us to be significantly ahead of the adversaries. As far as we know, we are the first in the field. the world, who will do it», — he added.