This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 10715 including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

Cruise missiles seem to be a topical subject for contemporary air defence systems. Operating at low altitude and flying with subsonic velocity, are extremely difficult for interception by existing surveillance means and there is no information about an effective combat method. In the paper authors considered to apply Grom MANPADS to intercept and fight with cruise missiles. Some optimisations of kinematic properties of the missile are conducted. The importance of a missile range was underlined and discussed.

This paper presents concept and implementation of digital positioning system based on phase difference measurements, designed as a navigational aid for marine applications. Main feature of proposed system is the ability to work in both synchronous mode, with one master station and set of slave stations synchronized with master, and in asynchronous mode with independent clocking of all stations.

This paper presents an analysis of a conical corrugated horn antenna operating using high power pulses. The main goal was to design an antenna structure with the capability of handling 1 GW peak power. During the design process, the antenna breakdown strength, number of corrugations and possibility of filling the structure with SF₆ gas or high vacuum were taken under consideration. To obtain a hermetic antenna, some thin dielectric plate in the antenna aperture and dielectric lens were considered.

In this paper we describe a circular antenna array that consists of four small cavity-backed slot antennas (CBSA) integrated with a cylindrical case of wireless battlefield sensors operating in ISM 2.4 GHz band. The array antenna is dedicated to operate in a switched-beam mode, in which the active element is selected by means of a microwave switching network. We put our focus on simulated and measured parameters of CBSA elements that should provide sector coverage in the horizontal plane of a single quadrant of the battlefield. We show that the proposed cavity-backed slot antennas operates with low reflection coefficient (<17 dB) in frequency bandwidth of 150 MHz (6.2%). Moreover, the width of its horizontal radiation pattern is ca. 76°, which is sufficient for coverage of a single quadrant of the battlefield in order to provide reliable wireless communication.

This article presents the results of numerical and experimental evaluation of performance of the Vlasov antenna in view of High Power Microwave (HPM) applications. The impact of the antenna geometry on its parameters, i.e. shape of the radiation pattern and the directional gain, is shown. Also, critical values of the electric field intensity that can excite electrical discharge are determined and trouble spots of plasma generation within antenna geometry that can block HPM emission are also determined.

Immunity of medical equipment to radiated radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic (EM) fields is a priority issue owing to the functions that the equipment is intended to perform. This is reflected in increasingly stringent normative requirements that medical electrical equipment has to conform to. A new version of the standard concerning electromagnetic compatibility of medical electrical equipment IEC 60601-1-2:2014 has recently been published. The paper discusses major changes introduced in this edition of the standard. The changes comprise more rigorous immunity requirements for medical equipment as regards radiated RF EM fields and a new requirement for testing the immunity of medical electrical equipment to disturbances coming from digital radio communication systems. Further on, the paper presents two typical designs of the input block: involving a multi-level filtering and amplification circuit and including a solution which integrates an input amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter in one circuit. Regardless of the applied solution, presence of electromagnetic disturbances in the input block leads to demodulation of the disturbance signal envelope. The article elaborates on mechanisms of amplitude detection occurring in such cases. Electromagnetic interferences penetration from the amplifier’s input to the output is also described in the paper. If the aforementioned phenomena are taken into account, engineers will be able to develop a more conscious approach towards the issue of immunity to RF EM fields in the process of designing input circuits in medical electrical equipment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) figures clearly indicate that cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death and disability in the world. Early detection of cardiovascular pathologies may contribute to reducing such a high mortality rate. Auscultatory examination is one of the first and most important step in cardiologic diagnostics. Unfortunately, proper diagnosis is closely related to long-term practice and medical experience. The article presents the author's system of recording phonocardiograms and the way of saving data, as well as the outline of the analysis algorithm, which will allow to assign a case to a patient with heart failure or healthy voluntaries’ with a certain high probability. The results of a pilot study of phonocardiographic signals were also presented as an introduction to further research aimed at the development of an efficient diagnostic algorithm based on spectral analysis of the heart tone.

A magnetron as a generation lamp is a groundbreaking invention. Magnetrons can achieve high power in both continuous and impulse mode. In addition, their characteristic feature and at the same time a great advantage is the high efficiency in the decimeter frequency range. Moreover, they have a very good ratio of power generated to mass compared to semiconductor solutions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of the oven magnetron in terms of emission of undesirable signals. The aim of magnetrons of this type is to produce a continuous electromagnetic wave with stable oscillations of 2.45 GHz. During experimental research, additional spurious frequency of 4.3 GHz was observed in some cycles. Such spuria adversely affect the stability of the generated signal and disturb the surroundings. To find out why the signal is generated, the oven magnetron is examined. After that the numerical analysis was performed on this basis. The analysis shows that the magnetron operates in a different mode than the basic mode π. Numerical studies in the form of computer simulations were carried out in the CST program. To do this magnetron geometry was implemented in to the program. For experimental measurements, a commercially available oven magnetron was used. During the tests, the operation of a continuous wave generator with a frequency of 2.45 GHz and operating in the power range of 200-800W.

One of the most important parameters that characterize microwave tubes with crossed fields, both amplifiers (CFA), and generating tubes like magnetrons is the noise level. This type of tubes are characterized by relatively high noise levels, which is the main factor limiting their current use in radar transmitters. The main source of noise in microwave tubes of this type is the dispersion of the energy of electrons that are in phase with the spatial wave of the electromagnetic field propagating in the delay line (in case of an amplitron) or in the resonant structure (in case of a magnetron).The results of the research presented in the article concern the technique of determination of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) based on the analysis of results obtained during the numerical simulations of the effect of electric charge on a high frequency electromagnetic field. Signal to noise ratio was determined by analysing in-phase and quadrature data recorded in the high frequency simulation. In order to assess the accuracy of the method under investigation, the results from the noise analysis obtained from numerical calculations were compared with the results obtained from real tube measurements performed by a spectrum analyser. On the basis of the research, it appears that performing analysis of noise generated in the interaction area may be useful for preliminary evaluation of the tube at the design stage.

The electronic countermeasures (ECM) include methods to completely prevent or restrict the effective use of the electromagnetic spectrum by the opponent. The most widespread means of disorganizing the operation of electronic devices is to create active and passive radio-electronic jamming. The paper presents the way of jamming efficiency calculations for protecting ground objects against the radars mounted on the airborne platforms. The basic mathematical formulas for calculating the efficiency of active radar jamming are presented. The numerical calculations for ground object protection are made for two different electronic warfare scenarios: the jammer is placed very closely and in a determined distance from the protecting object. The results of these calculations are presented in the appropriate figures showing the minimal distance of effective jamming. The realization of effective radar jamming in electronic warfare systems depends mainly on the precise knowledge of radar and the jammer’s technical parameters, the distance between them, the assumed value of the degradation coefficient, the conditions of electromagnetic energy propagation and the applied jamming method. The conclusions from these calculations facilitate making a decision regarding how jamming should be conducted to achieve high efficiency during the electronic warfare training.

In the paper one of high range resolution methods – Aperture Sampling – was analysed. Unlike MUSIC based techniques it proved to be very efficient in terms of achieving unambiguous synthetic range profile for ultra-wideband stepped frequency continuous wave radar. Assuming that minimal distance required to separate two targets in depth (distance) corresponds to -3 dB width of received echo, AS provided a 30,8 % improvement in range resolution in analysed scenario, when compared to results of applying IFFT. Output data is far superior in terms of both improved range resolution and reduced side lobe level than used typically in this area Inverse Fourier Transform. Furthermore it does not require prior knowledge or an estimate of number of targets to be detected in a given scan.

In this paper we present a Acoustic Direction Finding (ADF) method that employs multi-dimensional Fourier transform to find both, azimuth and elevation angle of a source that generates sound wave. The proposed solution is basically a three-dimensional extension of the well known two-dimensional DFT-based algorithm where elevation angle is computed for only one hemisphere. There is a number of applications where it is enough but here we mean a device that is to be used for finding small objects (drones) that can fly above as well as beneath the point of installation of the device. Therefore the elevation must be determined correctly for the whole sphere. The results of computer simulations has been presented to show the ability of the proposed algorithm to solve the problem of simultaneous estimation of DOA of acoustic wave for a number of sources in a whole sphere. It has been pointed out to pros and cons of the proposed solution as well as the possible and necessary improvements.

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology is based on reflection of electromagnetic waves occurring in the soil subsurface. The achievement of high detection probability in composite materials is rather challenging. In this paper, the application of Akaike information criterion (AIC) method for the GPR signal processing was discussed and analysed. The capabilities of the AIC method are demonstrated through real and simulated data. It is shown that the information criterion approach is a reliable and useful tool for subsurface target detection.

This paper presents a method of fusion of identification (attribute) information provided by ELINT – ESM sensors (Electronic Intelligence – Electronic Support Measures). In the first section the basic taxonomy of attribute identification in accordance with the standards of STANAG 1241 ed. 5 and STANAG 1241 ed. 6 (draft) is adopted. These standards provide the following basic values of the attributes of identification: FRIEND, HOSTILE, NEUTRAL, UNKNOWN and additional values: ASSUMED FRIEND and SUSPECT. The last values can be interpreted as a conjunction of basic values. The basis of theoretical considerations is the Dezert-Smarandache theory (DSmT) of inference. This paper presents and practically uses combining identification information from different ELINT – ESM sensors one of the information fusion rules proposed by the DSmT - the Proportional Conflict Redistribution #5 rule (PCR5). In the next section rules of determining attribute information by ESM sensor equipped with the data base of radar emitters are presented. It was proposed that each signal vector sent by the ELINT-ESM sensor contained an extension specifying a randomized identification declaration (hypothesis). This declaration specifies the reliability of the identification information - basic belief assignment (bba) for the identification information set. This paper presents a method of determining this belief assignment based on the distance between recognized signal features, vectors and centers of clusters grouping emitter patterns in the pattern data base. Results of the PCR5 rule of sensor information combining for two scenarios are presented in the final part of this paper. Conclusions are given at the end of this paper. They confirm the legitimacy of the use of the Dezert-Smarandache theory into information fusion for ESM sensors.

The effectiveness of radar systems highly depends on meeting certain expectations, both technical and operationaltactical. The verification of the effectiveness of radars and their cooperation with other elements of the grouping in conditions similar to combat operations requires the use of various simulation techniques. This paper introduces the concept of the radar environment simulator, which allows the generation of complex simulation variants that are adapted to conduct a wide range of tactical exercises and scientific experiments. The wide range of the simulator's interaction with the radar was met by placing it inside a signal processing block and incorporating it into the technical and tactical parameters management system of the radar. The simulator concept assumes the possibility of generating a wide range of trajectories of air objects. Interoperability of the simulator with selected signal processing block modules enables the simulation of undesirable phenomena such as targeted interference, damage to radar modules, etc. The performed tests confirmed the usefulness of the presented solution for its use in real radar.

The increase of interoperability of radio electronic systems used in the Armed Forces requires the processing of very large amounts of data. Requirements for the integration of information from many systems and sensors, including radar recognition, electronic and optical recognition, force to look for more efficient methods to support information retrieval in even-larger database resources. This paper presents the results of research on methods of improving the efficiency of databases using various types of indexes. The data structure indexing technique is a solution used in RDBMS systems (relational database management system). However, the analysis of the performance of indices, the description of potential applications, and in particular the presentation of a specific scale of performance growth for individual indices are limited to few studies in this field. This paper contains analysis of methods affecting the work efficiency of a relational database management system. As a result of the research, a significant increase in the efficiency of operations on data was achieved through the strategy of indexing data structures. The presentation of the research topic discussed in this paper mainly consists of testing the operation of various indexes against the background of different queries and data structures. The conclusions from the conducted experiments allow to assess the effectiveness of the solutions proposed and applied in the research. The results of the research indicate the existence of a real increase in the performance of operations on data using indexation of data structures. In addition, the level of this growth is presented, broken down by index types.

In this paper some capabilities of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) as a suitable platform for radar applications based on an exemplary implementation of matched filter are discussed. Relations between the resource usage, precision of calculations and design performance are presented. Results of a multi-aspect analysis can help in elaboration of specific implementation conclusions both at the stage of formulating processing algorithms and their implementation. A wider view of the possibilities and limitations of programmable logic in combination with the features of other available platforms leads to the effective use of modern heterogeneous systems, including FPGA, GPU and CPU, which in turn allows to take advantage of the possibilities and compensation for the limitations of those technologies.

This article presents CUDA architecture as an effective tool for the digital beam forming in radar system. The article contains the results of a series of tests, which verify the fulfillment of stability and data processing time requirements. In the article, the authors presents the results of implementations that illustrate different approaches to this issue and some methods to increase the efficiency of implemented algorithms. In addition, the presented results represent implementations on devices adapted for military applications.

Classic methods of detection of objects assume a certain threshold, that separates the echo signal of the object from noise. In case of objects with high linear velocity their echoes may be spread in time and can be under the threshold. The reduction of the threshold should improve a probability of detection, but on the other hand it will increase the probability of false alarm. This side effect can be reduced using special methods usually referred to as Track-before-Detect. Their principle of operation base on the analysis of object’s state estimation in several subsequent scans of sensors’ observation space. Subsequently the estimates of the object position are combined in accordance to assumed strategy. If the parameter of association cost achieves the threshold, it means that an object is detected. There are many TBD strategies described in the literature, but two of the most popular are the Multiple Hypothesis Tracking and the Dynamic Programming. The paper presents their principles of operation and a comparison of their effectiveness.

The problem of estimating azimuth in rotating array radar with a beam, wide in the azimuth plane, is considered. Under such setup the echo signal usually has a very low signal to noise ratio, but the number of observations is large, because of long dwell times. The proposed solution is based on the maximum likelihood approach, but it employs simplifications which facilitate its implementation in real time systems. Results, obtained by offline postprocessing of data recorded in a real-world radar system, demonstrate that the proposed solution allows one to reach estimation accuracy comparable to that offered by a system employing a narrow beam.

Gallium Nitride (GaN) substrates gained much interest because of their usefulness in making devices for microwave high power electronics, as well as electronic devices of high operating voltage (above 1000V). Among many techniques of GaN crystallization, ammonothermal method is regarded as a key technology of bulk GaN production. In this method, GaN is deposited on native seeds in supercritical ammonia solution at high pressure (4 kbar) and temperature (600 °C) conditions. Intentional doping allows to obtain crystals of wide spectrum of electric properties (n-type, p-type, highly resistive). In case of the latter ones, compensation of unintentional oxygen donors by shallow and deep acceptors is used. It enables to fabricate 2-inch highly resistive semi-insulating substrates of thermally stable resistivity of at least 10¹¹ Ω cm at room temperature. Those substrates are characterized by outstanding structural quality (flat crystal lattice, dislocation density of 5x10⁴ cm^-2). Semi-insulating substrates were successfully used in fabrication of high electron mobility transistors (HEMT), operating at 22 GHz..

The paper presents the amplifier for application in an active electronically scanned array (AESA). For design purposes both time- and frequency domain simulations were carried out. The developed amplifier achieved more than 9W of output power at a maximum efficiency of 57% for 9.5 GHz and small-signal gain |S₂₁|>11dB over 9-10 GHz frequency range. Furthermore, the potential of Polish GaN HEMT technology based on domestic, semi-insulating, bulk GaN substrate fabricated by Ammono.