protecting commercial radar and communication systems

LEE Kar Heng

Protecting Commercial Radar and

Communication Systems

EW Singapore 2017Singapore 2017

Outline

• Outline• Acknowledgement• About the Speaker• Reasons for Using Commercial Systems• Using Commercial Systems in Miliary• Crossing Platforms • The need to Protect• The Chinese Perspective

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• The speaker is thankful to AOC Head Quarter and the organizing team for the opportunity to speak at this prestigious conference.

Acknowledgement

About the Speaker

ContactsWork

Teaching Leader RolesProfessional Activities

Publications Voluntary Works

ContactsName: LEE Kar HengEmail: [email protected], [email protected] Mobile: +65 9191 6893, +84 1638 006 000Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karheng

(personal interests, thoughts, comments and reflections)

Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karheng(professional profiles and short articles on business and entrepreneurship)

Academia: https://edithcowan.academia.edu/KarHengLee(technical papers, students’ projects, course materials of academic programs and short courses)

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/karheng1(company information of TBSS Companies and Partners)

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• TBSS Group (Current Job)• Minister of Home Affairs

– Police Technology Department (Maritime)

• Defense Science and Technology Agency– Sensors

• DSO National Laboratories – Radar Systems

• Maritime and Port Authority – Electronics and Communications

Work

• Temasek Polytechnic– Telecommunications

• Republic of Singapore Navy– Fire Control Systems

Work

7

• TBSS Group (Current Job)– Designed, developed and delivered professional courses:

• Electronic Warfare for the Republic of Singapore Air Force• Radar Systems for Operations and Maintenance for Raytheon

Anschuetz, Singapore• Radar System in Aviation, Maritime and Defense for Air Defense

Operations Command, Singapore Technologies and Police Technical Department

• LTE with Military Applications for Army Signal Institution• Understand EMC for Ammunition Command and DSTA

– Organzied and gave lecture on Coastal Surveillance System for the Border Defense Force, Vietnam

Work

• TBSS Group (Current Job)– Installed, Commissioned, Integrated and Tested 2 Vessel

Traffic Radars for the Port of Hai Phong, Vietnam– Installed, Commissioned, Integrated and Tested 3 Vessel

Traffic Radars for the Port of Cai Mep, Vietnam– Installed, Commissioned, Integrated and Tested 1 Coastal

Surveillance Radar and AIS Transponder for the Vietnam Navy– Designed and Developed Radar/AIS data fusion software

module for the Vietnam Navy– Installed, Commissioned, Integrated and Tested 2 Radar

Training Systems (PSR and FMCW) for Vietnam Military Academy

Work

• TBSS Group (Current Job)– Installed, Commissioned, Integrated and Tested 1 Surface

Movement Radar for the Civil Port Authority, Pakistan

Work

Professional Activities• Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)§ Member, 1995 – present§ Secretary, Education Chapter, IEEE Singapore Section, 2006

– 2007§ Chairman, Education Chapter, IEEE Singapore Section, 2008

– 2009§ Chairman, Education Chapter, IEEE Singapore Section, 2015

– present§ Member, Educational Activities Board, IEEE Region 10

Professional Activities• Association of Old Crows (AOC)§ Member, 2015 – present§ President, AOC Singapore Chapter, 2016 –

present • Institute of Technical Education

• Curriculum Reviewer - Entreprenuership for Innovation, 2016

• Vietnamese Association in Singapore (VAS)§ Senior Advisor, Science and Technology, 2015

- present• Inderscience Publishers§ Article Reviewer, 2015 – Present

Publications1. K. H. Lee and M. S. Leong, “A Study on Coupling Effect Between

Antennas Installed on a Common Structure”, IEEE Asia Pacific Microwave Conference, 1999.

2. K. H. Lee, “Antenna Coupling”, B.Tech(Hons) Project Report, NUS, 1999.

3. K. H. Lee, S. A. Hamilton and M. S. Leong, “A Tri-Band Circular Polarized Microstrip Antenna”, IEEE APS/URSI Intl. Conf., 2002.

4. K. H. Lee, “A Simulation of Tracking Algorithms Used in Radar Data Processing”, M.Sc Dissertation, University of Sheffield, 2001.

5. K. H. Lee, “Design and Development of Broadband and Multiband Antennas”, M.Eng Research Thesis, NUS, 2003.

6. J. W. Teo and K. H. Lee, “The Propagation Properties Of Electromagnetic Waves In The Application Of Through-Wall Radar Sensors”, NUS Science Research Congress, 2003.

Publications7. X. Q. Tan and K. H. Lee, “A Study on Data Fusion Techniques Used in

Multiple Radar Tracking”, NUS Science Research Congress, 2004.

8. B. Moh and K. H. Lee, “A Study on the use of Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Radar in the Detection of Swimmers”, NUS Science Research Congress, 2005.

9. K. Li, T. S. Tan, J. Tan and K. H. Lee, “Taxi on The Way”, ScilabTEC International Conference, France, 2015.

10.K. H. Lee, “Tutorial on Radar System Engineering”, IEEE Advanced Technologies for Communications, Vietnam, 2015.

11.K. H. Lee, “Engineers can be Good Entrepreneurs Too”, IEEE Education Chapter, Singapore Section, 2016.

12.K. H. Lee, "EW & Cyber - The Importance of Joint Space", Electronic Warfare Asia, Malaysia, 2016.

Protecting Commercial Radar and Communication

SystemsReasons for Using Commercial

Systems

Reasons for Using Commercial Systems

• The current hot topics is the military use of commercial satellites– “Industry is certainly leading the way with

tremendous capacity — terabytes in orbit — and if DoD isn’t in line to access that, that is a problem,” (Joe Vanderporten, director of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s Pathfinder office)


• The implementation of Beidou Navigation Satellite System (北斗卫星导航系统)


• Military technology used to be ahead of commercial sector technology

• Military domain faces challenges that are more stringent than those in the commercial domain

• There has been a growing trend over the past 25 years for the increasing use of commercial technologies, techniques, and equipment to solve problems in the military domain


• Reductions in military spending and research and development led to military community lags the state of the art at times

• The commercial domain advances due to its enormous advantage of economy of scale

• Interest in and use of commercial technologies has been steadily increasing within the military community


COMMERCIALDOMAIN

MILITARY DOMAIN

COMMERCIALDOMAIN

MILITARY DOMAIN

Budgetary Realities

Need for Agility

Budgetary Realities

Need for Agility

Features & capabilities

Affortability

Features & capabilities

Affortability

• Some reasons for the increasing use of commercial systems, technology and equipment


• Some reasons for the increasing use of commercial systems, technology and equipment– Life cycle

• Large-scale troop deployments are on the decline• Small-scale specialized force deployments are on the rise• Large-scale war are replacing with asymmetric warfare • Asymmetric threats are far more agile than large nation-state

players of previous decades• Military requires faster adaptation and anticipation• Acquisition cycles must be fast and agile• Commercial technologies are more suitable for this model than

specialized military-specific solutions


• Some reasons for the increasing use of commercial systems, technology and equipment– Cost

• Military-specific equipment is more costly equipment• Cost is NOW a strong forcing function

– Feature Set• Commercial equipment are usually more superior in performance


• Limited spectrum space‒ Spectrum congestion is a growing problem‒ It increasingly limits operational capabilities due to

• increasing deployment and bandwidth of wireless communications

• use of network-centric and unmanned systems• need for increased flexibility in radar and communications

spectrum to improve performance and to overcome sophisticated countermeasures


• Limited spectrum space‒ Radar and communications consume most of the

highly spectrum below 6 GHz (the S-Band2 - 4 GHz)• Radar

‒ Ground or naval-surface‒ Electronically steered phased array‒ Multifunction – combines air surveillance, air tracking, non-

cooperative target identification, and optionally, weather monitoring

• Communications system‒ Ground or naval-surface‒ Military system type: MANET/LTE‒ Commercial system type: Small-cell broadband

Protecting Commercial Radar and Communication

SystemsUsing Commercial Systems in Military

Using Commercial Systems in Military

• Advantages of COTS Mobile Systems– Mobile operation basic to system– LOS limitation compensation by many commercial BS– Wide use of COTS leads to lower cost

• Advantages of Digital Communications– Digital hardware is cheaper– Error protection and correction – Easy to add on– Digital transmission easy to scramble with encryption


• Advantages of COTS Radar‒ Frequency Diversity (FD) processing to de-correlate

sea clutter‒ reduce small target fluctuation and loobing effect‒ improving the long-range detection

‒ Auto-Adaptive Sensitivity Control (ASC) to provide automatic two-dimensional STC

‒ eliminating the need for operator setting of the radar during normal operation

‒ Pulse-to-pulse integration to improve signal-to-noise ration for improved


• Advantages of COTS Radar‒ Small target detection (swimmer detection)‒ Digital FTC and sweep-to-sweep correlation‒ Affordable and flexible solutions‒ Easy to operate and install‒ Very minimum maintenance

• Advantages of COTS Cellular– Spread spectrum coding provides effective anti-

jamming and low probability of intercept– Easy to be adapted with security


• The Network Centric Oriented SystemField Deployable LTE C2S

Ground Control Stations

Small Group LTE

C2 Center

Battlefield conferencing, video & data

Service

request

Platform/sensor

commands

Platform

/senso

r comman

ds

Remote

Senso

rs


• The Network Centric Oriented System• In the recent years, COTS communications/sensor

equipment have been used extensively in military• This gives C2 enhanced capabilities in terms of situation

awareness• The information are coming from

– Airborne assets– Ground stations – Mobile stations– Personal platform

• Great situation awareness and speedy understanding leads to higher chance of victory


• The CONECT– Specifications

• COmbat Network Communications Technology• One of the most important upgrades• More communication data links • Better voice links• Full-color LCD displays with real-time intelligence feeds

overlaid on moving maps• State-of-the-art computing network• Retarget a weapon or mission parameters in flight


• The CONECT– Open System Architecture (OSA)

• Utilized Open Mission System (OMS)

• Non-proprietary mission system architectural standard

• Lockheed Martin Sniper Pod has already been integrated into B-25 CONECT for distribution and storage of digital images to CONECT displays

• Security issues with OSA?


• Exelis to provide COTS radar for military airfields– "U.S. military air traffic control experts needed a

commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) precision-approach radar to replace the AN-FPN-63(V) radar. They found their solution from Exelis, a subsidiary of Harris Corp. in Van Nuys, Calif. Officials of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, N.J., announced a $70.3 million contract to Exelis to provide 42 COTS precision-approach radar systems; 21 are for the U.S. Army, 16 are for the Navy, and five are for the U.S. Air Force."


• COTS radar for coastal surveillance– Commercial coastal surveillance radars are gaining

spots in naval bases and portsInstallation, Commissioning, Testing and Integration of a commercially available Coastal Surveillance Radars for a Military Organization for surveillance and base security.

The radar comes dual-transceiver, frequency-diversity and MTI capabilities, with embedded tracker, whose track information will be sent to a C2 software.


• Shared resources– Government use of commercially available systems in

common areas of interest• vessel traffic system• vessel traffic radars• air traffic control system• surface movement radars


• Shared resources


• The EW space – SPECTRUM (as long as one can transmit or receive wirelessly, that is the space)

The spectrum is becoming complex and with cyberspace, a war could be lost due to ignorance.

Picture Credit: Forbes

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Protecting Commercial Radar and Communication Systems

Crossing Platforms

Crossing Platforms• Spin Off (early days)

– military industries were more technologically advanced than the civilian ones

– the process of spinning off took place without additional efforts or investments

• Dual Use (80s)– Some military products used for civilian aims and

vice versa – Use of production and process technologies to

produce military goods in commercial factories– Use of military developed technologies for improving

or producing, commercial goods

Crossing Platforms• Problem Faced by Dual Use Concept

– military products considered for dual-use did not match the cost and quality standards needed in high-tech commercial fields

– difficult for the military to buy commercial products without reforming the overall system of military specifications and military procurement

– a number of technologies were already used both in commercial and military industries

Crossing Platforms• Commercial-Military Integration (CMI) [4]

– Proposed by Jacques S. Gansler (90s)• former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,

Technology and Logistics • first holder of the Roger C. Lipitz Chair in Public Policy and

Private Enterprise• the third ranking civilian at the Pentagon from 1997 to

2001– increasing availability of cheaper high tech and more

advanced commercial components– the chances offered by innovative systems of flexible

manufacturing system • integrate several productions, or several production lines,

in the same plant

Crossing Platforms• Commercial-Military Integration (CMI)

– high level of commonality were existing in high tech sectors among military and civilian needs

– large number of technology transfers from commercial to military fields were increasingly observed in the most advanced industries

Crossing Platforms• The Singapore Approach

–Then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Dr Tony Tan, in one of his speeches [4] mentioned that

"The three pillars underpinning Singapore's ability to harness technology for defense purpose are the SAF's highly educated personnel, a "versatile" local

defense industry and the Defense Science and Technology Agency (DSTA)."

Crossing Platforms• The Singapore Approach - DSTA [5]

– DSTA is a statuary board established in April 2000 to strengthen technology acquisition and management

– The Agency is responsible for • procuring SAF equipment and services • managing defense R&D• developing SAF infrastructure

– Design authority for all C4I systems (hardware and software) for all platforms including dual-use and use of commercial systems for military

Crossing Platforms• The Singapore Approach - DSO [3]

– "MINDEF will establish a Directorate of Research and Development and incorporate the DSO National Laboratories as a not for profit company."

– "DSO National Laboratories, which will continue to be abbreviated as DSO, will operate from 1 Apr 97 as the R&D Service Provider for MINDEF and the SAF."

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Need to Protect?

Need to Protect?• Information Sharing

MAIN CONTROL CENTER

REGION CONTROL CENTER



REMOTE SURVEILLANCE

SITE

REMOTE SURVEILLANCE

SITE

REMOTE SURVEILLANCE

SITE

Other Government

Agencies, Departments,

Units

Information sharing at Main or Region Control Center, receiving end

can be configured as an operator station.

Data tapping at Remote Surveillance Site, receiving end can be configured as a server to process the data.

Information sharing source depends on geometrical

differences and objectives

Need to Protect?• Data sources from military sensors are projected • Radar and communications are equiped with EW

capabilities• What about data generated from commercial

radar?• What about commercial communication system?• During peace time operations, what is the

reliance level on commercial radar and/or commercial communication systems?

• During war time, is the reliance required?

Need to Protect?• Many military and commercial equipment rely

and are controlled by software presently• Use communication, data link and navigation

systems which transmit critical information over the spectrum

• High possibility that enemy to take down receivers, corrupt the software and applications

• Attacks on public utilities, key installations, classified storage via cyber space or spectrum

• Taking Over of Air Defense System– North Koreans were building a nuclear bomb facility

in Syrian– The IAF took over the Syria’s ADS in the 2007 attack– The Syrian ADS was placed with a logic-bomb such

that the radars would not function (went off actually) during the attack

– The radar did not return any attack aircraft, namely, F-15 Eagles and F-16 Falcons

– The facility was bombed

Need to Protect?

Need to Protect?• Cyber attacks on power grid

– Power outage on 23 Dec 2015 in Western Ukraine– Attack was launched by skilled and stealthy

strategists and hackers by penetrating into the network and destroyed with DOS and malware

– The SCADA systems was compromised by overwritten firmware on critical devices at the substations

– Did not response to remote command from authorized operators

– Was it Russia?

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Need to Protect?

• Cyber attacks on power grid

Need to Protect?

• Issues and problems

Cyber Operations

SIGINT

EW

Eavesdropping

CNO

CNEES

Multidiscipline effects (can achieve EW/CNO

and SIGINT effects)

Combined EW and CNO effects

Personal message delivery

Web, spam, email

Leaflets, false targets

Traditional CNO (DOS

attacks, malware, viruses)

Traditional EW (directed energy,

force protect, brute-force

jamming

Spoofing, telecasts

PSYOP Deception

Protocol-based

attacks

Need to Protect?

• Issues and problems– Cyber operations are now largely operating with the

spectrum (wireless)– EW manipulates the spectrum – Spectrum – you can’t see it, you can’t touch it,… but

you live and fight in it…..– In the joint space/shared systems, the spectrum is

the common fighting space– One can have very comprehensive cyber defense and

attack methodologies

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Need to Protect?

• Issues and problems– If you lost your spectrum, a cheap digital jammer can

humble your expensive advanced systems and comprehensive methodologies

– The convergence cannot be prevented BUT……– Military and commercial systems are physically

largely speaking AND ……– They depend on each other in today’s warfare

Need to Protect?

• The only way to ensure seamless and fluid flow of operations in the shared systems is that of CLEARING ALL THE RED TAPES! – Define the space clearly– Define the operations in peace time

• EW and CO as separate entities with information sharing and sense making

– Define the operations during war• Details on how observations are shared, how information

flow seamlessly from physical layers (via EMS) to network and application layers (Cyber)


The Chinese Perspective


• An article, with post comments, published on a Chinese website:– “一位军事专家曾断言：“如果第三次世界大战打响，获胜的一方必然是善于控制、驾驭电磁空间的一方。”

– It means • “If there will be a 3rd world war, the winner shall be the

one who can control and manage the EMS.”

– The Chinese acknowledge the presence of cyberspace, recognize the importance of joint space and focus on the EMS

The Chinese Perspective• Published on a Chinese military magazine, an

article discusses on the warfare concept of the USA– “… 他们认为“电子战主要是通过控制射频频谱进行，以使美军及其盟国能自由操作射频系统，包括雷达和无线电通信，同时干扰对手阻止其使用这种作战方式 …”

– It means• The US military believes that EW is to control the EMS so

that they can control transmitting stations freely with their allies, these include radar and radio transmitters

• It also means that they can interfere the enemy and stop them from using the same tactic …


• Published on a Chinese military magazine, an article discusses on the warfare concept of the USA– “… 频谱战包括电子战、网络战、光电对抗和导航战等诸多形式，这些战争形式交织重叠在一起，构成一个频谱战整体 …”

– It means• The "spectrum war” includes many forms of electronic

warfare, network warfare, optoelectronics confrontation and navigation warfare, these overlaps have resulted to a whole new spectrum of warfare …

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The Chinese Perspective• Published on a Chinese military magazine, an

article discusses on the warfare concept of the USA– “… 美军希望通过进行频谱战，力争控制无线电通信、雷达、光电传感器、GPS卫星导航、精确授时、数据网络和电磁频谱的方方面面，同时阻止对手拥有这些能力 …”

– It means• … US hopes that through the spectrum war, they will be

able to control radio communication, radar, photoelectric sensors, GPS satellite navigation, precision timing, data networks and all aspects of the EMS, while preventing the opponents from these capabilities …

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• Published on a Chinese military magazine, an article discusses on the warfare concept of the USA– “… 频谱战融合了电子战、网络战，光电对抗及其他可以感知环境、通信、导航、目标瞄准的技术…”

– It means• … The new spectrum converges electronic warfare and

network warfare, and other optoelectronic techniques …

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Once Again, Need to Project?

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Once Again, Need to Protect?

• Military and defense have the power over the use of civilian systems such as radar systems, communication systems, …

• How reliable are these system in terms of being cyber-attacked or monitoring unknowingly?

• Is there a need to also have EW and CO covering these critical civilian systems that are used by the military?

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References

[1] G. Goebel (2015, May 1), B-51 in the Modern Era [Online], Available: http://www.airvectors.net/avb52_3.html

[2] G. Fields (2014, January 14), Phased Array Radar at the Intersection of Military and Commercial Innovation [online], Available: http://www.microwavejournal.com/articles/21278-phased-array-radar-at-the-intersection-of-military-and-commercial-innovation

[3] MINDEF (1997, March 14), Corportisation of DSO [online], Available: https://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/press_room/official_releases/nr/1997/mar/14mar97_nr.html

References

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[4] G. Perani, "Military Technologies and Commerical Applications: Public Policies in NATO Countries", Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale, July 1997.

[5] E. Goldman and T. Mahnken, "Singapore and the Revolution in Military Affairs" in The Information Revolution in Military Affairs in Asia, Palgrave MacMillan, 2004, pp. 185-208.

References

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[6] W. L. Sharp, “Electronic Warfare”, Joint Publication 3-13.1, 25 January 2007.

[7] Maj M. E. Poole (2015 August ), Cyber Electronic Warfare [Online], Available: https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/2015/08/cyber-electronic-warfare#

[8] J. Loerch (2016, February 1), What We Have is a Failure to Communicate [online], Available: http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=Article-what-we-have-failure-communicate

References

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[9] 春天的初蕾 (2015 November 24), 电子战与电子战部队：新型作战力量之九 [online], Available: http://bbs.tianya.cn/post-20-615307-1.shtml

[10] 姚远 (2015 November 13), 美空军着手打造仿真频谱战战场，频谱战是什么, 中国国防报, 军事特刊

[11] K. Zetter (2016 March 16), Inside the Cunning, Unprecedented Hack of Ukraine’s Power Grid [online], Available: https://www.wired.com/2016/03/inside-cunning-unprecedented-hack-ukraines-power-grid/

References

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[12] B. Thomas-Noone (2016 August 24), Electronic Warfare in the South China Sea [online], Available: http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2016/08/24/electronic_warfare_in_the_south_china_sea_109745.html

[13] D. Cenciotti (2016 August 5), Things Heat Up Near South China Sea: Two US Aircraft Carriers, B-52S and EA-18G Growler Detachment [online], Available: https://theaviationist.com/2016/06/19/things-heat-up-near-south-china-sea-two-u-s-aircraft-carriers-b-52s-and-ea-18g-growler-detachment/

References