Background
The greatest risk to cyber security on the battlefield is the threat to own wireless radio communication from enemy electronic warfare (EloKa). In addition to ensuring the integrity and security against interception of the transmitted information using modern cryptographic methods and the availability of information links even under jamming measures, the protection of one’s own electromagnetic signature against the enemy’s positioning methods is an often overlooked but operationally critical component of communications security (COMSEC). Particularly in the case of direct communication between two transmitting stations, there is a risk that one’s own transmission will be intercepted and decoded by enemy forces or that one’s own location will be disrupted or localized with the help of EloKa measures. Troop units in the field are currently responding with technical measures (direct sequence spread spectrum/frequency hopping procedures, burst transmissions, radio relay) or tactical measures (short transmission cycles, radio discipline, high mobility), which limits the use of wireless communication and its advantages in operations. On the other hand, the uninterrupted availability of the information flow in the “Military Internet of Things” is playing an increasingly important role on the battlefield, e.g. for the creation of highly precise and continuously updatable situation pictures, and requires the use of tactical data links with high data rates. This requires, for example, new adaptive waveforms in the VHF range and higher, which are currently being developed on the basis of Software Defined Radio (SDR), e.g. as part of the ESSOR project. Flexible modulation methods, integrated encryption and high resilience enable secure radio connections to be realized. At the same time, such waveforms also enable simultaneous communication and reconnaissance (Integrated Communication and Sensing, ISAC) and are therefore particularly interesting for military applications.
Aim
As part of the InSuReCS research programme, an adaptively controllable transmission and reception technology based on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) is to be developed that enables indirect communication and reconnaissance (active and passive) and thus further minimizes the risk of reconnaissance of one’s own position through a continuously adaptable transmission path. Indirect communication and reconnaissance is to be realized by an intermediate or relay station that is capable of forwarding incoming and highly focused transmissions between source and sink in a targeted manner. The transmission and reception technology to be developed can be used to supplement existing radio technology and expand its capabilities (e.g. with regard to bandwidth, frequency bands used, directional characteristics), but can also focus on future military-relevant radio applications.
Disruptive Risk Research
The aim is to develop a transmission and reception technology that enables mobile field teams to provide highly available, broadband and secure communication and long-range reconnaissance with high directionality. To this end, intelligent meta-interfaces, which were primarily designed for use in the upcoming 6G standard, are to be adapted for highly flexible use in military and crisis management scenarios. Prioritized requirements such as largely platform-independent usability, good integration into existing and future radio applications and continuous adaptation of the RIS configuration in a highly mobile deployment scenario are key innovation goals of the research program.