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D. ADAMY, EW 102: A SECOND COURSE IN ELECTRONIC WARFARE, ARTECH HOUSE, NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS, 2004.

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Journal of Battlefield Technology, Volume 8 Number 2

Reviewed by Michael Ryan

 

Abstract. As its name implies, EW 102: A Second Course in Electronic Warfare is the second book in the series by David Adamy. Like EW 101, it is one of the few books available that provides a top-level view of electronic warfare (EW) and is easy to read without glossing over important technical details. The book is intended for those requiring a general overview of the subject area.
Like the first book in the series, this book is based on David Adamy’s popular series of EW 101 articles published in the Journal of Electronic Defense (JED) (for those interested in traceability, Appendix B maps the JED articles into the book chapters). David holds BSEE and MSEE degrees in communication theory and is very active in EW-related fields having been an EW professional in and out of uniform for over 40 years. In addition to the EW 101 columns, he has published ten books (including this one). He provides EW-related courses around the world and is a regular consultant to defense and defense industry.
EW 102 contains almost entirely new material with only occasional reference to EW 101 material when such material is useful as an overview to introduce selected sections. There are seven chapters with three appendices: Appendix A is a large collection of problems (with worked solutions) of problems from both EW 101 and EW 102; Appendix B provides a cross-reference of the chapters of both EW 101 and EW 102 to the JED EW 101 columns that contain the same material; and Appendix C contains a list of reference books in electronic warfare and associated disciplines.
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the field and introduces a simple taxonomy for the field of EW. Additionally, EW is placed in context as the action part of information warfare (IW).
Chapter 2 covers, from a functional and signal point of view, the basic threats to which electronic warfare must react. The chapter describes in general terms both communications and non-communications threats (although it is more normal to refer to communications ‘threats’ as targets). Radar threats are discussed in terms of general definitions, frequency ranges, scan characteristics and modulation characteristics. Communications targets are described in terms of the nature of communications signals, tactical communications, digital data links and satellite links.
Chapters 3 to 5 cover the three major systems that attract the attention of EW: radar; infrared and electro-optical, and communications systems.
Chapter 3 covers radar characteristics of the different kinds of radar, with an emphasis on their significance to EW. Topics include types of radar, the radar range equation, detection range, modulation, moving target indicator radars, synthetic-aperture radars and low-probability-of intercept radars.
Chapter 4 describes infrared (IR) and electro-optical (EO) systems including heat-seeking missiles, IR imaging systems, night-vision devices, laser designators, and IR and EO countermeasures.
EW against communications signals is discussed in Chapter 5. Topics include radio-wave propagation (HF, VHF and UHF), digital communication, jamming, emitter location, and spread-spectrum communications.
Chapter 6 discusses emitter-location techniques including a brief review of techniques, error statistics, circular error probability for common emitter-location techniques.
Satellite communications links are covered in Chapter 7, which describes the nature of satellite communication systems, prediction of satellite link performance, and link jamming.
Like EW 101, EW 102 is an essential addition to the library of all EW professionals, whether technical or not. It provides an excellent introduction to electronic warfare in general, and to non-communications EW in particular. While EW 102 is more mathematical than the first of the series, it is still very accessible to readers from all backgrounds explaining a complex field in simple terms. It certainly meets its aim of providing a good grasp of the fundamentals as well as an ability to make general-level calculations.

Related topics:  electronic warfarebook review

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British Spelling of D. Adamy, EW 102: A Second Course in Electronic Warfare, Artech House, Norwood, Massachusetts, 2004.