Our on-line world is acknowledged as a essential warfighting area. Operations within the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum have additionally lengthy been an vital piece of the arsenal. Latest advances in software program outlined radio (SDR), radio frequency system on chip (RF SoC), and synthetic intelligence (AI) have demonstrated that digital warfare (EW) strategies might be much more potent and available. For instance, manipulation of intelligently adaptive radio alerts might disable adversaries’ sensors and communication methods.
Past the boundaries of the battlefield, the Pentagon signaled the necessity for EM functionality in 2020, with the DoD Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Technique and Joint Publication 3-85: Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations.
Within the post-modern warfare panorama of at the moment, EW and our on-line world operations (CyberOps) are already being carried out collectively at an elevated charge on the battlefield. On this weblog put up, I’ll introduce the ideas of EW and CyberOps, the drivers behind their development in direction of convergence, and a number of other key points within the discipline.
Data Operations, Digital Warfare, and Our on-line world Operations
Earlier than going into element about EW and CyberOps, we have to set out how these two strategies match throughout the broader set of capabilities generally known as army data operations (IO). Data operations embody the employment of built-in capabilities, similar to laptop community operations (CNO), EW, psychological operations (PSYOP), operations safety (OPSEC) and army deception (MILDEC). The target of those built-in capabilities is to realize cognitive and/or technical benefit, usually by influencing perceptions and behaviors. As illustrated within the determine beneath, IO operates throughout bodily, informational, and cognitive domains with the purpose of securing a bonus over adversaries, typically by disrupting communication methods or by way of dissemination of propaganda or misinformation.
Determine 1: Army Data Operations
The idea of the convergence between EW and CyberOps has been round for greater than a decade; nonetheless, there was an rising development in direction of the implementation and operationalization of EW and CyberOps converged methods. Extra not too long ago, the concepts codified within the idea of Cyber Electromagnetic Actions (CEMA) have emerged on the scene in numerous types together with clever communication methods, autonomous platforms, and tactical edge computational capabilities. We are going to have a look at these and others on this part.
Technological Driving Components
A key issue driving the rise in converged methods is the development of software-defined radio (SDR) know-how and capabilities. Whereas SDRs have been in the marketplace for a few years, the newest developments search to cut back dimension and energy consumption whereas rising computational functionality and enhancing efficiency. These tendencies might be readily seen within the developments in Radio Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) applied sciences. Trendy SDRs have shifted away from utilizing separate chips for radio frequency (RF) entrance ends and information processing in direction of utilization of single-chip options. RFSoC gadgets can combine high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and digital-to-analog converters (DAC) immediately into the chip, considerably decreasing dimension, energy, and price. Up to date SDRs can assist a number of radio chains working at excessive sampling charges, typically better than a giga-sample per second, and excessive instantaneous bandwidths that may permit many (in some circumstances, 16 or extra) impartial radio channels inside a single machine. Mixed with adaptive waveforms, SDR software program now permits a single-base {hardware} SoC to change its performance nearly immediately between communications, radar, and cyber exploitation. This facilitates clever jamming strategies the place an adversarial protocol might be sensed, understood, and manipulated in real-time.
Advances in edge computing, {hardware} miniaturization, and integration of synthetic intelligence and machine studying (AI/ML) instruments are additionally drivers. AI/ML instruments can enhance sign processing, allow clever modulation, handle interference, and supply cognitive radio capabilities the place the radio can detect the spectral atmosphere and autonomously change its operational parameters in response. The ever-widening utility of AI instruments permits methods to mechanically detect, classify, and adapt to new, unknown risk alerts enabling EW methods to autonomously develop jamming strategies slightly than counting on pre-programmed waveform and/or protocol libraries. {Hardware} miniaturization, edge computing, and hardware-software codesign of methods affords the flexibility to course of RF information nearer to the supply (edge computing) improved by sooner, extra environment friendly embedded processors. That is essential for Web of Issues (IoT) purposes, autonomous platforms, and distant sensing. Lastly, enhancements and developments in software program instruments similar to MATLAB, LabView FPGA Module, GNU Radio, and different comparable instruments allow engineers to develop complicated, high-performance algorithms with out in depth {hardware} description language (HDL) information and expertise. These developments have helped to extend the ubiquity of wi-fi networks and connectivity in each civilian and army realms and blur the strains between digital results and our on-line world.
Digital Warfare within the Cyber Area
To increase on the subject of EW and CyberOps convergence, let’s have a look at EW within the cyber area, together with how this differs from conventional EW and the brand new challenges that come up with this integration. A key benefit of using SDRs is reconfiguration flexibility. With nearly all of previously analog radio {hardware} elements (e.g., transistors, capacitors, and so on.) now applied in software program, altering a radio’s performance might be so simple as reconfiguring these software-defined elements. This intrinsic flexibility implies that SDRs can readily purchase a wider frequency vary of spectrum (i.e., better instantaneous bandwidth), and usually with a better pattern charge (i.e., extra information ingested per second). Relying on the RF front-end (antenna, pre-amplifiers, and so on.), the frequency vary of remark/ingest might be reconfigured on the fly offering enhanced spectral agility. This software-defined adaptability additionally gives capability to rapidly reconfigure modulations, waveforms, and protocols. Couple this flexibility with advances in digital sign processing and AI/ML instruments, and you’ll start to develop clever radios able to sensing and reacting to the electromagnetic atmosphere at a a lot sooner charge than any human might observe, course of, react, and reconfigure. These clever radios are known as cognitive radios, they usually can present clever reconfiguration on the velocity of AI.
By combining the reconfiguration flexibility of SDRs with state-of-the-art CPU/GPU processors on the edge (e.g., limited-resource, wi-fi community endpoint nodes), new sorts of capabilities might be realized. These processors are designed to function with small form-factor methods and supply customizable integration of AI/ML instruments and fashions. Much more effectivity might be gained by way of tailor-made {hardware} and software program co-design of methods, an space of energetic analysis that accounts for specifics of each software program and {hardware} efficiencies to optimize the system efficiency with skilled AI/ML fashions on resource-consumption environment friendly {hardware} platforms.
Given these developments, we’re seeing the appearance of cognitive radio methods that may sense and react to the dynamic electromagnetic atmosphere on the velocity of AI. Employed in EW-type operations, they will rapidly evade adversarial makes an attempt at degrading or denying communications (i.e., jamming), be taught from adversarial networks to spoof site visitors or to wirelessly inject malicious software program, and confuse or deter adversarial communications or sensing capabilities.
Kinetic and Non-Kinetic Operations
Cyber, EW, CNO, PSYOPS (IO) are nice examples of non-kinetic operations. Kinetic operations are bodily power strategies (i.e., bombs and bullets). As outlined above, post-modern warfare now contains more and more cooperative operations between these two. This intersection consists of instance strategies, similar to kinetic cyber or physical-digital assaults, the place CyberOps are employed to inflict bodily injury, similar to grid shutdowns or overriding security controls, in industrial methods to trigger destruction. Examples of EW supporting bodily operations embrace jamming (non-kinetic) to disrupt communications, radar, and navigation, blinding the adversary earlier than or throughout a traditional kinetic assault. In parallel with kinetic operations, PSYOPS – data or affect operations that make the most of propaganda, disinformation, and/or misinformation – degrades public assist in addition to the opponent’s capability to make selections. As the extent of world interconnectivity continues to develop, social media platforms present environment friendly and impactful avenues to achieve many targets with these IO strategies. A number of key examples of EW to assist bodily operations embrace cyber-physical sabotage (i.e., hacking into industrial management methods (ICS) to destroy elements), countering uncrewed autonomous methods (UAS) with lasers or high-power radio frequency (RF) to destroy or disable drones with out using conventional ammunition, and utilizing EW strategies for blinding or manipulating sensors to disclaim navigation, as seen in lots of current conflicts (see right here and right here).
EW-CyberOps Convergence Affect on Technique and Doctrine
As famous in our introduction, this persevering with development in direction of the convergence of EW and CyberOps might be seen within the strategic path and doctrines of many United States authorities organizations. The Joint Publication 3-85: Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations revealed on 22 Might 2020 “gives basic ideas and steering for planning, executing, and assessing joint electromagnetic spectrum operations (JEMSO) throughout the competitors continuum.”
The DoD Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Technique, revealed in October 2020, outlines mixed freedom of motion within the electromagnetic spectrum, particularly:
Freedom of motion within the electromagnetic spectrum, on the time, place, and parameters of our selecting, is a required precursor to the profitable conduct of operations in all domains. Forces in 2030 and past can be able to battle and win by way of the deliberate, institutional pursuit of EMS superiority. This enterprise-wide situation of strategic benefit will consequence from unified efforts to create circumstances for achievement in congested, contested, and constrained EMOEs.
The important thing objects to notice listed below are time, place, and parameters of our selecting which signifies the necessity for U.S. DoD superiority in functionality and unified efforts to create circumstances for achievement in congested, contested, and constrained EMOEs (Electromagnetic Operational Environments), which is arguably realized by the convergence technological ideas proposed on this put up.
The US Air Pressure (USAF) doctrine on Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO), AFDP 3-85, gives an in depth background on EMSO and EW, in addition to a great high-level illustration of electromagnetic threats. There’s additionally a name for airmen to develop EMS consciousness, engagement, and maneuver capabilities, which we’ll focus on in additional element within the subsequent part. Most related to our dialogue right here, Appendix A particulars the combination of our on-line world and electromagnetic spectrum operations.
The US Area Pressure (USSF) has additionally not too long ago revealed doctrine, in September 2025, concerning spectrum superiority and the usage of EMSO to realize and exploit benefit within the house area. That is outlined within the Area Coaching and Readiness Command (STARCOM) publication SDP 3-104. Just like the above publications from different branches, the USSF covers a variety of matters on the topic; nonetheless there, additionally just like the others, the significance of joint all-domain converged capabilities between EW and CyberOps is talked about in a number of locations.
Alternative for Coaching Enhancement
With the continued transfer in direction of the combination of strategies and capabilities of EW and CyberOps, there may be an important want for brand new abilities and experience for professionals in each fields. To develop a workforce that may work in CyberOps and EW, we have to breakdown conventional silos in schooling, coaching, and assignments that persist in each domains. Creating and selling schooling and coaching alternatives to power cross-collaboration and technical understanding in these two domains will assist to coach operators, commanders, and the workforce in navigating the holistic built-in panorama. Authorities leaders ought to give attention to fostering a coaching pipeline to upskill staff within the cyber and digital domains, together with associated developments in AI. By means of dual-domain collaborations and coaching, we are able to develop revolutionary approaches to CyberOps and EW convergence making certain that the US warfighter maintains spectral dominance within the complicated interconnected world atmosphere. The purpose of this enhanced coaching is to construct a bench of mastery for the challenges and alternatives afforded by the development in direction of convergences of EW and CyberOps. Underpinning EW and CyberOps convergence implementation is software program. Software program is essential to all points from the SDRs and CyberOps instruments to the AI/ML instruments and fashions, to the connection that enables methods of methods to function, talk, and share information. By making certain the schooling, coaching, and assignments additionally combine an understanding of software program instruments and vulnerabilities, the workforce can be higher positioned to innovate outdoors of domain-related silos and envision holistic options to challenges and gaps in EW and CyberOps convergence pushed post-modern warfare.
The Way forward for EW-CyberOps Convergence
The way forward for EW and CyberOps convergence will proceed to be pushed by technological breakthroughs, or paradigm shifts within the following fields: cognitive radio methods, subsequent technology communications, AI/ML instruments, autonomous methods, multi-domain integration, quantum computing, superior supplies improvement, and power harvesting.
As beforehand mentioned, the continued improvement of SDRs and cognitive radio methods facilitates extra versatile, adaptive EW methods that may quickly reconfigure operational parameters to counter rising threats or exploit vulnerabilities in adversarial networks. Supplemented by rollouts of subsequent technology wi-fi networks (e.g., 6G mobile) and proliferated low-earth orbit (pLEO) satellite tv for pc constellations, new alternatives will come up from the gives of decrease latency, improve bandwidth, and enhanced connectivity throughout various operational situations and environments. These developments might allow extra agile, distributed, and resilient networked warfare capabilities.
Continued developments in AI/ML instruments and their utility will possible result in better autonomy in EW methods, constructing on real-time risk detection capabilities that may inform adaptive countermeasures and predictive modeling of adversarial behaviors in our on-line world. Coupled with the rising pervasiveness of swarm intelligence and autonomous methods, this might allow coordinated EW and CyberOps actions scaled throughout numerous gadgets and nodes. These mixed capabilities will lead to extra strong, resilient, and adaptive defenses whereas additionally augmenting offensive capabilities by way of actions similar to deception, persistent surveillance, and overwhelming assaults.
Future EW and CyberOps convergence might additionally contain the event of a number of area Command, Management, Communications, Computer systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) architectures that may seamlessly combine sensing, processing, decision-making, and activation of capabilities. This multi-domain integration will possible embrace land, air, house, maritime, and our on-line world (plus EMS) domains making a unified battlespace the place EW capabilities are prolonged to those realms. This convergence may result in novel ways, strategies, and procedures that exploit the combination of those domains.
Quantum computer systems have the potential to revolutionize many points of contemporary computing. From the EW-and-CyberOps-convergence perspective, they may allow sooner sign processing, superior encryption/decryption algorithms, and enhanced vulnerability assessments.
Continued analysis into superior supplies might produce novel supplies with tailor-made electromagnetic properties designed to boost efficiency of EW methods thus enabling more practical deception, jamming, or digital safety. As well as, future improvements in power harvesting applied sciences may allow autonomous, self-sustaining nodes that may be deployed throughout giant areas or in unattended environments.
Because the convergence of EW and CyberOps continues to advance, it would turn into more and more vital to handle authorized, moral, and normative challenges which might be related to these capabilities. By anticipating and getting ready for these potential improvements and paradigm shifts, leaders, policymakers, and researchers can higher navigate the quickly evolving panorama of EW and CyberOps convergence making certain that capabilities stay efficient, accountable, and aligned to strategic goals. This may contain new worldwide agreements, home laws, or organizational pointers that strike the steadiness between army necessity and accountable utilization within the employment of converged EW and CyberOps applied sciences and capabilities.
Work with the SEI
In at the moment’s panorama, it might probably typically really feel like “each enterprise is a software program enterprise.” That sentiment applies to mission methods as nicely, and it continues to encroach on wi-fi communication and sensor methods. On the SEI, we possess deep experience in software program engineering, cybersecurity and CyberOps, and AI engineering in addition to experience in RF and sensor methods. Our overlap of expertise and experience inside these areas permit us to give attention to the software-defined points of radio and wi-fi communications, sensor, and autonomous methods, together with growing agile, cutting-edge software program implementations and libraries, understanding and optimizing AI instruments for spectral superiority, and making certain the resilience, robustness, and reliability of complicated system of system with in depth cybersecurity design and implementation experience. SEI researchers are working to enhance RF propagation modeling effectivity by way of AI-enabled applied sciences, modernizing functionality and efficiency by way of cognitive radio purposes, and in-depth modeling and simulation of autonomous methods. We search to use AI engineering in autonomy, RF communications, cybersecurity and CyberOps, software program improvement and engineering, and adversarial AI. We offer cybersecurity expertise and experience throughout DoW methods together with complete system understanding for improvement, implementation, and sustainment of DCO throughout enterprise and DCO of AI-enabled methods. On the SEI, we’re at all times seeking to work with group leaders in EW and RF fields to collaborate on challenges and alternatives associated to the combination and operationalization of EW and CyberOps converged methods.
To be taught extra about our work researching, testing, and evaluating matters on the convergence of EW and CyberOps within the realms of wi-fi communication and sensor methods, or to collaborate with us, please e-mail [email protected].
