The J+S Solution to Interrogator Friend or Foe Systems Testing

The challenge:

Testing the SIFF Interrogator System with real-time engagement scenarios without using real land, air and sea platforms.

• The UK MoD Successor Identification Friend or Foe (SIFF) project is an electronic question and answer system allowing users to discriminate between friendly and hostile forces.
• It will provide approximately 1000 air, sea and land platforms with enhanced IFF capability by 2009.
• SIFF Equipment consists of an Interrogator sending a coded radar signal to an unidentified target, and a transponder responding automatically with a coded reply.
• The cost of testing with real world air, land and sea platform target transponders would be extremely high.
• Raytheon Systems Ltd tasked J+S to provide a means for testing the SIFF Interrogator System, using real-time naval engagement scenarios, but without the need for test with real military platforms.

Our solution:

Design, development and manufacture of a highly flexible stimulator with complex scenario generation facilities.

• Using the latest embedded processor technology and Windows based GUI we developed the SIFF Stimulator.
• Made up of two sub-systems interconnected by an Ethernet link, it can be used as a piece of standalone test equipment or connected to other equipments via a Scenario Generator Highway (SGH) as is the case at the Type 23 Naval Land Based Test Site at Portsmouth, UK.

The result:

IFF capabilities can be tested across a range of applications with a single multi-functional stimulator.

• The flexibility of the stimulator means it can be configured for operation either in a Type 23 Mode (Parent Radar Type 996) or a Type 45 Mode (Parent Radar LRR). It also provides an offline (LCT only) capability to generate complex scenarios and respond in any available IFF mode.
• Scenarios can be run off-line at up to 20 times line speed for a quicker preview and correction process.