"Global Ear": a network for detecting enemy air attacks
Recent events once again acutely raise the issue of increasing the security of objects located deep in the territory of the Russian Federation from attacks by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - long-range kamikazes. There are a number of factors that currently do not allow us to ensure the guaranteed detection and destruction of such UAVs, so the strikes will continue, their intensity will increase, and we will periodically hear unconfirmed news about the destruction or damage of an object.
The problem of combating low-flying kamikaze UAVs has been raised by the author more than once, in particular, in the materials “Waiting for the Helios-RLD UAV: for protection against low-flying air attack weapons” и “UAV “Sirius-Air Defense”: hunter of air attack weapons” the use of medium-altitude UAVs "Gelios-RLD" and UAVs "Sirius" for the construction of a layered air defense system was considered (Defense) with dynamically changing target detection areas, so that the enemy cannot plot kamikaze UAV routes around them.
The difficulty is that the deployment of such a system can begin no earlier than in a few years, since both the Helios-RLD UAV and the Sirius UAV are currently only being developed, and it is not known when they will be put into service.
Helios-RLD UAVs, capable of dispelling the “fog of war” at low altitudes, are still in development
Thus, what is needed is a simpler solution that can be ready for mass deployment within three to six months.
Solving this problem involves two main stages:
– initial detection and determination of the approximate route – the direction of movement of the enemy kamikaze UAV;
– additional search, precise location determination, deployment of weapons to the target area and destruction of enemy kamikaze UAVs.
Today we’ll talk about the initial detection of enemy kamikaze UAVs.
There is a dilemma - only modern, powerful, and therefore expensive radar stations (radars) and optical-electronic stations (OES) with thermal imagers can effectively detect relatively unobtrusive enemy kamikaze UAVs at a long distance. As a consequence of the high cost, there cannot be many such radars, and they take a long time to manufacture.
If there are few such OES and radars, then the enemy can always lay out kamikaze UAV routes bypassing the specified EOS and radars, while the terrain, which forms shading zones for the radars and EOS, will also play into the enemy’s hands.
In addition, the radars and EPS themselves can become targets for enemy attacks, which, in fact, happens periodically.
Ground-based radar stations are expensive and have “blackout zones” formed due to the curvature of the earth’s surface, terrain, natural and artificial hills
However, there are solutions that can, if not replace, then effectively complement radar and EOS detection, and the experience of our enemy will help us with this.
The proposed “Global Ear” system should include a number of software and hardware-software solutions distributed throughout the country and designed to collect acoustic signatures of enemy air attack weapons (AEA) with their subsequent analysis and issuance of primary target designation for them.
So, the Global Ear system will include...
"Distributed ear"
Some specialized sources published information that in order to increase the effectiveness of Ukrainian air defense systems, special software was developed - an application for a smartphone, turning it into a detector of acoustic signals characteristic of Russian high-precision weapons long range.
One or several such smartphones will not provide any information, but when there are tens - hundreds of thousands of them, then, having information about the level of the sound signal, time and location of the smartphones that responded to the characteristic signal, you can approximately determine the direction of movement of, for example, an enemy kamikaze UAV .
It is possible that it is largely thanks to smartphones with the said application that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) draw beautiful pictures with the flight routes of Russian long-range precision weapons, and it is possible that it is precisely because of this that Russian cruise missiles (KR) and kamikaze UAVs loop around their routes, confusing the enemy's distributed air defense detection system.
According to some reports, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have deployed over eight thousand smartphones on the territory of Ukraine with additional microphones and special software, which are supposed to track Russian missile defense systems and kamikaze UAVs.
Not only can we use this approach, but we can expand it significantly.
Who will have such an application, because not everyone wants their smartphone to constantly listen to everything that is happening around them, at the same time draining the battery?
Firstly, the application under the code name “Distributed Ear” can be installed on service smartphones issued by government and possibly large commercial organizations, for example, when concluding relevant agreements or signing certain legislative acts - this alone will give us tens or hundreds thousands of smartphones.
Secondly, the “Distributed Ear” application with verification through State Services should be available for installation to all Russian citizens - yes, the majority will not install it, but there will be many who will not mind.
For example, the author would hardly install such an application on his main smartphone, but for this purpose he would definitely use an old, backup smartphone - it doesn’t even need a separate SIM card, it can lie on the balcony by the window, powered from a 220 volt network and connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and listen to sounds coming from the street. But for some, “wiretapping” doesn’t matter at all, especially since it is possible to further stimulate program participants, for example, by drawing valuable prizes or small payments. There we can get hundreds of thousands, or even millions more terminals with the Distributed Ear application.
The only thing that needs to be nipped in the bud is the initiative of some certain kind of “bureaucrats”, of which we have a huge number, and who will illegally demand the installation of the “Distributed Ear” application on the personal smartphones of socially vulnerable categories of citizens, such as teachers, doctors, police officers, in order to concoct a beautiful report - for such an initiative they must be driven out of government agencies mercilessly and with a “wolf ticket” for the rest of their lives.
Additionally, for the “old smartphone” solution, a “box” product can be developed and produced in a huge series, which is a small container on a bracket, with holes for sound passage or external microphone output, electrically heated and moisture-proof, in which the above-mentioned old ones could be placed smartphones in order to attach them outdoors, for example, on a balcony railing, so that they can be used in any weather and at any time of the year.
Commercially available solutions - heated winter cases for phone/navigator
Such brackets must be produced in millions of copies in China, distributed free of charge through State Services or freely at cost, but this is already an optional solution.
However, in any case, smartphones with special software are only part of the Global Ear system. A smartphone is not the most effective tool; it often lies in a pocket or in a desk drawer, there may be double glass in the room that interferes with the passage of sounds, various noisy vehicles move nearby, including mopeds, whose sound can be comparable to the sound of a flying car. Kamikaze UAV.
The main advantage of smartphones is their mass availability, but it will be quite difficult to extract useful information from the messages they send, so smartphones should only become an addition to air defense masts.
Air defense mast
In this case, “air defense” means anti-aircraft detection. The logic of their operation should be the same as that of smartphones with special software, but everything should be implemented in a stationary version, on the initiative and under the control of the state.
In essence, an “air defense mast” is a block; no separate masts need to be built; towers and masts of cellular base stations, of which tens of thousands are installed in Russia, must be used to place the equipment. All base stations, all cellular operators, which must be determined by law. Actually, there will be virtually no load on cellular operators, only a small consumption of electricity and traffic, at the error level.
The “air defense mast” unit itself must be built on the basis of commercially available components, for example, Arduino or Raspberry-Pi boards, power supplies, electrical cabinets, network boards, and the like, so that it can be inexpensively produced in huge quantities. Even a navigation unit is not needed - the location of the base stations is precisely known and can be entered during the installation and registration of “air defense mast” blocks.
The use of civilian electronic components, such as Arduino or Raspberry-Pi, should minimize the time and cost of creating Mast-Air Defense units
As mentioned above, the essence of the operation of the “Air Defense Mast” block should be the same as that of smartphones with special software, therefore, it should include a sensitive microphone or several microphones, for example, a circular and directional, or a circular microphone and several directional (albeit in all four directions) - it all depends on the price, as well as the time required for the development and production of these products in a large batch.
It is better to order the development from several commercial companies at once according to technical specifications with agreed upon connection parameters and data transfer protocols, so that units from different manufacturers are compatible in hardware with all base stations, and in software with the data processing center (DPC).
“Air Defense Mast” units from several (two or three) manufacturers should go into production, in this way the risks will be minimized that after the start of operation any systemic problems will be revealed on units developed by any manufacturer.
Of course, “Air Defense Mast” units can and should be produced in Russia, but to ensure the fastest possible saturation of the territory of our country, several large orders can be made in China, because the components are the same Arduino or Raspbery-Pi boards, we still need to buy them there, So, assembled or in parts, but without China we will not be able to solve this problem at first. But the firmware of blocks should be carried out only in Russia, without any exceptions, under certain control.
Immediately after manufacturing or importing into the country and the corresponding firmware, the Air Defense Mast units must be mounted on base stations and registered in a special data center designed to process the received information using AI - artificial intelligence - AI data center.
Data Center-II
The AI data center should include software and hardware that provides analysis and processing of data received from Air Defense Mast units and smartphones with Distributed Ear software, as well as operators that provide additional control and processing of information.
As the software and hardware components improve, and as the AI neural network learns, human intervention will be required less and less. The further air attack weapons penetrate deep into the territory of our country, the greater the number of microphones that will hear them, the more reliable the information about their number and direction of movement will be.
In the future, most of the actions to detect and track enemy missile systems and kamikaze UAVs will be carried out in fully automatic mode
Ambiguity
Why global? After all, the Global Ear system is being deployed only in Russia?
And who is preventing it from being deployed in Ukraine, at least in the format of smartphones with special software? In the end, there are enough sympathizers with Russia in Ukraine.
It is possible that in this way it will be possible to transform the “Global Ear” from a purely defensive system into a defensive-offensive one, due to the fact that it will be possible to track Ukrainian planes and helicopters flying at low altitudes, and prepare a meeting for them in a timely manner - this task becomes especially relevant in connection with supplies of American F-16 fighters to Ukraine, and probably also the French Mirage-2000.
In addition, we should not forget that in Russia there are lovers of “lace panties” who sympathize with Ukraine, so it is necessary to take into account that the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine may begin to implement the same system in our country.
If we look deeper, Russia is extremely dependent on foreign-made base stations; there are no obstacles to introducing reconnaissance modules into their design at the initial stages of development and production. You don’t even have to activate them so as not to reveal them while we are “allies,” but who knows what will happen next?
Conclusions
You should not expect that the “Global Ear” will be able to determine the coordinates of enemy long-range air attack weapons with millimeter accuracy; no, the error will be several kilometers. But this is enough to determine the approximate number of potential targets and the direction of their flight, put anti-aircraft missile systems on alert, and lift combat aircraft and helicopters into the air.
The Global Ear system will not replace, but will qualitatively complement existing means of detecting cruise missiles and kamikaze UAVs. In any case, there is hardly a simpler, faster and relatively inexpensive way to dispel the “fog of war” in order to ensure the initial detection and approximate location of enemy air attack weapons across the vast territory of our country.
We should not forget that the enemy can expand the operation of its system for detecting low-altitude air attack weapons beyond the territory of Ukraine, and in the future, both our opponents and “allies” can do this with the help of special modules deeply integrated into the design of the supplied us foreign cellular communication systems.
Information