Evaluation of the efficiency of radio electronic suppression of FPV UAV control channels

During the large-scale aggression against Ukraine, the armed forces of the russian federation widely use multirotor UAV of the FPV type as “kamikaze drones.” One of the most effective ways to protect the personnel of the Ukrainnian Defence Forces, weapons and military equipment in such conditions is the use of low-power electronic warfare (EW) means, the task of which is to disable the operation of the enemy UAV control channel. One of the main indicators of the effectiveness of such means is the distance at which the suppression of the enemy UAV control channel is ensured. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to develop a mathematical model for calculating the distance of guaranteed suppression of remote control channels of unmanned aerial vehicles by electronic warfare means. The article develops a corresponding mathematical model that takes into account the topology of the location of the electronic warfare system, the enemy UAV and its ground control station, their energy parameters, the width of the interference bandwidth, the parameters of the useful signal and other parameters. To facilitate calculations, taking into account the adopted restrictions and assumptions (in particular, signal losses during propagation in the environment correspond to losses in free space), a simplified mathematical model was obtained. As an example, calculations of the expected distance of guaranteed suppression of control channels implemented on the basis of the ELRS and Crossfire protocols in the 900 MHz frequency range are given, when using a blocking jammer with a spectrum width of 25 MHz at EW transmitter power values of 10, 50 and 100 W, for a distance between the ground control station and the jamming device of 5 and 10 km, for flight altitudes of the enemy unmanned aerial vehicle from 50 to 1000 m. The developed model can be used in planning and organizing defense against enemy FPV UAVs that perform a “kamikaze drone” flight mission.