Management of the electromagnetic spectrum has increased in importance. Radar operation must be compatible with other communication and control systems running concurrently. Management of emission and sensing in both space and frequency increases the systems covertness. It also improves the system’s ability to discriminate reliably signals coming from passive and civilian sources as well as active disturbances such as jammers and decoys.

Emerging technologies lead to the increased appearance of threats that are difficult to detect and track due to their low radar cross-section (RCS) (e.g., stealth technologies), manoeuvring characteristics (e.g., hypersonic weapon systems, slowmoving airborne units) or saturation attack tactics. Facing such a wide spectrum of threats (in terms of variation of speed, angle of approach and altitude), existing surveillance systems are reaching their limits in terms of detection range, angular domain coverage, and tracking capabilities. Specific operating modes (e.g., multistatic configurations) can improve detection and tracking performance. They however lead to an increased requirement on multiple beams forming. Proper detection, recognition and classification of different targets in a variety of operational conditions also requires a finely tuneable band.

Recent research and development efforts in the field of radar and electronic warfare systems have the goal to create more flexible and adaptive systems in terms of modes of operation and beamforming. At the same time, new technologies offer possibilities to explore different frequency (or bandwidth) ranges while maintaining a high signal-to-noise ratio. A further objective is to integrate more functions, including
internal computing capacities, while responding to the operational restrictions in terms of size, weight and power consumption and cost (SWaP-C).