How is the Guardian ECM Suite supposed to work in-lore?

[TimeDiver0]

Specifically, from its page on Sarna:

The Guardian was notable for its discriminatory nature, able to scramble all hostile electronics within range while not affecting friendly communications and targeting enhancers.[1]

As much as I want to write this off as space magic almost on-par with "ludicrously efficient fusion thrusters that probably benefit from Kearny-Fuchida shenanigans", I'm failing to come up with a semi-plausible handwave.

 

[rcemezodiac]

Think of it like modern EW, you ID enemy frequencies and jam then while leaving your own intact, atleast if its active jamming, passive jamming just blankets everything.

 

[crabby]

I would assume the IS militaries maintain large threat libraries on all equipment just like we do in the present day.

It's possible that even though everyone's equipment is superficially the same for rules/game simplification that the various factions favor certain communications/sensor/targeting frequencies that could be jammed with a tight beam response while not impacting friendlies.

You are getting down to a level of granularity that the BT universe doesn't really explore.

 

[Timaeus]

Specifically, from its page on Sarna:



As much as I want to write this off as space magic almost on-par with "ludicrously efficient fusion thrusters that probably benefit from Kearny-Fuchida shenanigans", I'm failing to come up with a semi-plausible handwave.

Well a few caveats first in that for gameplay purposes GECM only affects Beagle Active Probe, Narc Missile Beacon, Artemis IV, and C3 networks (and any alternate versions of those pieces of equipment). Broadly speaking ECM is just assumed to be ever present on the battlefield hence why it's never called out except in special circumstances (like GECM and AECM). That said, I'd say that while GECM is described as a bubble, and implying that it's indiscriminate towards what it effects, what it is more likely to be setup like is a system that is able to focus its ECM capabilities onto specific targets/technologies. The Sarna article describes it as kinda like an EMP pulse system that is directional and focused, and that seems like it could work.



The engines are just stupidly efficient like the Epstein Drives in The Expanse.

 

[wundergoat]

I always thought of ECM suites as being like Beagle probes - they are primarily an advanced computer directing electronics already onboard the unit, though they do include additional jammers/sensors. I see the GECM as being discriminatory in that it selectively targets opposing advanced sensors, essentially making it a smarter ecm rather than a more powerful ecm.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Think of it like modern EW, you ID enemy frequencies and jam then while leaving your own intact, atleast if its active jamming, passive jamming just blankets everything.

Thank you Good Sir. :bow:

Your mention of Passive Jamming interested me greatly. During my time in the Military I had worked ECM equipment and found Jamming to be Active by nature. But I tried to research online the nature of Passive Jamming and came across this:

Is it something along these lines to which you were referring?

 

[jamiechi]

When one emits a signal to jam an enemy, that is considered active jamming whether it is blanket or directed. In a sense you could say that the chaff that is ejected is passive but since it is being ejected or dropped from an airplane I would consider it active. The only things I would consider passive are the use of certain paints and materials to make something hard to see on radar. Also the use of specific shapes on the fuselage to randomly break up radar returns would be considered passive. I also have a few years experience in ECM repair shops.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

@jamiechi, Greetings fellow Electronic Warfare Profesional! :bow:

As I understand it, since the use of chaff raises no "battlefield electronic signature" (that would give away the position of the chaff-dispensing platform) it is considered Passive.

Passive Jamming
An ECM (electronic countermeasure) technique in which an enemy aiming receiver is jammed with the help of chaffand deception electronics.

 

[stjobe]

As much as I want to write this off as space magic almost on-par with "ludicrously efficient fusion thrusters that probably benefit from Kearny-Fuchida shenanigans", I'm failing to come up with a semi-plausible handwave.

Just keep on reading:

"The suite itself consisted of a dedicated countermeasures computer tied to electromagnetic sensors positioned around the operating unit. When these sensors detected an electromagnetic wave within range, such as that given off by an active radar, this data was sent to the computer which identified the threat, adapted to it, and fired a focused electromagnetic pulse at the source. This intense burst of EM radiation could confuse and misdirect the sensor or even force the entire targeting system to reboot"​

The above is paraphrasing Era Report: 2750:

"The Guardian ECM used sensitive EM sensors scattered across the operating unit’s exterior. These sensors registered any sort of electro-magnetic wave produced by incoming missile systems and radar at a range of almost 200 meters. The Guardian’s dedicated countermeasures computer would then identify and adapt to the device and signal input, before “firing” a focused EM pulse toward the hostile scanner. The end result was an overwhelming burst of noise that either confused and misdirected the enemy sensor’s computers, or forced their entire targeting system to reboot entirely."
- Era Report: 2750, p.103​

It's basically a (set of) focused EM "gun(s)" able to pinpoint and overload any active EM emitter within 200 meters.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Poor Bloody Sterile Infantry! : (

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

Specifically, from its page on Sarna:

As much as I want to write this off as space magic almost on-par with "ludicrously efficient fusion thrusters that probably benefit from Kearny-Fuchida shenanigans", I'm failing to come up with a semi-plausible handwave.

Semi-Plausible...Well, this is something I was brainstorming...

The best I can do is that the device broadcasts it's interference at a certain frequencies or with a certain pattern that only the allied forces knows, but not the enemy. Basically the allied forces have a "key" that can be applied to their computer systems that effectively allows them to cancel out the interference (similar to how noise cancelation hardware might work) and therefore with the key the allied computer systems can effectively ignore the interference. Maybe it is automatically communicated in an encrypted fashion in the ally's IFF transmission so that it happens automatically when allied mechs or other vehicles approach.

Since the enemy's systems don't have this key, their systems can't process the noise and cancel it out. Therefore their computers are just bombarded with the interference. Maybe what stops them from stumbling on the key is that there are so many different variables, that the chance of a computer stumbling upon it by chance is so astronomical that it is statistically impossible.



P.S. After typing above, I had thought..."How would mechs and computer systems created possibly 100+ years ago know what the Capellan Raven (invented in 3025) is broadcasting and interpret that data in a fashion it would be immune?"

The best I can think of is that the Capellan EW suite is operating off of similar principles of the older ECM systems of the Star League. All those computers were created with that decoding functionality and all systems since have carried that compatibility in it's code even if mechs were produced during the succession wars when no ECM systems were present.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

Just keep on reading:

"The suite itself consisted of a dedicated countermeasures computer tied to electromagnetic sensors positioned around the operating unit. When these sensors detected an electromagnetic wave within range, such as that given off by an active radar, this data was sent to the computer which identified the threat, adapted to it, and fired a focused electromagnetic pulse at the source. This intense burst of EM radiation could confuse and misdirect the sensor or even force the entire targeting system to reboot"​

The above is paraphrasing Era Report: 2750:

"The Guardian ECM used sensitive EM sensors scattered across the operating unit’s exterior. These sensors registered any sort of electro-magnetic wave produced by incoming missile systems and radar at a range of almost 200 meters. The Guardian’s dedicated countermeasures computer would then identify and adapt to the device and signal input, before “firing” a focused EM pulse toward the hostile scanner. The end result was an overwhelming burst of noise that either confused and misdirected the enemy sensor’s computers, or forced their entire targeting system to reboot entirely."
- Era Report: 2750, p.103​

It's basically a (set of) focused EM "gun(s)" able to pinpoint and overload any active EM emitter within 200 meters.

LOL. Just read this. Doh!

Well, I sort of like my brainstorm idea anyway