CROSSEYE JAMMING OF MONOPULSE RADAR

Lars Falka, Claes Arvidssonb, Sven Berglundb and Anders Enerothb

a

FOI, Swedish Defence Research Agency, 172 90 Stockholm, Sweden, lars.falk@foi.se

FOI, Swedish Defence Research Agency, 581 11Linkping, Sweden, anders.eneroth@foi.se

ABSTRACT
Radar seeking missiles represent a serious threat
towards ships and aircraft. False targets can be produced
electronically by crosseye jamming, a technique where
small changes are introduced in the wave front to deflect a
monopulse radar seeker. Experiments performed by FOI
have confirmed the possibility of crosseye jamming using
precise cancellation of phase between two transmitters.
The principle of reciprocity has been used to analyse the
conditions necessary to ensure equal path lengths and the
limitations introduced by scattering from the terrain and
non-reciprocal components in the crosseye system.

1.

INTRODUCTION

Radar seeking missiles represent a serious threat towards

ships and aircraft. The superior acceleration of missiles
makes them difficult to evade. They are also cheaper than
their targets and can be shot in salvos.
A radar seeker with monopulse antenna is particularly
difficult to deflect. It will track all wave forms and noise
jamming is consequently ineffective. The missile will
keep tracking the signal by moving in a direction
orthogonal to the phase front to reach the target.
Missiles are traditionally deflected by chaff or noise
jamming, but such methods are becoming ineffective.
Modern techniques are based on towed decoys and range
gate or velocity gate pull off. Imperfections in the target
seeker can be used to introduce break-lock, but individual
weaknesses are increasingly difficult to identify in a
complex battle field.
It is necessary to develop new methods of defence
which are independent of the technical level of the target
seeker. Crosseye jamming is a technique using two
antennas onboard to modify the direction of the phase
front in order to create a false target near the real one.
The process is also called phase front distortion, since
the principle is based on the general technique of tracking
a target. If the false target is more powerful than the real
echo it will attract the missile from the platform.

2.

THE CROSSEYE PRINCIPLE

The basic idea of crosseye jamming is to produce a false

target sufficiently far away from a platform using
antennas onboard a ship or aircraft (Figure 1). The false
target is produced by repeating radar signals in order to
make it as realistic as possible. It is also possible to add
modulations and fluctuations to make the signal similar to
a real target. This process is easily performed with digital
components. Analogue components have been used in
many previous crosseye experiments, but digital radio
frequency memories (DRFM) are superior in this
application

Figure 1. A sea missile attacking a ship equipped with a

crosseye system will detect a false target beside the ship.

The idea of crosseye deflection is old, but electronic

technique has only recently reached a level where
jamming can be successfully performed in practice.
Research programs have been going on in several
countries, but most of them failed due to technical
problems. Only recently Italy and Sweden demonstrated
that crosseye may work in practice [1-9].
Crosseye targets are produced by interference
between two signal sources of similar strength. The
interference leads to angular glint of the same type as in
complicated radar targets. If two signals nearly cancel
each other the phase front will be distorted and the
direction of the target is seen to fluctuate.
This effect can be used to produce a false target
some distance away from a ship or aircraft using two
antennas onboard. The method avoids expensive off
board decoys, which often require preparation. Crosseye
is cheap, but there are many practical problems, like the
need for calibration.
The theoretical requirements for crosseye to function
in complex environment were first clarified in a
Swedish paper [4]. Representatives of many countries
declared that crosseye is interesting but can not work in
practice. This conclusion was based on the difficult
problem of balancing amplitude and phase using
analogue components, while wing tip vibrations and
propagation were also mentioned as possible sources of
error. However, Elettronica demonstrated a digital
crosseye system produced for the Italian navy and the
Italian version of the Eurofighter (EFA). Experiments
have demonstrated a considerable deflection of missile
radar seekers in air as well as close to sea and land [3,7].
Progress was based on the appearance of digital
radio frequency memories (DRFM). Improved tactical
analysis was also important to clarify under which
conditions crosseye jamming may be used. By selecting
phase and amplitudes correctly one can produce a false
target with optimal parameters instead of requiring a
system to work under all circumstances.
Tactical considerations had previously been
neglected in favour of fanciful constructions based on
analogue components [11]. These experiments produced
poor results, though the reasons for failure remained

unclear in many cases. The question was how to construct

a system that would produce an angular deflection of
required amount for any missile, even if the radar waves
were being scattered during propagation. Phase errors will
destroy the performance of a crosseye system and
probably attract the missile towards the antennas.

3.

RADAR TARGET SEEKERS

Most missiles use radar or IR to locate targets. Radar is

suitable for locating ships and aircraft at large range in
view of all weather capability. The Falkland war clearly
demonstrated the reality of the missile threat. Two out of
five Exocet radar missiles launched during the conflict
destroyed British ships.
A radar seeker is equipped with two receiver antennas
to locate the target by monopulse technique. The direction
is obtained by comparing the phase difference of two
signals as shown in Figure 2, since the angular resolution
of individual antennas is insufficient.

3.1
A geometrical derivation
A monopulse seeker affected by noise jamming can
switch to Home On Jam mode and continue tracking the
target. This ability is exploited in the crosseye system
by introducing a false target that the monopulse system
can not reject.
The false target is produced by two antennas
transmitting nearly out of phase in order to produce a
displaced target. The angular error may be computed
from formulas describing radar glint [12], but it is more
instructive to give a geometrical derivation [9].
A crosseye system consists of two antennas placed
at some distance from each other. Both antennas repeat
the incoming radar signals. If the signals are in phase
the target seeker will indicate a position somewhere
between the antennas as shown in Figure 4.
Target

Direction of propagation..

Phase difference

Phase difference

Phase front
1

Seeker antennas

Figure 2. The principle of monopulse measurements. A target

located directly in front of the radar will give the same phase in
both receivers, while a slightly displaced target will give a phase
difference proportional to angle.

The antenna is limited by the size of the missile,

which has to locate targets within a tenth of a degree. This
resolution is attainable with a monopulse radar system if
the target is powerful enough and only a single target is
located within the lobe. A monopulse system can not
resolve several targets. This is the basis of crosseye
jamming because the two antennas cannot be separated.
This problem occurs in another form when monopulse
systems are used against targets close to a water surface
where reflections take place [12].

Figure 3. Reflected signals will affect missiles seekers as well

as a radar onboard a ship.

2
Dashed:
Dash-dotted:

Antenna 1
Antenna 2

Figure 4. Two antennas transmitting in phase will produce a

target between the antennas according to a monopulse seeker.
The length of the arrows corresponds to signal strength and
the direction indicates phase.

Signals are shown in a polar diagram. If the signals

are in phase the monopulse receivers will indicate a
small phase difference equivalent to a forward position.
If the two signals are out of phase a crosseye target
will appear (Figure 5). The components nearly cancel
and the sum is given by the difference between arrows
pointing in the same direction. The sum is small but the
direction of this arrow (the phase of the signal) is
sensitive to the difference in direction between the two
arrows (phase difference) and their length (amplitude
difference). If one monopulse antenna receives two
components the other antenna will measure a small
phase difference as shown in Figure 6.

3.2
Miss distance
A false target produced by phase front distortion will
look like a target, because the target seeker can not
resolve crosseye antennas until a few hundred meters
from the platform. The radar wavelength is just a few
centimetres; the antenna diameter is less than a meter,
which gives an antenna lobe several degrees wide.

Figure 5. A crosseye target is produced by two almost equally

strong components nearly out of phase. The sum signal has
small amplitude and its phase depends sensitively on amplitude
() and phase () differences.

X=

Crosseye
phase

Monopulse
antenna 2

Figure 6. A monopulse target seeker measuring the phase

difference created by a crosseye system. The two signals
received by antenna 1 are exactly out of phase.

The sum arrow will obviously rotate faster than the

individual components. It appears as target in a direction
different from the real one, which explains the term phase
front distorsion: two crosseye antennas produce a signal
which locally has an oblique phase front (Figure 7).

Direction of propagation..
Direction of propagation..

One jamming antenna

Two sources of almost equal

strength and nearly out of phase

Figure 7. Phase and amplitude for waves produced by one

transmitter and two transmitters out of phase (Hyberg [ 10.]).

0.02
2o
0.5

Crosseye antennas are located 10-20 meter apart and

can be resolved only if the missile is less than 200 meter
away.
The sum arrow turns at a rate proportional to the
distance between the receiver antennas and inversely to
amplitude in Figure 6. The miss distance is computed by
noticing that the angle between two components (long
arrows) corresponds to a measurement of the distance
(D) between crosseye antennas. The sum arrow turns
approximately 1/p faster than two components and this
means that the maximum miss distance, X, is

Monopulse
antenna 1

D
p

The false target will appear several antenna base

lengths D away from the antenna system if the signals
have about the same amplitude. The miss distance is
independent of range. The deflection angle is small and
may be difficult to observe from a ship until the missile
is very close. A detailed geometrical derivation gives
the same result as the formulas for angular glint [12],
which involve both phase difference () and amplitude
difference (p).

X = D cos

p
p + 2
2

The expression D cos is the projection of the

base length in direction of the missile.

4.

CHOICE OF PARAMETERS

4.1
Amplitude and phase
The traditional view insists that phase and amplitude
differences must be extremely small to create crosseye.
The geometrical analysis indicates that this is not the
case. The phase difference () just has to be smaller
than the amplitude difference (p). Both must be small
enough to give a sufficient small miss distance, X. In
general X/D = 5-10 would be enough to protect a ship.

4.2
Signal strength
The main difficulty is to produce a false target that can
compete in strength with a real target in spite of the
necessary phase cancellation.

transmit in all directions (Figure 10). The geometry

guarantees that no phase differences are introduced.
A

Gamp
RCS
Figure 8.

r1

r2

Power returned by a target and crosseye system.

The power reflected from a target may be written,

D
B

Pout = (Flux )in RCS

The power emitted by a crosseye system is determined

by wavelength, , antenna gains, G, amplification Gamp,
and the amplitude cancellation factor, p = p-1.

Pout = (Flux )in G 2 Gamp

(p )2 2

Figure 9. Crosseye system based on analogue components.

The two paths ABCA and ACBA differ by half a wavelength
introduced by a phase shifter.

The false target should be at least 10 times stronger

than the real target to deflect the missile. This means that
a crosseye system must have high antenna gain and
amplification. It is important to determine the miss
distance in advance to allow the amplitude factor p to be
as large as possible. Early systems attempted to cover
large angles by using low gain antennas. This wasteful
method was compensated by enormous amplification,
which placed unrealistic demands on amplifiers and other
components.

5.

CONSTRUCTION OF
A CROSSEYE SYSTEM

Crosseye jamming is based on phase cancellation. No

additional phase differences may be introduced, e g by
scattering, since this would inevitably deflect the missile
towards the platform.
Interference is particularly sensitive to path length.
Crosseye systems based on analogue components have
been constructed by using the geometrical fact that total
propagation paths will be equally long from transmitter to
receiver (Figure 9). The reversibility of ray paths ensures
equal phase change in both directions, but the argument
does not apply directly to radio waves. Moreover, phase
differences will appear if receiver and transmitter
antennas are separated as in Figure 9, a construction still
mentioned in the literature [11]. Components must also be
reciprocal in order to ensure reliable function, but this is
only possible for limited field strengths.
The main advantage of a construction using wide lobe
antennas is that the system can decoy several missiles
attacking from different directions if the band width is
large. The phase difference is compensated on receive and

Figure 10. A crosseye system based on TWT can handle

several missiles transmitting on different radar frequencies.

A crosseye system based on analogue components

requires linear amplifiers. However, there will be
problems with circulators and other components which
lack the required isolation at high power. This means
that many constructions suggested in the literature are
invalid [11]. A much better solution is to use digital
components and avoid the apparent advantages of
geometrical effects by storing the signal in DRFM.

6.

RECIPROCITY

Crosseye systems can be effectively analysed by

applying the principle of reciprocity. The effect depends
on the reversibility of ray paths and reciprocity shows

that the false target can appear even under adverse

conditions. The argument will be presented in improved
form compared with previous presentations [2,4].
Rays of light and signals on communication lines are
reversible because they are restricted to one dimension.
Wave propagation in three dimensions is different, since
signals may be scattered from distant points in the terrain.
This may happen if a wave is propagating close to ground
or over a water surface. Water waves and foam can affect
radar propagation in a complicated manner (Figure 11)
and thus influence crosseye. Sea missiles travel close to
the surface of the sea and the formation of a false target
depends sensitively on cancellation between two sources.
If the cancellation does not take place the missile will
probably attack the antenna system.
Instead of using the reversibility of ray paths one can
apply the principle of reciprocity for electromagnetic
waves [1]. This principle ensures that signals transmitted
and received by two antennas are equal if the feeds are
swapped. Wave propagation between two points will thus
produce the same change in phase and amplitude in both
directions. This is far from obvious: radar waves
propagating over sea will experience the same phase shift
in both direction, even if they pass a highly asymmetrical
water wave.
The following conditions are necessary for the
principle of reciprocity to apply [1].
1.

ABSORBERS
RAIN
REMSOR
CHAFF

TRANSMITTER
(RECEIVER)

RECEIVER
(TRANSMITTER)

REFLECTORS

WATER WAVES

Figure 12. The principle of reciprocity. If the feeds of

transmitter and receiver antennas are swapped the signal
remains the same in spite of the presence of linear absorbers
and scatters.

In order to apply the principle of reciprocity one can

define an ideal radar seeker where the propagation paths
are equal. This can easily be done by using an oldfashioned form of scanning, sequential lobbing, where
the same antenna is used for transmit and receive, for
instance by moving the antenna in a circle (Figure 13).
In practice the function of this system will not differ
from an ideal monopulse system if the targets do not
fluctuate.
Cross eye system

The equations for electromagnetic waves must

be linear and invariant under time reversal;
The medium is linear (superposition applies);
Losses are linear functions of the field;
The environment is stationary.

2.
3.
4.

The final condition shows that crosseye is ineffective

against torpedoes. The speed of sound is slow and
conditions will usually change during propagation. Radar
waves are one millon times faster than sound and the
environment remains essentially frozen during a two-way
pulse trip.

Seeker antennas

Figure 13. An ideal monopulse system used for analysing

crosseye. Sequential lobing ensures that the propagation paths
are equal in both directions.

Waves and foam.

Scattering

Figure 11. Scattering of radar pulses from water waves and

foam may affect a crosseye system.

The significance of reciprocity is illustrated in Figure

12. If the cables feeding the two antennas are swapped the
received signal will be the same in spite of the presence of
scatterers and linear absorbers. Presented in this way the
principle of reciprocity appears unlikely. It is obviously
important that the environment is stable so that no phase
changes are introduced. The principle of reciprocity
expresses ray reversibility in general form [1].

Figure 14. The principle of reciprocity ensures that the phase

differences will be the same both ways for an ideal monopulse
system and an ideal reciprocal crosseye system even in the
presence of scattering outside the direct propagation path.

Even if a scatterer affects the propagation of radar

waves it will not necessarily affect the function of the
crosseye system, because phase changes will be equal in

both directions (Figure 14). This argument requires that

the crosseye system is completely reciprocal and that
wave reciprocity ensures reversibility in the terrain. This
argument gives an exact formulation of the conditions,
which should be used to test real monopulse seekers and
crosseye system by comparing them with an ideal case.
The reciprocity condition shows how to estimate
under which conditions crosseye will work and when the
system is affected by the choice of components. Figure 15
illustrates how such an analysis may be performed.

8.

We are indebted to Filippo Neri, Vittorio Rossi and

Andrea Di Martino at Elettronica S. p. A. and our
colleague Per Hyberg for valuable discussions.

REFERENCES
[ 1.]

[ 2.]

[ 3.]
[ 4.]

[ 5.]
[ 6.]
[ 7.]
[ 8.]
[ 9.]

Figure 15. A slightly non-reciprocal crosseye system will be

affected by scattering, since opposite paths are no more equal. In
this figure the non-reciprocity is illustrated by an antenna where
the phase centre is displaced between transmit and receive.

All real systems contain some kind of non-reciprocity.

I Figure 15 this is illustrated by a displaced phase centre
for transmit and receive. As shown in Figure 15 scatter
from areas outside the propagation path, e g water waves,
will now give a non-reciprocal contribution to the signal.
It is not difficult to estimate the amount from the
scattering geometry. The important question is when such
a contribution will affect the false target. This condition
depends on how close the signals are in amplitude. It is
sensible to avoid signals of nearly equal strength, since
this case would be particularly sensitive to nonreciprocity and scattering as shown in Figure 15.

7.

CONCLUSIONS

Crosseye jamming can be based on general principles.

This is particularly valuable in those applications where
scattering takes place in a complicated environment, e g
when a missile is propagating over rough sea. A crosseye
system should in general be reciprocal. Many
constructions found in the literature and based on
analogue components fail to satisfy this condition. The
quality of components depends on scattering and can be
analysed in general terms as shown in this report. Many
practical considerations are important for the function of a
crosseye system. They must be related to tactical
requirements, in particular
distance between antennas
use of digital components
use of phased arrays

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

[ 10.]
[ 11.]
[ 12.]

L. Falk, Reciprocity in wave propagation, Invited paper.

RadioVetenskap och Kommunikation 99. pp. 126 130,
RVK-99, Karlskrona, Sweden, 14 16 June 1999. (FOA
Reprints, FOA-B--00-00617-170--SE, December 2000).
L. Falk, The reciprocity principle and cross-eye jamming of
monopulse
radar
seekers,
RadioVetenskap
och
Kommunikation 99. pp. 178 181, RVK-99, Karlskrona,
Sweden, 14 16 June 1999.
A. Eneroth, L. Falk, C. Arvidsson, C. Johansson,
"Vinkelvilseledning mot monopulsradar, Lgesrapport, FOI
rapport FOI-RH0148 (November 2002).
L. Falk, Cross-eye jamming and the principle of
reciprocity, 3rd International AOC Conference, Zrich, May
2000 (FOA Reprints, FOA-B--00-00616-170--SE, December
2000).
L. Falk, Physical basis for credibility of cross-eye for ship
defense, AOC Conference, Las Vegas, 2000.
F. Neri, Introduction to Electronic Defense Systems (Artech
House 1991).
F. Neri, Experimental testing on cross-eye jamming. AOC
Conference, Las Vegas, 2000.
L. Falk, Cross-eye jamming, AOC Conference, Stockholm,
May 2002.
L. Falk, Cross-eye jamming in Complicated Environments,
AOC Conference, Rome, May 2004.
P. Hyberg, Kompendium i Radarmotmedelsteknik,
FOA Rapport A 10052-1.1, december 1993.
L. B. Van Brunt, Applied ECM (EW Engineering 1995).
S. M. Sherman. Monopulse Principles and Techniques
(Artech House 1984).