Military Full-Duplex Radio Shield for Protection Against Adversary Receivers

Abstract

This paper provides experimental results regarding an emerging physical-layer concept within the field of military communications, viz. the full-duplex 'radio shield', by building on the recently discovered full-duplex technology that allows an individual radio device to simultaneously transmit and receive (STAR) on the same spectrum. Its basic idea is to protect the surroundings of a radio device by broadcasting powerful jamming while successfully receiving tactical transmissions on overlapping frequencies. The jamming creates a protective dome of interference around such a military full-duplex radio (MFDR). The experimental results reported herein prove that the radio shield yields a large SINR advantage against interception, even though a fully practical full-duplex radio prototype with residual self-interference is used. Moreover, we show that the prototype radio shield is capable of preventing the control of improvised explosives or rogue drones while simultaneously receiving tactical signals. Therefore, the full-duplex radio shield can give armed forces a significant technical lead over an enemy by preventing it from using the frequency band for offensive purposes.