Eurosatory 2016: R&S showcases in Europe the DDF1555 portable direction finder.

Stelios Kanavakis                                                                                                                                          Senior Defence Analyst

On the occasion of Eurosatory 2016, Rohde & Schwarz showcased the DDF1555 portable direction finding system in Europe. The system is comprised of a Direction Finder antenna and the DDF1555 DF system, all integrated in an aluminum backpack frame. Nevertheless, the system could also be installed on a vehicle and potentially on other platforms.

In a period where electronic warfare has being widely in combat operations, such as in Crimea, Rohde & Schwarz has displayed its wide range of solutions in communication and jamming systems, including the DDF1555 portable direction finder.

The system offers the ability for signal search and display, along with an optional panorama scan, which scans the wide frequency ranges, and a fast spectrogram display.

The Direction Finding system can be combined with a VHF/UHF (20 MHz – 1.3 GHz), a UHF/SHF (690 MHz – 6 GHz) or a collapsible UHF/SHF (20 MHz – 690 MHz) FD antenna, made by R&S. These also include a GPS module, an electronic compass and a vehicle mount adapter, should the customer require it.

For increased accuracy, the user can combine multiple direction finding devices, interconnected through a radio. That allows the sharing of data and the application of triangulation techniques.

Signals are analyzed and processed by R&S in-house developed CA100 software. Run on a wirelessly connected tablet or laptop, it provides an overview of a frequency range of interest, using a high-speed spectral or waterfall display. The user can search and intercept signals in a pre-defined range, while the software’s automatic detector also allows the user to scan or monitor frequency ranges automatically for fixed-frequency and burst signals.

Moreover, the operator can incorporate the interface or other components of the company’s RAMON software, to integrate the direction finder into complex radiomonitoring and radiolocation systems.

Users are offered the option to record data and save them to the DF’s RAM memory. These can include audio (WAV format), I/Q, spectrum and spectrogram data. The system can run for 10 hours with the use of two R&S DDF1555x10 batteries.