How does the radar find ECM source direction

[Cmptohocah]

I am quite curious of how does the onboard radar manage to find the azimuth (relative heading/angle) of an airborne ECM?

 

I would assume that it would kind of measure the ECM intensity and then select the direction that has the highest peak, but if it does it like this in the horizontal plane, what prevents it from doing the same in the vertical and thus completely defining source of 'jamming' in the sky - azimuth & height?

 

Any thoughts on this? :smartass:

[GGTharos]

Determining altitude requires knowledge of the range to target in addition to the angle of target. And it isn't just azimuth that you know ... you also know elevation. Not sure why you assumed that isn't the case. All you have to do to find it is designate the strobe of your choice :)

 

As for how it finds the jammer - how would you find a flashlight?

 

The in game jammer is 'just' a range jammer.

Edited April 12, 2017 by GGTharos

[Cmptohocah]

Thanks for replying,

that was very informative.

 

Not sure why you assumed that isn't the case. All you have to do to find it is designate the strobe of your choice :)

 

 

So I guess on Su-27 the only option of finding the relative height would be tilting the antenna up 'n' down. I've kind of overlooked that HUD target symbol only shows azimuth/range :music_whistling:

[GGTharos]

You lock the strobe, then look at your antenna train angle indicators :)

[Beamscanner]

Thanks for replying,

that was very informative.

 

 

 

 

So I guess on Su-27 the only option of finding the relative height would be tilting the antenna up 'n' down. I've kind of overlooked that HUD target symbol only shows azimuth/range :music_whistling:

 

The antenna scanning its narrow field of view gets the rough angle to source, and uses phase mono-pulse comparison techniques to get the precise angle.