By GREG KLINE
© 2000 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online August 5, 2000

When it first was used in World War II, radar was literally a blip on the screen.

A blip is all radar operators saw when aircraft came into range of their instruments.

The technology has come a long way since then, and it soon will go a step further using research by scientists at the University of Illinois College of Engineering's Center for Computational Electromagnetics.

The UI center and Science Applications International Corp. are in line for $10.5 million from the Defense Department to deploy a next-generation radar "fingerprinting" system.

The new system should allow military personnel to identify specific planes and surface craft such as tanks and ships almost instantly in the heat of combat.

The idea is to better target the enemy, obviously, but also to minimize incidents of so-called "friendly fire," when U.S. forces shoot at other U.S. forces amid the confusion of battle.

"Target identification is one application," UI electrical and computer engineering Professor Weng Chew said recently. "You've got to be able to do it quickly."

Chew and UI researchers Jianming Jin, Eric Michielssen and Jiming Song developed the basic science and the computer software behind the system, which will be implemented by the Air Force and the Science Applications International Corporation.

Essentially, radar still works by sending out electromagnetic radio waves that strike objects, such as an aircraft, and reflect a characteristic signal to the radar receiver.

Chew has specialized in studying that process and the UI is at the forefront of the field, he said.

The signals that once yielded only a blip on the screen now look more like an electronically monitored heart beat. They can be used not only to identify the presence of craft, but their type and other information.

Chew and his colleagues have developed software to quickly and precisely model on a computer what a craft's radar signature will look like without having to conduct actual field tests.

The method makes it less expensive to develop the new system, Chew said, and allows it to be deployed faster.

It also makes it easier to get the radar fingerprints of enemy equipment.

"You can take pictures of enemy aircraft" and extrapolate their radar signature, Chew said.

Dennis Andersh, vice president and operations manager for the Science Applications International Corp. here, said much of the work the company is to do will involve creating a database of radar signatures for the new system using the methods developed at the UI.

So far, the project has been funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

The Defense Department appropriation, announced in late July by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, and U.S. Rep. Thomas Ewing, R-Pontiac, should result in 10 new computer scientists and engineers being hired at the Science Applications International Corp.'s Champaign facility, Andersh said.

Chew said the Air Force also is interested in the UI research for use in the further development of "stealth" technology designed to avoid or confuse radar detection.

In addition, he said the research has applications in a number of nonmilitary fields.

For example, automakers whose cars' spark plugs and ignition systems already emit electromagnetic signals are interested in potential conflicts with gadgets such as mobile computers and wireless communications devices that promise to become common features in vehicles.

The science also relates to remote sensing from satellites, cellular phones and other forms of wireless communications.