Tactical communication EMI/EMC co-site problems and solutions

Tactical command and control of military forces is increasingly reliant upon radio communications. Tactical radio communications are severely impacted when many radios in close proximity experience co-site interference. Co-site interference is caused by radiated and conducted interactions of equipment and may include receiver desensitization, distortion of antenna patterns, and extensive channel blockage. Effective mitigation of co-site interference requires a systematic treatment of multiple degradation mechanisms. This paper presents an examination of various co-site degradation mechanisms in a typical tactical command and control environment. This is followed by an examination of the basic mitigation techniques of multicoupling, adaptive processing, filtering, and antenna selection, as applied independently. The synergism of combining these techniques is then presented to suggest a systematic, effective co-site interference treatment.<>