New Radar to Be Able to Expose Stealth Aircraft
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Stealth aircraft rely on special paint and body design to absorb and deflect radio waves—making them invisible to traditional radar. They also use electronic jamming to swamp detectors with artificial noise. Researchers claim that with quantum radar, these planes will not only be exposed, but also unaware they have been detected.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada are developing a new technology that promises to help radar operators cut through heavy background noise and isolate objects —including stealth aircraft and missiles— with unparalleled accuracy.
Quantum radar uses a sensing technique called quantum illumination to detect and receive information about an object. At its core, it leverages the quantum principle of entanglement, where two photons form a connected, or entangled, pair, according to uwaterloo.ca. The method works by sending one of the photons to a distant object, while retaining the other member of the pair. Photons in the return signal are checked for telltale signatures of entanglement, allowing photons from the noisy environmental background to be discarded. This can greatly improve the radar signal-to-noise in certain situations.
But in order for quantum radar to work in the field, researchers first need to realize a fast, on-demand source of entangled photons. “In the Arctic, space weather such as geomagnetic storms and solar flares interfere with radar operation and make the effective identification of objects more challenging,” said Jonathan Baugh, from the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and a professor in the Department of Chemistry who is leading the project at IQC and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology.
“The goal of our project is to create a robust source of entangled photons that can be generated at the press of a button,” said Baugh.
To date, quantum illumination has only been explored in the laboratory. The Government of Canada, under the Department of National defense’s All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) Science & Technology program, is investing $2.7M to expedite its use in the field.
“This project will allow us to develop the technology to help move quantum radar from the lab to the field,” said Baugh. “It could change the way we think about national security.”
