A Practical Superheterodyne-Receiver Detector using Stimulated Emissions

Abstract

The accurate and timely discovery of radio receivers can assist in the detection of radio-controlled explosives. Superheterodyne receivers emit low-power radio signals during normal operation. These are known as unintended emissions. In this paper, the unintended emissions of superheterodyne receivers are analyzed. Such receivers are exposed to known stimulation signals, and their behavior is measured. Recorded emissions demonstrate that it is possible to inject arbitrary signals into a radio's unintended emissions using a relatively weak stimulation signal. This effect is called stimulated emissions. A novel detection system that uses these stimulated emissions is proposed. The performance of this system is compared with passive-detection techniques using artificially generated emissions signals. The proposed system offers a 5- to 10-dB sensitivity improvement over existing techniques.

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sponsor(s)

United States. Department of Homeland Security

Keywords and Phrases

Electromagnetic Radiative Interference; Matched Filters; Mixers; Radio Transceivers; Sensor Systems; Software radio; Software radio

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0018-9456

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2011 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Apr 2011

Link to Full Text

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