Bridging Realism in EW Validation: The Case for RF HWIL Simulation

A three-week airborne validation campaign exceeds €6.4M in direct costs.

It cannot be repeated on demand. It cannot cover every threat scenario you need. The same constraint applies on naval platforms: range windows, sea conditions, and platform availability impose limits that no budget can fully overcome.

Modern radar sensors (including also RF seekers), EW self-protection suites, share this problem. And they share the same answer.

RF Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) simulation creates a synthetic RF environment in which the system under test operates in its standard configuration, whether connected via direct RF injection or radiating freely over the air, and is exposed to operationally realistic conditions: hardware latencies, thermal drift, RF non-linearities, and the full complexity of the electromagnetic scenarios it will face in service.

No modifications to the system. No range logistics.

Deterministic coverage of edge cases that live environments cannot reliably generate: from radar tracking under coordinated jamming and chaff, to EW system response against adaptive radar threats, to RF seeker effectiveness validation in closed-loop.

ELDES has developed three specialized HWIL platforms covering each of these domains:

• E-RES: Radar Environment Simulator: high-fidelity assessment of radar sensors and RF seekers against multi-scatter targets, complex clutter, chaff, decoys, and coherent/non-coherent jamming at real RF frequencies

• E-PRS: Programmable Radar Simulator: ESM/ECM validation against fully programmable radar threats (ground, airborne, shipborne, and missile seekers) with real-world ECCM logic and closed-loop electronic duel capability

• E-PSS Poseidon: Programmable RF Seeker Simulator: dynamic and static seeker emulation for testing ECM effectiveness in Anti-Ship Missile Defense scenarios, in ground-based or avionic POD configuration

The full case is presented in our new white paper, available for download below.