Jamming Equipment

Jamming Equipment is any device designed to confuse or overwhelm Sensors or Communications Equipment.

• It is a form of sensor.
• It is a type of electronic countermeasure.

Description / Specifications

Jamming equipment normally functions by emitting an electromagnetic disturbance, sometimes called ‘noise’, on a wavelength at an intensity that overwhelms the target receiver, making reception impossible. Jammers are designed to affect specific services (such as radio communications) or devices (such as RADAR).

• A jammer is a type of electronic countermeasure.
• Jamming can usually be distinguished from background and natural interference or device malfunctions.
• Jamming can be used as a form of censorship in authoritarian states, in order to prevent the inflow of broadcast data (such as news services) from other sources.

Radio Jammers

Radio transmitters generally broadcast a signal by systematically modulating properties of electromagnetic energy waves. Radio jammers generally work by the transmission of electromagnetic noise that disrupts communications by decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio: radio receivers hear static, noise, pop, clicks and tones instead of an intelligible signal.

• It is an active countermeasure.
• A Radio Jammer may itself be disrupted or countered by electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM).

Radar Jammers

RADAR is a sensor system that bounces radio waves (electromagnetic energy) off of a target and detects the reflection. RADAR broadcasts can be detected by many sensor systems. A RADAR jammer interferes with the operation of a RADAR by saturating its receiver with noise or false information or by blocking the receiver with highly concentrated energy signals.

• It is an active countermeasure.
• A RADAR Jammer may itself be disrupted or countered by electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM).

Jamming Techniques

Jamming equipment can be used in a number of ways:

• Spot jamming occurs when a jamming device focuses all of its power on a single frequency. Spot jamming is powerful but an "agile" RADAR can hop frequencies, rendering the jamming ineffective.
  • Multiple jammers can spot jam a range of frequencies.
• Sweep jamming is when a jammer's full power is shifted from one frequency to another. It is able to jam multiple frequencies in quick succession but it does not affect them all at the same time.
• Barrage jamming is the jamming of multiple frequencies at once by a single jammer. It is most commonly employed by ships mounting an EMS Jammer package.

History & Background / Dossier

Jamming equipment is available from TL-5 onwards.

The power of jamming equipment determines its effective broadcast range – the distance to which a broadcast will carry before it is sufficiently degraded to be incapable of affecting the targeted sensors or communications systems.

• A jamming broadcast must be sufficiently powerful to disrupt or overwhelm its target. The intensity of a jamming broadcast gives jamming equipment relatively large energy demands.

Jamming equipment is limited by realspace physics. The EM broadcasts that a jamming device produces take time to reach their target.

• A broadcast travels at approximately 300,000 km per second. For example, a RADAR jammer attempting to disrupt broadcasts from a target at a distance of 900,000 km will have a signal delay of 3 seconds (3 seconds for its EM broadcast to reach the target).

References & Contributors / Sources

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• MegaTraveller Referee's Manual, (Game Designers Workshop 1987) pg. 68
• Fire, Fusion, & Steel, Traveller The New Era, (Game Designers Workshop 1987) pg. 50
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science