Using Spectrum Maps for Surveillance Avoiding Path Planning

Radio frequency surveillance avoiding path planning for platforms such as aircrafts is becoming increasingly challenging due to dense spectrum use and evolving radar systems. In order to find a safe path we need to acquire and learn awareness about the total exposure to radars. In practice, surveillance by radars can not be totally avoided, but it must be minimized or kept in a tolerable level. In this paper we first construct spectrum maps which present the levels of adversary surveillance signals as well as unintentional interferences. These maps are used to create virtual potential fields where adversary surveillance signals are modeled as repulsive forces. The proposed path planning algorithm navigates through such a potential field. It is a heuristic multistep algorithm that plans a surveillance avoiding path that trades off between the path length and the total level of surveillance signals illuminating the aircraft during the mission.