Military Use of Wifi technology

Authors:

  • Sara Linder
  • Karina Fors
  • Arwid Komulainen
  • Kia Wiklundh
  • Gunnar Eriksson
  • Peter Holm

Publish date: 2018-11-16

Report number: FOI-R--4626--SE

Pages: 39

Written in: Swedish

Keywords:

  • Wifi
  • IEEE 802.11

Abstract

This report examines various aspects of military use of wifi technology, primarily for connecting devices in a mobile command and control center. Wifitechnology can be used to connect devices or vehicles quickly. Connecting vehicles without cables is beneficial to acheive connectivity rapidly and for vehicles in motion. In the civilian society, wifi-technology is used in many different applications, especially as wireless networks, and the standard has been developed for great flexibility and high data rates. For military use, there are some additional desirable features such as high availability and robustness against interference. In some situations, there is also an electronic warfare threat as active jamming or signals intelligence. The report gives an overview of the components of the IEEE 802.11 wifi standard that are most important to highlight from a military perspective. Usually, wifi is used mainly indoors and in urban environments. For military use, a forest environment is more interesting to analyze. Calculations of wave propagation in forests have therefore been carried out and show a relatively high attenuation of the signal. Using a scenario, some aspects of jamming and signal detection were analyzed. The results showed that a jammer could cause damage from relatively long distances and signals can Also, signals can be detected at a greater distances than the communication distance. Using directional antennas can make the wifi system less vulnerable, but increases the time to connect to the network. There are more advanced forms of jamming that address specific vulnerabilities in the wifi standard. The sensitivity to interference can also vary widely between equipment from different manufacturers. In summary, wifi-technology is an attractive choice for a self-configuring network with high data rates, but has disadvantages in a military scenario with electronic warfare.