Threat modeling is an exercise in determining, capturing, and reproducing the perception of a threat transmitter by a sensor. The point of view from which the threat must be considered is that of the sensors in EW systems. You need to look out at the world through the connector at the front end of a receiving system. What does it see and when does it see it? To make this work, of course, you need to consider what the threat is doing and why in the momentary tactical situation. Then you need to consider what signals the threat is emitting and the direction in which it is emitting them, both as a function of time. Finally, you need to consider what that looks like (electronically) from the location of the receiver and what the receiving antenna does to arriving signals on their way to the receiver.

You may well need to consider how those threat signal look at some point deep into the EW receiving system: at an intermediate frequency (IF) or processor input or at an operator display. The way the signal looks inside the system will typically require that you consider the status of system controls, whether the control inputs come from a computer program or from an operator.

Modeling issues inside the EW system are dealt with in later chapters. In this chapter, we look at the modeling of threat signals on their way to the EW receiver.