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Strategic Considerations of Industry 4.0 on Electronic Warfare using

Technology Roadmaps

Conference Paper · September 2021

DOI: 10.1109/AFRICON51333.2021.9570921

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 IEEE Copyright
Strategic Considerations of Industry 4.0 on
Electronic Warfare using Technology Roadmaps
Reeshen Reddy, Senior Member, IEEE
Dept. Radar and Electronic Warfare, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Pretoria, South Africa
rreddy@csir.co.za
Abstract—The Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0
is an ongoing industrial revolution brought about by several
emerging technologies expected to disrupt most business sectors.
The effect of Industry 4.0 on the Electronic Warfare (EW) sector
is strategically analyzed using Technology Road Mapping
(TRM). An enhanced TRM is proposed based on the fast-start
TRM method that incorporates an additional military
capability layer to assess the linkage between market trends and
products. The enhanced TRM is applied to analyze trends,
capability, product, technology, research, and resources.
The TRM-based strategic analysis reveals that Industry 4.0
will create both market pull and technology push driving the
required characteristics of future EW Products. The market
pull effects will drive future EW products to operate in a
battlespace supporting Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) and
Decision Centric Warfare (DCW). Industry 4.0 will drive
commercial demand for spectrum resulting in contested,
congested, and shared spectrum. Advances in smart industries
will facilitate prototype warfare and the Internet of Military
Things (IoMT), increasing ad-hoc bespoke non-traditional
threats. Traditional threats will support DCW supported by
several unmanned platform concepts.
Technology push effects will advance key technologies that
will shape future EW products such as Artificial Intelligence
(A.I), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT),
and Heterogeneous Processing. Finally, we conclude that the
emergent properties of future EW products will be cognitive,
distributed, networked, coordinated, multi-spectral, reduced
size, weight, and power (SWAP), and modular using open
architectures.
Keywords— Industry 4.0, Fourth Industrial Revolution,
Technology Road Mapping, Electronic Warfare, Strategy.
I. INTRODUCTION
The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is a crucial resource
in both civilian and military applications. Military actions
using the EMS are known as Electronic Warfare (EW), and
similar to the physical or cyber domains, military forces must
maneuver and conduct operations within the EMS to achieve
tactical, operational, and strategic advantage [1], [2].
The EMS, an emerging sixth domain, is a battlespace that
offers opportunities for high tech dominance and hence EW
products must constantly evolve with trends in the battlespace
to maintain effectiveness in all the warfighting domains: land,
air, sea, space, and cyberspace [3].
The Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 is an
ongoing industrial revolution characterized by cyber-physical
industrial production, commonly termed smart manufacturing
driven by the integration of Information Communications
Technology (ICT), Internet of Things (IoT), and machines in
cyber-physical systems (CPS) [4]. The advancements due to
Industry 4.0 is expected to underpin the future battlespace and
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facilitate prototype warfare, Decision Centric Warfare
(DCW), and the Internet of Military Things (IoMT).
Accordingly, the next generation of EW products must
leverage advances in a wide range of technologies brought
about by Industry 4.0 to maintain effectiveness in the future
battlespace with dramatic advancements in threats and
doctrine also brought about from Industry 4.0.
There is currently limited work in the open domain on the
effect that Industry 4.0 will have on future EW products. In
this paper, we apply Technology Road Mapping (TRM) to
conduct a strategic analysis on the effect of Industry 4.0 on
future EW products.
The paper is organized as follows: Chapter II describes
Industry 4.0; Chapter III gives a cursory account of EW, while
Chapter IV discusses technology roadmaps with the specific
enhancements applied in this paper. Chapter V applies the
proposed technology roadmap to conduct a strategic analysis
of EW in Industry 4.0. Chapter VI concludes the paper.
The paper will primarily focus on technology aspects with
emphasis on Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum and will exclude
geopolitics, supply chain and logistic aspects.
II. INDUSTRY 4.0
Several scholars and practitioners have categorized four
significant industry advancements throughout history termed
industrial revolutions [5].
The first industrial revolution is characterized by
mechanical production equipment driven by the steam engine,
the second industrial revolution characterized electrical
production driven by assembly lines and the third industrial
revolution is characterized by automated production driven by
computers and the Internet [6], [4] and [7].
The fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 emerged
from a German public-private initiative to build smart
factories in 2011 as part of a strategic manufacturing roadmap
to promote the digitalization of manufacturing [4].
The fourth industrial revolution is characterized by cyber-
physical industrial production, commonly termed smart
manufacturing, driven by the integration of ICT, IoT, and
CPS.
The advancement in smart manufacturing will likely
create dramatic changes in the future battlespace and the
underlying technologies that go into EW products.
III. ELECTRONIC WARFARE
Electronics technology has played an increasingly
important role in military operations. The invention of the
radio, radio direction finder, radar and radar-guided missiles
 Fig. 1. Electronic Warfare Overview [1], [2].
have made a dramatic increase in the sophistication,
effectiveness, and lethality of weapon systems [8].
EW is defined as any military action involving the use of
electromagnetic and directed energy to control the
electromagnetic spectrum or to attack the enemy typically
using military electronics. EW has been employed in all
warfighting domains to detect, intercept, classify, protect,
counter and attack adversary’s weapon systems that employ
advanced sensors such as active electronically scanned phased
array (AESA) radar [8]. EW has three main sub-divisions
termed Electronic Attack (EA), Electronic Protection (EP),
and Electronic Support (ES) which are described in Fig. 1 [1],
[2].
The third industrial revolution started in the decade of
1960 with the use of ICT brought upon by semiconductors,
mainframe computing, personal computing, and the Internet
[5], which has given rise to the information age where data
enabled by advanced communication networks has further
increased the sophistication of weapon systems, sensors and
the corresponding EW systems and has led to the battlespace
of today characterized by Network Centric Operations.
Network Centric Operations describe the modern form of
military action in the information age. Networked Sensors
allow for information superiority, acting as a force multiplier,
greater lethality, and increased survivability [9]. Modern
weapon systems and platforms seldom operate in isolation;
but rather may be thought of as networks of connected
platforms, sensors, weapons, and effectors with complex data
exchange that govern their behavior and performance.
The third industrial revolution has created a significant effect
on the current battlespace; the impact of the fourth industrial
revolution is likely to similarly shape the future of EW with a
shift to decision-centric multi-domain operations involving
more advanced and less predictable threats.
IV. TECHNOLOGY ROADMAPPING
The effective planning, usage, and integration of
technology into business strategy is a crucial success factor for
organizations and especially applicable to EW organizations
involved in the research and development (R&D) of advanced
EW products.
A simplified technology management framework
modified for product R&D is shown in Fig. 2. The technology
management processes (identification, selection, acquisition,
research, development, exploitation, and protection) and
business processes (strategy, innovation, and operations)
highlights the interaction that is needed between the
commercial and technological functions in the business to
support effective technology management [10].
In advanced EW organizations conducting product R&D,
the typical technology management step of technology
acquisition is often replaced with R&D of the technology
required. Hence, the effective integration of technological
strategies into business strategy is a key success factor of
business planning.
TRM is a powerful, flexible yet intuitive technique used to
support strategic and long-term planning. The structured and
graphical approach allows for the strategic analysis of
relationships between evolving markets, products and
technologies over time [10].
Roadmaps may take various forms. The most widely used
format is the multi-layered roadmap. This is the most common
format of technology roadmap comprising several layers (and
sublayers), such as technology, product, and market. The
roadmap allows the evolution within each layer to be
explored, together with the interlayer dependencies,
facilitating the integration of technology into products,
services and business systems [10].
Fig. 2. Tecnhology Management Framework [10]

Fig. 3. Enhanced Technology Roadmap

 To conduct a strategic analysis of Industry 4.0 on EW, the
fast-start TRM method [10] is used with an enhancement to
the layers to include a capability layer shown in Fig. 3. The
roadmap contains multiple layers along the vertical axis and
depicts time along the horizontal axis.
The roadmap starts with the market trends and business
drivers layer. For civilian applications, market trends would
typically include trends in customer needs, competitors,
environment, and industry. In the context of military systems,
the market trends are extended to include trends in threats and
doctrine. Business drivers are typical objectives and strategies
of the business under assessment.
The next layer in the roadmap is an enhancement
introduced to include a capability layer. In the context of
military products, it is important to frame the analysis with
capability thinking as military users often integrate EW
products into broader capabilities to meet their needs [11].
The product layer includes products, services, applications
representing the customer-facing solutions to user needs. The
technology layer includes underlying technologies required
for products that are built or bought. The research layer
represents basic and applied research in both academic and
industrial contexts. Finally, the resource layer defines
underlying skills, facilities, partnerships, suppliers,
infrastructure, and funding.
Both technology push (divergent and looking for
opportunities) and market pull (aiming for a customer-defined
product) are graphically captured on the roadmap [11]. One of
the strengths of a roadmap is the freedom to allow abstract
thinking. Elements within each layer are described using
boxes with linkages between elements shown as dashed lines
that depict inter-dependency relationships between elements.
V. ELECTRONIC WARFARE IN INDUSTRY 4.0 ROADMAP
The effect of Industry 4.0 on EW is explored using the
enhanced roadmap shown in Fig. 4. The content in each layer
is not intended to be an exhaustive analysis but rather to
capture the key emergent trends and characteristics.
The Market Trends layer considers the battlespace,
including platforms, doctrine, and the environment. Future
platforms will comprise tightly integrated digital, analog,
physical, and human components and effectively be
considered CPS. Some trends in future platforms driven by
Industry 4.0 will include:
• Traditional military systems will continue to become
more sophisticated with 6th generation fighter aircraft,
Anti-Access Area Denial (A2/AD) weapon systems
and several unmanned drone concepts such as drones
supporting fighters, also known as the loyal wingman
and coordinated attacks using drone swarms. These
platforms will utilize advanced digital capabilities
configured for network-centric warfare and support the
usage of data to decision (D2D) capability. A2/AD
systems will evolve to become a family of systems for
multiple variants to support a range of conflict
situations [12].
While future platforms become more advanced, the
military doctrine accordingly will also advance to include:
• Smart industries will facilitate prototype warfare
which is a concept that non-traditional bespoke
systems and threats that are developed in rapidly
fielded small batches and are highly tailored systems
[13].
• Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) will drive
coordinated operations across land, air, sea, space, and
cyberspace and the EMS [1]. The current network-
centric warfare battlespace focuses on information
warfare which will further be enhanced to focus on
DCW.
The environment around EW products and organizations
is also changing:
• IoMT or The Internet of Battle Things (IoBT) is a
derivative of the commercial IoT and describes a future
battlespace where a complex network of
interconnected entities, or "things", in the military
domain that continually communicate with each other
to coordinate, learn, and interact with the physical
environment to accomplish a broad range of activities
in a more efficient and informed manner [14].
• The demand for more bandwidth due to exponentially
increasing data traffic by existing and emerging
wireless services and applications will further drive a
contested, congested, and shared spectrum [15].
Business drivers are typically driven by business strategy
and operations. These tend to be specific to companies and are
hence not expanded upon.
The Capability layer is employed here to show some of the
required EW functional capabilities. These are Offensive EA
such as Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and
Defensive EA such as self-protection; ES including Signals
Intelligence (SIGINT) and Threat Warning; EP including
Spectrum Management and Emission Control. This layer also
includes associated Command and Control.
The Product layer depicts trends in EW products:
• EA products will need to adaptive to the advanced
threats and shift towards cognitive in future with the
ability to learn and become smarter over time.
• ES products will leverage wideband channelized
digital receiver technology combining ESM and
SIGINT modes using super-resolution direction-
finding techniques. The shift to the future will also
include passive radar and cognitive modes.
• EP products will continue to leverage electromagnetic
battle management (EMBM) and will need to manage
spectrum in both civilian and defense sectors using
advanced spectrum sharing and integrate into
command and control such as mission support
systems.
• Future EW products will become increasingly multi-
functional catering for EA, ES and EP modes and be
grouped as family of systems.
• EW Modelling and Simulation products will continue
to grow in importance consisting of live virtual
constructive (LVC), digital twins, and wargaming
[16]. A similar trend is expected in EW Training, Test,
and Evaluation products. Finally, it is envisioned that
there will be a convergence between LVC, M&S,
Training, and T&E environments.
Fig. 4. EW In Industry 4.0 Roadmap
The Technology layer will be driven by underlying
technologies required by Industry 4.0:
• Processing technology will evolve from the current
field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based RF
System on Chip (SoC) to include digital front ends
(DFE) and ultimately Heterogeneous Computing.
Associated memory technologies will continue to
evolve such as Hybrid Memory Cube and High
Bandwidth Memory. Interface standards will evolve
from traditional VME and VPX systems to Open
Architectures. Antennas will focus on ultra-wideband
AESA using True Time Delay.
The Research layer includes several promising and emerging
fields, including Cognitive EW, Cyber EW, Multi-Functional
EW, Space EW, and Quantum EW. EW is inherently a
multidisciplinary field that will be influenced by research in
adjacent areas such as A.I, visualization, interoperability,
supercomputing, and multi-aperture antennas.
The Resources layer is derived from strategic resources that
support EW and includes [11].
• Military budgets are considered a good measure of the
relative importance of the defense sector by
governments. In addition to the absolute size, adequate
distribution towards R&D is required to support the
development of future EW products.
• Research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E)
RDT&E institutions will become one of the most
critical aspects of future military capability as the
battlespace becomes increasingly sophisticated.
• Industry from a military perspective has traditionally
been thought of from a defense industry perspective
but in Industry 4.0, the commercial technology
industry will lead with solutions in some cases.
• Human Resources have traditionally been thought of
in terms of size, but Industry 4.0 will drive expertise
and capability as the primary metric.
When assessing the TRM strategically, the emergent
properties of future EW products will be cognitive,
distributed, networked, coordinated, multi-spectral, reduced
size, weight, and power (SWAP), and modular using open
architectures.
VI. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a strategic analysis of the effect
of Industry 4.0 on EW using an enhanced TRM based on the
fast-start method that incorporates an additional military
capability layer. An analysis of trends, capability, product,
technology, research, and resources leads to an understanding
of both market pull and technology push effects.
We conclude the future EW products will need to operate
in a more complex multi-domain battlespace with contested,
congested, and shared spectrum and against sophisticated
traditional threats and ad-hoc bespoke non-traditional threats.
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Finally, we conclude that the emergent properties of future
EW products will be cognitive, distributed, networked,
coordinated, multi-spectral, reduced SWAP, and modular
using open architectures.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author thanks Dr. Kaven Naidoo, Mr. Brian
Burmeister, and Mr. Christo Cloete for their support.
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