BEIJING - Since they debuted in World War I, military radios have played a vital role in sending strategic messages via electromagnetic waves, but it has always been a deadly game of hide-and-seek, Stephen Chen reports for the South China Morning Post. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
11 July 2025 - The SCMP, a Hong Kong-based, English-language news organization, reports that mainland Chinese researchers have developed a novel communication system that may allow military platforms, such as tanks, warships, and aircraft, to transmit data without emitting detectable signals. This could make units effectively invisible to electronic warfare surveillance. Described by one expert as "telepathy," the technology enables secure, high-speed communication while maintaining complete radio silence.
The system, led by Liu Kaiyu of the Aerospace Information Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, uses a "smart surface" made of hundreds of programmable metamaterial tiles. When illuminated by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites like Gaofen-3 or Ludi Tance 1, the tiles switch between "on" (0° phase) and "off" (180° phase) states. This modulates the radar echoes to encode messages, allowing passive data transmission at rates up to 127 kilobits per second, comparable to NATO's Link 16 network.
To address technical challenges, Liu's team developed adaptive algorithms that boost signal-to-noise ratios by 300 percent, enabling signals to cut through urban clutter and sea-surface backscatter. Inertial sensors and autofocus software counteract signal distortion from ship movement. Tests simulating Sea State 4 conditions maintained a bit error rate of just 0.77 percent and kept radar image degradation under 10 percent.
Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
