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The first hypothesis of U.S. intelligence about what happened to the flight MH-17 dropped in eastern Ukraine point to a kill by mistake.

It would not be the only case in the history of air navigation in a civilian plane is shot down for no apparent reason.

To avoid confusion that can be fatal and rule out possible threats in cases where it does not work the routine identification of aircraft, an engineer in Telecommunications from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) is doing a doctoral thesis at the Laboratory of Electronic Warfare and Detectability National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) to non cooperative targets identification.

The UPCT alumna Patricia Rodríguez López explains that "the target identification is usually done cooperatively by the secondary radar (SSR-Secondary Surveillance Radar) in civil matters or IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) in the military .

These radar systems are called cooperative target because cooperation is necessary for identification.

Its operation is based on sending an encrypted signal known only to friendly craft.

Therefore, if the ship is a friend you can decrypt the signal and return to the base station the right answer.

Otherwise, the ship is classified as hostile or neutral. "

However, situations in which these radar systems are not sufficient, because "the answer may be that the aircraft is lost, the signal is sent incorrectly or even turn off the devices" are given, exemplifies.

"Hence the need to seek alternative identification where no communication is required with white," he adds.

The non-cooperative identification techniques are based on the use of a high resolution radar signal.

"With this type of signals is not white as a point, as we used to see on the displays of radar, but the signal is dispersed as they bounce off each part of the aircraft (nose, wings, engines ) and reaching the base station is a radar signature information on the size and shape of the aircraft.

Applying certain algorithms to compare these radar signatures with a database is possible to identify the type of aircraft, "concludes Murcia PhD.

Source: UPCT