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Lieutenant General
wow look at the size
China’s new antenna is five times the size of New York City, but some fear it could be a cancer risk
PUBLISHED : Monday, 31 December, 2018, 10:41am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 01 January, 2019, 1:11am
The Wireless Electromagnetic Method (WEM) project took 13 years to build but researchers said that it was finally ready to emit extremely low frequency radio waves, also known as ELF waves. Those waves have been linked to cancer by the World Health Organisation-affiliated International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Although the project has civilian applications – officially it will be used for earthquake and mineral detection and forms part of – it could also play a crucial role in military communications.
Scientists said that its transmissions could be picked up by a submarine lurking hundreds of metres under the sea, thus reducing the vessel’s risk of having to resurface to receive transmissions.
The project follows the construction of China’s first military-grade Super Low Frequency transmission station in 2009.
The next year, a Chinese nuclear submarine successfully communicated with the station from deep water – making China the third country in the world to have established such a submarine communication system, after the United States and Russia.
But the Chinese navy is eager to expand its capacity and has been pouring resources into the more advanced ELF radio technology, which allows submarines to communicate with the command centre from a greater depth and is harder to disrupt.
The Chinese government, however, has played down the importance of the facility, which occupies some 3,700 sq km (1,400 square miles) of land, in information released to the public.
Apart from the need to protect an important strategic asset, some researchers said that the secrecy was to avoid causing public alarm.
The antenna would emit ELF signals with a frequency of between 0.1 to 300 hertz, the researchers said.
The exact site of the facility has not been disclosed, but information available in Chinese research journals suggests it is in the Huazhong region, an area in central China that includes Hubei, Henan and Hunan provinces and is home to more than 230 million people – greater than the population of Brazil.
Project WEM’s main surface structure is a pair of high voltage power supply lines stretching from north to south, east to west on steel lattice towers, which form a cross that is 60km (37 miles) wide and 80km to 100km (50 to 62 miles) long.
At the end of each power line, thick copper wire goes underground through a deep borehole. Two power stations generate strong currents and electrify the ground in slow, repeating pulses, turning the earth underfoot into an active source of electromagnetic radiation.
The radio pulses not only pass through the atmosphere, but travel through the Earth’s crust as well, with a range of up to 3,500km (almost 2,200 miles), according to the project scientists.
A sensitive receiver within that range, which is roughly the distance between China and Singapore or Guam, would be able to pick up these signals.
The closer to the power source, the stronger the pulses.
The radar will be difficult for spy satellites to detect because it will appear no different to an ordinary power grid, although a radar expert said it might be possible to detect its emissions and use those to determine the location.
The inland location of the new facility would also make it harder for an enemy to attack, compared with a facility located on the coast.
Though I am involved in the project I have no idea where it is
CHEN XIAOBIN, RESEARCHER AT CHINA EARTHQUAKE ADMINISTRATION
Chen Xiaobin, a researcher with the Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, who has been working on the project, said he did not know its exact location because that information needed a high level of security clearance.
“This facility will have important military uses if a war breaks out … Though I am involved in the project, I have no idea where it is. It should be up and running by now,” he said.
Lu Jianxun, the chief scientist on the project, also leads a key communication programme at the PLA Naval Command, according to information on Chinese government websites.
The construction work was led by 724 Research Institute under the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, which is a major supplier of communications and electronic warfare equipment to the Chinese navy.
China’s new antenna is five times the size of New York City, but some fear it could be a cancer risk
- Work to build facility was 13 years in the making, but some researchers have expressed concern about exposure to extremely low frequency waves
- Project WEM will be able to communicate with submarines under the water, reducing need for them to surface
PUBLISHED : Monday, 31 December, 2018, 10:41am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 01 January, 2019, 1:11am
The Wireless Electromagnetic Method (WEM) project took 13 years to build but researchers said that it was finally ready to emit extremely low frequency radio waves, also known as ELF waves. Those waves have been linked to cancer by the World Health Organisation-affiliated International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Although the project has civilian applications – officially it will be used for earthquake and mineral detection and forms part of – it could also play a crucial role in military communications.
Scientists said that its transmissions could be picked up by a submarine lurking hundreds of metres under the sea, thus reducing the vessel’s risk of having to resurface to receive transmissions.
The project follows the construction of China’s first military-grade Super Low Frequency transmission station in 2009.
The next year, a Chinese nuclear submarine successfully communicated with the station from deep water – making China the third country in the world to have established such a submarine communication system, after the United States and Russia.
But the Chinese navy is eager to expand its capacity and has been pouring resources into the more advanced ELF radio technology, which allows submarines to communicate with the command centre from a greater depth and is harder to disrupt.
The Chinese government, however, has played down the importance of the facility, which occupies some 3,700 sq km (1,400 square miles) of land, in information released to the public.
Apart from the need to protect an important strategic asset, some researchers said that the secrecy was to avoid causing public alarm.
The antenna would emit ELF signals with a frequency of between 0.1 to 300 hertz, the researchers said.
The exact site of the facility has not been disclosed, but information available in Chinese research journals suggests it is in the Huazhong region, an area in central China that includes Hubei, Henan and Hunan provinces and is home to more than 230 million people – greater than the population of Brazil.
Project WEM’s main surface structure is a pair of high voltage power supply lines stretching from north to south, east to west on steel lattice towers, which form a cross that is 60km (37 miles) wide and 80km to 100km (50 to 62 miles) long.
At the end of each power line, thick copper wire goes underground through a deep borehole. Two power stations generate strong currents and electrify the ground in slow, repeating pulses, turning the earth underfoot into an active source of electromagnetic radiation.
The radio pulses not only pass through the atmosphere, but travel through the Earth’s crust as well, with a range of up to 3,500km (almost 2,200 miles), according to the project scientists.
A sensitive receiver within that range, which is roughly the distance between China and Singapore or Guam, would be able to pick up these signals.
The closer to the power source, the stronger the pulses.
The radar will be difficult for spy satellites to detect because it will appear no different to an ordinary power grid, although a radar expert said it might be possible to detect its emissions and use those to determine the location.
The inland location of the new facility would also make it harder for an enemy to attack, compared with a facility located on the coast.
Though I am involved in the project I have no idea where it is
CHEN XIAOBIN, RESEARCHER AT CHINA EARTHQUAKE ADMINISTRATION
Chen Xiaobin, a researcher with the Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, who has been working on the project, said he did not know its exact location because that information needed a high level of security clearance.
“This facility will have important military uses if a war breaks out … Though I am involved in the project, I have no idea where it is. It should be up and running by now,” he said.
Lu Jianxun, the chief scientist on the project, also leads a key communication programme at the PLA Naval Command, according to information on Chinese government websites.
The construction work was led by 724 Research Institute under the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, which is a major supplier of communications and electronic warfare equipment to the Chinese navy.
