Frequency Hopping The Patent Wiring Diagrams

Following the outbreak of World War II, Hedy Lamarr, as a passionate opponent of the Nazis, wanted to contribute more than just propaganda to the Allied effort. As Mrs. Fritz Mandl, the wife of a leading arms manufacturer, she had been able to observe close-up the planning that went into the design of remote-controlled torpedoes. These had never gone into production, though, because the radio-controlled guidance system had proved to be too susceptible to disruption. She then got the idea of distribution the torpedo guidance signal over several frequencies to thus protect it from enemy jamming. Since the mid-1930s, engineers in the field of military technology had been working on the problem of remote-controlled torpedo guidance via radio. A torpedo had a very low degree of accuracy in those days. Once it was fired, its path could not be adjusted; torpedoes were often steered off course by sea currents or missed their targets due to evasive maneuvers by the ships at which they had been fired. Several torpedoes usually had to be launched in order to score a hit. Indeed, the remote-controlled guidance of torpedoes via radio was technically feasible; nevertheless, the guidance signal was easy to pick up and had proved in practice to be too susceptible to enemy jamming.

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