But while the key eastern military bases are unaffected at first, gradually the signals navigate the complex terrain, reflecting like mirrors off slopes and scattering across rough surfaces.
Eventually, they cross the peaks to blanket the entire island and its surrounding waters. Signals in parts of eastern Taiwan could rival the strength of those in the west. Even distant Taipei detects disturbances, though some shielded valleys remain signal-free – potential hideouts that require vigilance.
This war game scenario is played out in an ultra-detailed simulation that for the first time covers a vast theatre spanning Taiwan and adjacent seas, modelling intricate landforms with nanosecond-level precision.
The simulation was created by an electromagnetic battlespace emulator built by a team of researchers led by professor Shao Shihai from the University of Electronic Science and Technology in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan.
“This method significantly improves computational speed while maintaining precision and high time-delay resolution,” they wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published by the Chinese-language Journal of Electronics & Information Technology in March.
“[It] fulfils the computational requirements for channel modelling in large-scale battlefield environments,” they added.
