Damage prediction of RF system affected by electromagnetic pulse

Abstract

RF system plays an important role in many applications such as military, telecommunication and etc. Especially an antenna used in the RF system is essential in modern society because it transmits and receives a variety of information by wireless. However it is susceptible to unwished microwaves such as noise and electromagnetic shock wave. Compared to the conventional microwave, electromagnetic shock wave can reach up to 100 MW in peak power and span within the range of frequencies between 1 and 300 GHz, which could destroy the electronic equipment. Therefore it is important to analyze the damage of the RF system affected by electromagnetic shock wave. The damage of RF system falls into four types: (1) Deception, (2) Jamming, (3) Upset, (4) Burnout. Among these, the burnout, which means physical damage to RF system, is fatal. There are two main coupling paths in microwave couplings. One is the front-door coupling which is through intentional receptors such as antennas and sensors and the other is the back-door coupling which is through apertures intended for other purposes or incidental coupling to the construction of the target system such as seams, cracks and etc. The former could strongly give affection the target. In this paper, we predict damages of the radar system by electromagnetic shock wave. Main damage type considered is the burnout and only the front-door coupling is covered. It is simulated from electromagnetic shock wave propagation to coupling the radar system via circuit modeling method. We modeled the equivalent circuit for antenna and sub-electronic equipment. The energy induced by electromagnetic shock wave through antenna flows to weak parts of the radar system. The affected parts are analyzed by EMTP (Electro Magnetic Transient Program). Using the damage prediction, the protection plans can be established.