Experimental studies and analysis on IEMI source, field propagation and IEMI coupling to power utility system

Abstract

Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI) is one of the applications of High Power Electromagnetics (HPEM) for causing intentional interference in military targets such as C4I (Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence) targets and segments of civilian systems like critical VSAT’s (Very Small Aperture Terminals), power grid and communication network, weather and air-traffic control radars, etc. HPEM essentially consists of generation of intense electromagnetic waves either as High Power Microwave (HPM) or Ultra Wide Band (UWB) waves to cause electromagnetic interference. High power UWB electromagnetic waves are promising candidate for IEMI application. One such UWB source, developed for the purpose of radiating high intensity, fast rise time, short pulses, is the Half Impulse Radiating Antenna (HIRA) system, which covers a frequency range from 100MHz to 6 GHz. In this paper, radiation characteristics of UWB source like electric field in both boresight and off-boresight, far field boundary and radiation pattern were studied. The UWB pulse dispersion through civil infrastructure and their coupling to power cables were studied computationally and validated experimentally.