RHOMBIC ANTENNA THEORY AS AN APPROACH TO DETERMINING THE R-F SUSCEPTIBILITY OF ELECTRO-EXPLOSIVE DEVICES

A novel technique for determining the RF susceptibility of electroexplosive devices is presented. The technique is general enough to be of value in any case where the electroexplosive device may be considered to be part of a rhombic ANTENNA CIRCUIT. An artificial index of the relative sensitivities of antennas, called the configuration index, is discussed. This quantity is easily calculable knowing the geometry of the antenna and the frequency of the impinging radiation. Using the configuration index, graphs may be drawn from empirical data of the index vs power density for a no-fire condition at any frequency. From these graphs, the safe separation distance of electroexplosive devices from the RF source may be determined for rhombic circuits.