The Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and its Effects on Systems

It can be seen that the EMP environment generated by a nuclear weapon burst can be large in amplitude, cover a wide frequency spectrum and have a large radius-of-effect. The system response is seen to be a total system response not understandable on a component basis alone. Analytical techniques are available for predicting these system effects. Tests are used to validate the analysis and to verify hardness conclusions. Quality control techniques are important. Setting up the quality control program is a difficult but rewarding task. EMP hardening techniques are discussed with some remarks on the limitations of some of the techniques. Finally, assessment of the force is discussed including the problem of error analysis, statistical sampling, and combination of the test and analysis data.