Susceptibility of Two Deployable C4I Systems to HPM – Improvement by Hardening

Abstract

This report deals with high power microwave (HPM) vulnerability tests on two generations of configurable military IT network communication systems. The tests have been conducted within joint actions in two NATO RTO Task Groups. The systems based on state-of-the-art Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) components have been adapted to the military environment with boxes, connectors, data cables and power supplies hardened in various ways. The investigation of susceptibility thresholds at Fraunhofer INT has been done in its TEM waveguide which allows the generation of field strengths up to some kV/m, depending on location of test objects. We find that besides the use of shielded data cables the application of state-of-the-art electrical equipment protection implemented in the second generation communication network system allows avoiding severe system failures due to HPM irradiation.