Computer-aided Design (CAD) Tool for Modeling of High-Power Electromagnetic Interference (HPEMI) Effects on Conductive Paths

ABSTRACT: Data integrity is essential for accurate and deterministic decision making in diverse military and commercial digital systems, and the most common cause of electronic data corruption for many of these systems is electromagnetic interference (EMI). Unexpected and unmitigated EMI, especially from high power systems (HPEMI), can cause deleterious effects ranging from subtly incorrect calculations to catastrophic systems failures. To reduce overall design cost due to re-spins, design tools are required to support HPEMI immunity studies at the initial stages of the design. We propose to develop a cable and printed circuit board (PCB) design and routing tool coupled to multi-transmission line (MTL), circuit, and EMI field simulation tools to model the effect of HPEMI on system designs. Our tool will enable end-to-end analysis within a graphical computer-aided design (CAD) tool, and will provide rapid, interactive feedback about routing choices during the design process. Coupling fast simulation and analysis tools with an interactive graphical interface will reduce the time spent in design while increasing the overall accuracy of the resulting model. BENEFIT: This project will develop a fast high power electromagnetic interference (HPEMI) multi-transmission line (MTL) simulator with a seamless interface to the Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE). The system will include a computer-aided design (CAD) interface capable of editing the designs mechanical properties and displaying simulation results in near real time. This tool will benefit the military by enabling accurate prediction of electromagnetic interference (EMI) and HPEMI effects on foreign or domestic electronics systems, and will benefit military as well as civilian system designers by guiding them to appropriate levels of shielding and protection to avoid undesired EMI/HPEMI effects. Having an interactive design tool to predict effects in near real time will shorten development times and reduce the costs of the resulting systems.