Automated Analysis of RF Effects Data

ABSTRACT: Emerging Directed Energy weapon systems are particularly attractive to Combat Commanders due to their graduated effects, light-speed propagation, minimum collateral damage and deep magazines relative to kinetic weaponry. There are multiple efforts within the military which aim to demonstrate the efficacy of this technology. Yet, the infrastructure to support DEW strike packages is only a fraction of that relegated to conventional kinetic munitions. In particular, there is a need to improve the state-of-the-art in HPM/RF waveform selection through increased knowledge of target phenomenology, such that the optimal waveform is utilized in mission scenarios against a specific class, or classes, of targets The Phase I effort established the feasibility and utility of analyzing unintended emissions of electronic devices to optimize HPM/RF DEW waveforms. The researched technique provides a fundamentally new approach to HPM/RF waveform testing rather than an incremental benefit and is particularly well suited to automation. The Phase II effort therefore seeks to formalize the Phase I test technique through the development of an automated laboratory tool. The developed test tool will be inherently low-cost, requiring little more than typical laboratory RF test equipment, and rely primarily on a novel exploitation of measured RF effect phenomena from the targeted device. BENEFIT: The proposed system has direct application to Department of Defense for counter-electronics and counter-HPM testing as well as the commercial EMI/RFI community. For the military community, the system provides a fundamentally new mechanism to determine device susceptibility, offering a wealth of data which may be exploited to provide a greater effectiveness for DEW waveforms at a given power level. This increased effectiveness is easily translated into a reduced size, weight or power of the weapon system, expanding the options for weapon platforms and concepts of operation. Commercial laboratories will be provided an additional mechanism to determine the EMI/RFI compliance of critical components in aerospace, aviation and industrial safety. The inherent low-cost of an automated laboratory system, coupled with the fundamentally new approach offered, promises a lowered barrier for market penetration of the developed product.