MOBILE AUTOMATED HIGH POWER MICROWAVE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM

THE ADVENT OF MULTI-HZ REP-RATED HPM SOURCES FOR EFFECTS TESTING PLACES SEVERE DEMANDS ON HPM DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS, ESPECIALLY IN FIELD USE. INCREASED EMPHASIS ON HIGH SHOT RATES AND THE DIFFICULTY OF QUICKLY SETTING UP AND DEBUGGING THE NECESSARY DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENTATION RESULTS IN FIELD EXPERIMENTS THAT OFTEN RECORD ONLY THE MOST BASIC DIAGNOSTIC INFORMATION, SUCH AS POWER DENSITY ENVELOPE AND FREQUENCY MEASURED ONLY OVER A NARROW TIME WINDOW. FAR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION IS NEEDED FOR IMPROVED QUALITY SUSCEPTIBILITY STUDIES. DUE TO RECENT ADVANCES IN INSTRUMENTATION, NEW OPPORTUNITIESFOR IMPROVEMENTS EXIST. WE PROPOSE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE, SELF-CONTAINED, AUTOMATED HPM DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM, INCORPORATING STATE-OF-THE-ART BROADBAND DIAGNOSTIC SENSORS, SIGNAL PROCESSING METHODS MAXIMIZING INFORMATION CONTENT, AND A NOVEL COMPUTERCONTROLLED RF SWITCHING SYSTEM ALLOWING DYNAMIC "REWIRING" OF THE DIAGNOSTIC PACKAGE, EVEN BETWEEN PULSES OF MULTI-HZ RATES. SOPHISTICATED SOFTWARE, MAKING FULL USE OF COMPUTER CONTROLLED DIAGNOSTICS AND USER-SUPPLIED HPM DEVICE INFORMATION, WILL ACQUIRE, ARCHIVE, REDUCE, AND DISPLAY DATA IN A MANNER MAXIMIZING BOTH QUALITY AND TIMELINESS OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE TEST OPERATOR, AND PROVIDING SIGNIFICANT ASSISTANCE IN CONDUCT OF THE TEST.