PC-BASED SYSTEM FOR THE RAPID DETERMINATION OF HPM TESTING FIDELITY IN ANECHOIC CHAMBER ENVIRONMENTS

NEXT GENERATION HPM SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTS WILL INVOLVE SIGNIFICANTLY LARGER TEST OBJECTS AND ANECHOIC CHAMBERS THAN THOSE PRESENTLY USED. WHILE ACCEPTABLE TEST FIDELITY REQUIRES ACCURATE SIMULATION OF BATTLEFIELD-LIKE IRRADIATION CONDITIONS, ITS ACHIEVEMENT, PARTICULARLY UNIFORM PLANE-WAVE ILLUMINATION, BECOMES SUBSTANTIALLY MORE DIFFICULT FOR LARGE, COMPLEX TARGETS, I.E., THOSE WITH EXTENDED CROSS-SECTIONS AND MULTIPLE POES, SUCH AS AIRCRAFT. THESE PROBLEMS, EXACERBATED BY LIMITED ANTENNA-TARGET SEPARATION AND POOR LOW FREQUENCY ABSORBER PERFORMANCE, MUST BE ADDRESSED DAILY BY TEST PERSONNEL. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE, PC-BASED PROGRAM WHICH WILL INCORPORATE COMPARTMENTALIZED, SELF-CONTAINED ROUTINES FOR NEAR-FIELD ANTENNA RADIATION, TEST OBJECT SCATTERING, ABSORBER SCATTERING, AND SITUATION ANALYSIS. BY USING A NOVEL TECHNIQUE INVOLVING FAST LOOK-UP IN A PRE-COMPUTED LIBRARY/DATABASE, THE PROBLEM'S MOST TIME-INTENSIVE PART, TEST-OBJECT SCATTERING, IS GREATLY SIMPLIFIED, THEREBY ALLOWING EXTRAORDINARILY RAPID DETERMINATION OF THE FIDELITY OF A BROAD CLASS OF TESTS. TEST FIDELITY WILL BE EVALUATED AS A FUNCTION OF: (1) RELEVANT HPM SOURCE AND ANTENNA PARAMETERS; (2) PLACEMENT, ORIENTATION, AND NATURE OF THE TEST OBJECT; AND (3) CHARACTERISTICS OF ABSORBING MATERIAL LINING CHAMBER WALLS. USING CODE-PRODUCED FIGURES-OF-MERIT, TEST CONDUCT PERSONNEL WILL, FOR THE FIRST TIME, MONITOR AND QUANTIFY ACCEPTABILITY OF IN-PROCESS TESTS IN REAL TIME.