Dynamic Analysis of the Parallel-Plate EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) Simulator Using a Wire Mesh Approximation and the Numerical Electromagnetics Code

摘要

The Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) produced by a high-altitude nuclear blast presents a severe threat to electronic systems due to its extreme characteristics. To test the vulnerability of large systems, such as airplanes, missiles, or satellites, they must be subjected to a simulated EMP environment. One type of simulator that has been used to approximate the EMP environment is the Large Parallel-Plate Bounded-Wave Simulator. It is a guided wave simulator which has properties of transmission line and supports a single TEM model at sufficiently low frequencies. This type of simulator consists of finite-width parallel-plate waveguides, which are excited by a wave launcher and terminated by a wave receptor. This study addresses the field distribution within a finite-width parallel-plate waveguide that is matched to a conical tapered waveguide at either end. Characteristics of a parallel-plate bounded-wave EMP simulator were developed using scattering theory, thin-wire mesh approximation of the conducting surfaces, and the Numerical Electronics Code (NEC). Background is provided for readers to use the NEC as a tool in solving thin-wire scattering problems.