Electromagnetic pulse events represent one of the more significant threats to electronic systems that defense and critical infrastructure applications need to prepare for. The ability of an EMP to induce damaging currents and voltages across electronic systems through both conducted and radiated coupling creates a failure mode that systems deployed in EMP-susceptible environments need to be designed and verified to resist.

EMP testing is the verification process that confirms a system or component meets the electromagnetic pulse hardness requirements of the applicable standard and that produces the technical documentation that defense procurement and critical infrastructure protection programs require as evidence of that compliance.

What EMP test standards actually require

The military standards that govern EMP hardness testing specify the field levels, the waveform characteristics, and the coupling methods that the test needs to replicate to represent the electromagnetic environment the standard is designed to address. MIL-STD-461 and the specific test methods within it address conducted and radiated electromagnetic emissions and susceptibility across the frequency ranges relevant to military system qualification.

The test facility that performs EMP testing to these standards needs the pulse generation equipment capable of producing the specified waveforms at the specified levels, a shielded enclosure that prevents external interference from affecting the test results, and a measurement and monitoring capability that documents both the test conditions achieved and the equipment's performance during and after exposure.

What facility capability determines

EMP testing at a facility without the specific equipment and shielding that the test methodology requires produces results that cannot be validated against the standard's requirements, regardless of what those results show. The test environment is as important as the test procedure, and the two together determine whether the data produced is technically defensible.

The documentation that supports defense procurement or critical infrastructure qualification needs to show not just what the test showed but that the test was conducted under conditions that satisfy the standard's requirements for how the test environment is constituted and verified.

What the report needs to contain

EMP test documentation that satisfies procurement review needs to capture the test setup configuration, the calibration status of the measurement equipment, the verification of the test conditions against the standard's requirements, and the equipment performance data across the full test sequence.

A test report that addresses all of those elements from a facility with appropriate accreditation is a report that supports the qualification claim it is intended to substantiate.

At Retlif Testing Laboratories, EMP testing is performed with the facility capability, technical rigor, and documentation standard that defense and critical infrastructure qualification programs specifically require.

The test that produces defensible results

EMP hardness testing that is performed correctly at a qualified facility produces qualification documentation worth having. The facility matters as much as the test.

This article's author is Ryan Seacrest. For additional information regarding EMP Testing please continue browsing our website at:retlif.com.