Electronic Military & Defense Annual Resource

4th Edition

Electronic Military & Defense magazine was developed for engineers, program managers, project managers, and those involved in the design and development of electronic and electro-optic systems for military, defense, and aerospace applications.

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glitches, dropouts, and brownouts must all be tested in a controlled environment. E l e c t r o m a g n e t i c compatibility refers to design philosophies that ensure a product is not interfered with by other products as a result of electromagnetic radiation or conduction. External electromagnetic radiation coming from another source must not cause a product to malfunction or affect its performance adversely. One military application for these EMI- clean environments is to examine what level of electromagnetic interference causes munition ordnance fuses and detonators to activate. EMI Blankets And Pouches Shielding material is also available in the form of blankets and large pouches. Blankets have been extremely valuable in Iraq and Afghanistan when placed over improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to prevent possible radio transmission detonation, as no signal can penetrate the blanket when thrown over a suspicious object. Blankets designed for this purpose can also incorporate anti-explosion technology, such as Kevlar layers, and can be weighted with water-absorbing granules. EMI shields in the form of large pouches are valuable for personnel working with cellular network installations. An EMI pouch can be placed over antennas on a cellphone tower to silence their transmissions while work is done on tuning and installing other antennas or determining the frequencies emitted by each antenna in turn. EMI protective shielding can also be "fashioned" into wearable clothing (Figure 2) for personnel working in high-radiation environments such as radar installations. EMI pouches (Figure 3) are also used to provide an RF-tight environment for military investigators capturing wireless communication devices such as cellphones, tablets, GPS units, and laptop computers. Designed to guarantee that internal cellphone and PC data is not compromised from the moment of capture, these pouches ensure that data cannot be changed or even erased by a single external call or text received to modify compromising information. A see-through window and a USB 2.0 connection on the EMI pouch provide fast and secure device manipulation for evidence collected in the field, since the window allows for phone keypad operation in the enclosed EMI-proof environment. Future Considerations As our dependence on electronics increases, the need to protect critical operational data, electronic equipment, and personnel should also increase. The threats discussed in this article can be averted with the proper electromagnetic shielding materials in the form of versatile, portable EMI enclosures, blankets, and clothing. Usable in shipboard environments as well as on land or inside buildings, quick-inflate enclosures provide the vital security needed for sensitive electronic equipment. Not only do air- inflated support beam tents provide the fastest set- up and strike time of any shelter, they minimize the manpower needed for setup. Finally, other uses of EMI material are invaluable when radio signals need to be silenced. Alan Lowne is British-born CEO of Saelig Company Inc., a distributor of unique test and measurement products sourced from around the world. After a career in electronics design for a multinational photographic company, he founded Saelig to import, market, and technically support products not previously available to American engineers. Technology Figure 3: Lightweight forensic pouch Electronic Military & Defense Annual Resource, 4th Edition 24 Figure 2: EMI/RFI clothing

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