Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse (NEMP)—A Threat to Electronics

Abstract

The paper generally reviews the basic physics, generation and mitigation techniques as applied to Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) due to nuclear weapon explosion. EMP is generated due to all the three types of nuclear burst effects e g (a) surface burst (b) atmospheric burst and (c) Exo-atmospheric burst. The damaging effect of EMP is felt in the sophisticated electronic systems because of shortest possible rise time and high amplitude of the EMP pulse. However, the basic Electromagnetic interference hardening and protection techniques can be applied to the system design as a starting point. The mitigation techniques are usually different in different situations. The paper deals with some of the protection concepts which can be applied to arrest the EMP coupling to the electronic systems. An attempt is made here to highlight the EMP effects in our context and to identify the electronics systems that require to be protected against the same.

Indexing terms:

• NEMP
• EMP effects