Reconfiguration of Personal Computers' Internal Equipment for Improved Protection Against Penetrating EM Pulses

Abstract

In this paper a thorough investigation of EM pulse penetration into personal computers through intended apertures (CD ROM, floppy drive) is achieved using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. Electric field distribution on the mainboard and CPU is obtained for different incident wave polarizations and different orientations of internal equipment. It has been shown that by altering conventional orientation of internal boards, the configuration of CPU cooling system and optimizing the implementation of intended apertures, the maximum amplitude of induced electric field on the mainboard can be reduced and a smoother field distribution will be achieved. It is observed that the tangential component of induced electric field due to external radiation on the CPU in the optimized configuration will be half as much as that of conventional case boxes.