Modeling of radio-frequency effects on a microcontroller

The question of how a high-power RF pulse may affect a digital system such as a PC or an electronic control unit for a vehicle has become more important as sources of electromagnetic interference proliferate. The task of building a model for such an interaction is extremely challenging, requiring us to incorporate propagation and coupling of the electromagnetic fields, as well as circuit and system level effects. Rather than address this problem in its entirety, we choose to restrict our focus to a simpler system, specifically a microcontroller, and to RF waveforms directly injected into a set of signal lines. In this paper we will describe an integrated experimental and theoretical investigation of RF effects on n 8051-family microcontroller. We will describe our approach and present results from experimental investigations as well as a model for the probability of effect for an RF signal injected into signal lines carrying arbitrary logic pulse trains. Finally, we will describe how our results shed light on the broader problem of predicting the response of a general digital system to a high-power electromagnetic waveform.