Modeling electromagnetic disturbances in closed-loop computer controlled flight systems

High intensity electromagnetic radiation has been demonstrated to be a source of computer upsets in commercially available digital flight control systems. In this paper we introduce an electromagnetic disturbance model which can be used for stability analysis and augmentation of any such digitally implemented control law. The model is composed of a Markovian exosystem supplying radiation events to a discrete-time jump linear system which models how the radiation interferes with the nominal operation of the closed-loop system. We discuss how this model can be used to characterize stability and how it can be parametrized and validated in an experimental setting