Special coupling effects of UWB pulses to short signal traces

Ultra wideband (UWB) pulses cover a large frequency range up to several GHz, thus they are able to cause malfunctions or even destructions of complex electronic systems. Previous investigations of the coupling effects of fast transient pulses to complex electronic systems have shown, that increasing system dimensions lead to an increased coupling efficiency. This statement seems to be universally applicable for all electronic systems, but susceptibility measurements of a generic microcontroller board with UWB pulses show surprisingly different results. In this contribution, this effect is investigated by measurements and numerical methods. Measurement results of the generic microcontroller board are presented as well as numerical results of the coupling behavior of different fast transient pulses to short PCB traces. Furthermore, the results of both measurement and numerical methods are compared to each other.