Instrumentation configurations for the performance of EMP test procedures

The authors briefly review the details associated with EMP hardness test procedures in MIL-STD-188-125 (draft) and MIL-STD-461C/462. These tests are important to nuclear weapon effects engineers because they simulate the stress of an electromagnetic pulse which a military electronics system will experience. Included are details of the equipment configurations for the tests, a discussion of the areas where caution should be exercised in order to obtain valid results, and descriptions of lessons learned during the conduct of actual test programs. The radiated susceptibility procedures of MIL-STD-461C/462 simulate the EMP threat to the entire system or subsystem and the conducted susceptibility procedures inject transient pulses on the wires and cables. The test methods of MIL-STD-188-125 (draft) address HEMP hardness testing of ground based Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence (C⁴I) facilities. These published EMP standard procedures are used to develop acceptance and verification test plans tailored to stress the equipment under test in a configuration which is close to that found on the battlefield