Prediction of the electromagnetic interference due to antenna systems in non-metallic vessels

Electromagnetic interference is an important issue in naval platforms. It becomes a real challenge for a non-metallic vessel. In order to take the necessary measures against interference at an optimum level, one should predict quantitatively the degree of the interference that may be present. The main sources of the electromagnetic interference in the platforms are the antenna connected RF transmitters. They affect RF receivers through antenna-to-antenna coupling way and the rest of the low-level electronics through antenna-to-cable coupling way. In this paper, both coupling ways are investigated for a real non-metallic vessel. In the antenna-to-antenna coupling, the front-end burnout and the harmonic interference cases between HF and VHF radios are examined in detail. In the antenna-to-cable coupling part, the coupling from the HF transmitter to the various sensitive cables is considered. The effect of the surface transfer impedance and the terminal impedances on the coupling level is investigated for different cases.