Microwave Interaction With a Personal Computer: Experiment and Modeling
Joe Lo Vetri, Anne-Kathrin Wilbers, A.P.M. Zwamborn · 1999
In this paper we present both experimental and numerical modeling results for the microwave interaction with and upset of a typical Personal Computer (PC) system. For the experimental investigation, a PC running a popular spreadsheet package was exposed to microwave energy in the frequency range of 1-4 GHz. The experiments were conducted inside an anechoic chamber using a stepped-frequency microwave generator. A wideband horn antenna was used as the radiator and the frequency was stepped from the lowest frequency to the highest while the operation of the PC was monitored. Simple, but computationally intensive, hard-disk read-write operations were being executed by the PC. Various polarizations and angles of incidence of the radiation were tested. Disruption of the PC occurred at several distinct frequencies, but not for all polarizations, which are believed to be the resonant frequencies of the PC enclosure. In order to confirm this, the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique was used to model the coupling on a simplified geometry of the problem. The modeling results confirm that indeed the coupling to various printed circuit board (PCB) lines placed inside the enclosure occurs predominantly at certain frequencies associated with the resonant frequencies of the PC enclosure. The predicted coupling is also found to vary considerably with the polarization of the incident field.