Electromagnetic coupling paths evaluated from inside a commercial aircraft

In 1995, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Technical Center's Aircraft Security Research and Development (R&D) Department initiated a Research Grant with Veda Incorporated to investigate aircraft avionics' response to onboard intentional electromagnetic interference (EMI). Many organizations have performed applicable research in areas similar to this goal however, several basic questions about coupling remain unanswered. This paper presents a method which was used to evaluate coupling paths and potential mitigation techniques between onboard radio frequency (RF) transmitters located inside a commercial aircraft passenger compartment and the aircraft RF receivers, cables and avionics racks.