Role of EMC in packaging of electronic warfare systems

The extensive application of EM spectrum to communication, radar, and navigation provided the armed forces with powerful tools. Radio communication provided coordination amongst forces. Radio navigation gave accurate location of the deployed forces and radar performed surveillance of the battle to verify force deployments and detect hostile forces. The EM spectrum is so extensively exploited, that today without its use, the survivability of armed forces is jeopardized. In the military sector the efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum - from extremely long waves up into the region of light waves - is forever increasing importance in the command and control of modern armed forces and for conducting successful operations. The critical dependence of the military command process on radio emissions makes it vulnerable, because radio emissions can in principle be intercepted by a potential adversary, analyzed for his purposes and used or countered to his own advantage. The requirement here, therefore, is to protect the frequency spectrum used by one's own command, control and information systems against interference by a potential adversary and to have the capability of deriving information by surveillance of the frequency spectrum used by the opponent or, depending on where the greater tactical advantage lies, of denying him use of it. This is the broad outline of electronic warfare or EW. Electronic warfare equipment requires the state-of-the-art subsystems or systems and a high degree of packaging because of the extremes of unknown and known variables encountered while in operation. Packaging the entire system into a modular form to facilitate easy replaceability is the present trend. This involves partitioning of the design into various modules. It is at this stage that the designer is faced with problems of interfacing and interference -electromagnetic interference (EMI). This paper presents some of the aspects that can reduce the electromagnetic interference (EMI) and provide electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) amongst various modules.