The RF front-end is a very vulnerable part of the coupling paths that are induced by a high power electromagnetic (HPEM) pulse. Existing studies found through experiment or simulation that low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) often break down or are damaged, which causes the malfunction of the RF front-end. To protect the RF front-end, the damage process of LNAs based on theory is required in detail. This paper summarizes the damage process, and a new library is developed describing the damage phenomenon of LNAs by using user-defined elements. The model can be combined with other circuit models, and can also offer variation of the internal parameters of LNAs by HPEM pulse. Existing physical protection methods have high costs and complexity, and it is difficult to provide perfect protection. Thus, the proposed model can contribute to protection studies utilizing a circuit model.

To protect the RF front end from electronic warfare, many studies have focused on damage phenomena of the low-noise amplifiers (LNAs). Existing studies have focused on the damage points of semiconductor devices because the peripheral circuit elements of LNAs are less susceptible to breakdown than nonlinear elements. However, their theoretical analysis is insufficient to explain the damage mechanism of LNAs under conditions such as changes in input power, frequency, and design parameters. To analyze the relationship between damage rate and parameters of the peripheral circuit of an LNA, this paper proposes a new definition of the power absorbed to a nonlinear element when input power to an LNA is very high by high-power electromagnetic pulses. In addition, LNAs having different input impedances and output impedances are designed to verify the power absorption. From the results, this paper identified parameters that increase the damage rate of LNAs, and suggested designs to reduce the damage rate.

The risk of high power electromagnetic (HPEM) pulse is dramatically increasing as the output of HPEM pulse increases and the affected electronic devices becomes smaller [1], [2]. There are largely two ways of coupling HPEM pulse: 1) front door coupling, which is through antennas and sensors to receive signals and 2) back-door coupling, which is through an unintended way, such as punctures and slots. In this paper, we modeled the loss phenomenon of HPEM pulse which happens when HPEM pulse radiated from HPEM system propagates to the receiving antenna. The loss circuit consists of serial-parallel resistors, each value of resistor is formularized as distance. Our modeling consists of two parts: 1) one-stage model, which means initial value for various applications and 2) nth-stage model, which means additional distances. Therefore, we could figure out the effect of HPEM on antenna as the propagation distance changes. After the due simulations, we confirm our hypothesis as the HPEM pulse which reaches to receiving antenna is consistent with the existing theory. This circuit modeling is very remarkable in that it understands two different HPEM system and propagation/receiving antenna as one whole system.

A ring reflector was experimentally investigated using an axial virtual cathode oscillator (vircator). The ring reflector was installed behind the mesh anode of the axial vircator to enhance the microwave power output by forming a resonant cavity and increasing the electron beam to microwave energy conversion efficiency. The optimum position of the ring reflector is analyzed through simulations and experiments by varying the anode to reflector distance from 6 mm to 24 mm in 3 mm steps. PIC simulations show that the ring reflector enhances the microwave power of the axial vircator up to 220%. Experiments show that the microwave power from the axial vircator without the ring reflector is 11.22 MW. The maximum average peak microwave power of the axial vircator with the ring reflector is 25.82 MW when the anode to ring reflector distance is 18 mm. From the simulations and experiments, it can be seen that the ring reflector yields decaying enhancement that is inversely proportional to the anode to ring reflector distance and there is no noticeable microwave enhancement after 24 mm. The frequency range attained from the simulations and experiments is 5.8 to 6.7 GHz and 5.16 to 5.8 GHz, respectively. The difference between the simulation and experimental results is due to the error in the anode to cathode gap distance. Although the frequency is slightly changed, the ring reflector seems to have no influence on the frequency of the generated microwave.

In a magnetic pulse compressor (MPC), the saturation inductance of the magnetic switch (MS) determines the energy transfer time. Thus, in general, the number of windings on the MS is modulated to vary the saturation inductance. Changing the number of windings also changes the energy transfer time and the saturation time. In this paper, we propose and analyze an MS with multiwindings to modulate the pulse width without affecting the saturation time of the MS. The parallel structure of the multiwindings on the MS decreases the energy transfer time without affecting the saturation time. Through experiments, we show that the energy transfer time is decreased by 13% via a double winding MS. Therefore, an MS with multiwindings can be used to modulate the pulse width at the last stage of the MPC without affecting the saturation time of the MS.