Susceptibility of COTS PC to microwave illumination : experiment and modelling

The use of high power electromagnetic waves to intentionally disrupt and/or damage communications and information processing equipment is an area of concern, which is receiving growing attention in the electromagnetic compatibility community. Intentional disruption of a communications or computing facility coupled with the fact that there is little chance of detection makes electromagnetic terrorism a real threat. It is important to know the susceptibility of typical conmmercial computing equipment such as the personal computer in order to evaluate this threat. In this paper, irye present numerical as well as experimental results from which one can state that in general commercial of the shelf (COTS) computer equipment is vulnerable to a hostile electromagnetic environment. In cases where this is not acceptable, protective measures must be taken.