Investigation on susceptibility of UAV to radiated IEMI

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used in many domains and they are sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. It is very important to learn the electromagnetic environment effect on UAV. In this paper, we present a novel method to test susceptibility of UAV to intentional electromagnetic interference (IEMI). By using the method, radiated susceptibility test is carried out on a kind of UAV towards continuous wave. The results show that even the radiated electric field is lower than 1 V/m, the data link of the UAV used to communicate with the ground control station can be disrupted when the frequency of the radiated continuous wave is the same as or close to the UAV's data link. Some of the sensitive frequencies, such as 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5 times of the working frequency, leading to the disruption of the data link are obtained because of harmonics produced by nonlinear units, e.g. amplifier, in the continuous wave emission system. The coupling path between the UAV and IEMI and the mechanism leading to the communication interruption of the UAV are further analysed by injection method.