Time and frequency characterization of radiated disturbances in telecommunication bands due to pantograph arcing

Radiated emissions from arcing between pantograph and overhead lines in electrical transportation systems extend up to the frequency bands currently used for telecommunications and may therefore affect the quality features of telecommunication systems. The paper investigates on the time and frequency characteristics of the disturbances. Transient amplitude, rise time and pulse duration were measured in the time domain to obtain the associated empirical distributions; the power spectrum and the frequency content were calculated in the bands of interest; finally a time-frequency representation has been used to observe the evolution of the power spectra over time and the location of the main contributions.