Monte Carlo Simulation Based Uncertainty Analysis of Coupling Currents in HEMP Field Tests

In high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) field tests, coupling currents under a given illuminated electromagnetic field are important to the design of electronic systems and electromagnetic (EM) shielding. Compared to calculating the arithmetic average (AA) of the amplitude of coupling currents, reference field normalization (RFN) method is a data processing method of HEMP field tests studied in this article. In this method, a reference field is introduced and measured during each repeated illumination of the HEMP field test to minimize the impact of deviations of the illuminated EM field produced by a HEMP simulator. To evaluate the RFN method, uncertainty analysis is carried out. Then the uncertainty and relative error are calculated and compared between the RFN method and the AA method by the coupling currents data both from Monte Carlo method and real test. The results show that the RFN method has a better performance compared to the AA method both from the aspect of uncertainty and relative error.