Compression/dilation technique for synchronizing time-series signals used to detect unwanted electronic components in critical assets based on EMI fingerprints

The disclosed embodiments provide a system that detects unwanted electronic components in a target asset. During operation, the system obtains target electromagnetic interference (EMI) signals by monitoring EMI signals generated by the target asset while the target asset is running a periodic workload. Next, the system generates a target EMI fingerprint from the target EMI signals. The system then applies a compression/dilation technique to time-series signals in the target EMI fingerprint to achieve alignment with corresponding time-series signals in a reference EMI fingerprint to produce a synchronized target EMI fingerprint. Finally, the system compares the synchronized target EMI fingerprint against the reference EMI fingerprint to determine whether the target asset contains any unwanted electronic components.