High-power radiated susceptibility testing of FADEC systems in reverberation chambers

Aircraft operating in an electromagnetic environment (EME) can experience interference as a result of unintentional radiofrequency (RF) energy coupling into the electronic engine control system. This undesired coupling of electromagnetic energy can cause system performance degradation. Bench-level EMI tests are required by both commercial and military customers to verify that electronic control systems are sufficiently hardened against this EME. This paper will illustrate an example of a high-power (>1000 V/m) radiated susceptibility test on an aircraft full-authority digital electronic control (FADEC) which was performed in a reverberation chamber. The reverberation chamber was chosen for this test because it offers several advantages over the traditional anechoic chamber, such as the ability to generate high field strengths more efficiently and a much quicker test time (making it more economical). The reverberation chamber also provides a more thorough test, with less uncertainty than anechoic or other facility types. Since a FADEC operating closed-loop is a fairly complex system, the methods described in this paper can be considered to be a useful model of successful, effective radiated susceptibility testing for electronic systems.