Method and system to detect and characterize electromagnetic pulses for the protection of critical infrastructure components
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorDonald Cox
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method are proposed to protect critical infrastructure assets from an electromagnetic pulse event. Detonation of a nuclear warhead or geomagnetic storms created by solar corona ejecta or an attack by directed energy weapons can create an electromagnetic pulse event. Several embodiments are disclosed that use radio frequency (RF) sensors, electrostatic discharge sensors and geomagnetic sensors that feed sensor signals to an event characterization and detection unit that analyzes and predicts early occurrence of an electromagnetic pulse event. Critical sensor signals are recorded for future use and are used to refine autonomic algorithms used to predict future electromagnetic pulse events from the sensor data.
Claims21
An early detection system to detect an electromagnetic pulse event comprising:
- one or more radio frequency (RF) sensor units;
- one or more electrostatic sensor units;
- one or more geomagnetic sensor units;
- one or more direct current sensor units;
- and
- an event detection subsystem configured to:
- receive and analyze sensor data from the one or more RF sensor units, the one or more electrostatic sensor units, the one or more direct current sensor units and the one or more geomagnetic sensor units;
- and
- detect an occurrence of the electromagnetic pulse event based on the sensor data received from the one or more RF sensor units, the one or more electrostatic sensor units, the one or more direct current sensor units and the one or more geomagnetic sensor units.
A critical infrastructure protection system comprising:
- an electromagnetic pulse sensor subsystem comprising one or more radio frequency (RF) sensor units, one or more one or more electrostatic sensor units, one or more direct current sensor units and one or more geomagnetic sensor units;
- an asset protection subsystem;
- and
- an event detection subsystem configured to:
- receive and analyze sensor data from the one or more RF sensor units, the one or more electrostatic sensor units, the one or more direct current sensor units and the one or more geomagnetic sensor units;
- detect an occurrence of an electromagnetic pulse event based on the sensor data received from the one or more RF sensor units, the one or more electrostatic sensor units, the one or more direct current sensor units and the one or more geomagnetic sensor units;
- and
- command the asset protection subsystem to go into a protected mode to mitigate or eliminate potential damage from the electromagnetic pulse event.
A method of protecting critical infrastructure components comprising:
- receiving data from one or more radio frequency (RF) sensor units at an event detection subsystem;
- receiving data from one or more electrostatic sensor units at the event detection subsystem;
- receiving data from one or more geomagnetic sensor units at the event detection subsystem;
- and
- analyzing the data received from the one or more RF sensor units, the one or more electrostatic sensor units and the one or more geomagnetic sensor units to detect an electromagnetic pulse event.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.