Research in Support of Electromagnetic Detection and Jamming of Improvised Explosive Devices
Abstract
A promising approach to detecting roadside bombs attached to command wires is the electromagnetic sensing and identification of the wires. The lowest five resonant frequencies of the wires, along with the widths of the resonances, can serve as a "fingerprint" for finding the wires. A first major step toward exploiting this fingerprint is to calculate the resonances and their widths for a straight wire on a flat interface between a homogeneous earth and air. The calculation of resonances requires extending the theory of the linear antenna to deal with a wire on the interface between two dielectric media, which we accomplish here. Complex-valued resonant frequencies are defined as those for which a certain homogeneous integral equation for the current in the wire on the interface has non-trivial solutions. By applying a Galerkin procedure we obtain approximate numerical solutions for the resonant frequencies and their widths. We also discuss antenna structures needed to implement an electromagnetic sensor to exploit the resonances for the detection and identification of command wires and give pointers to published material relevant to the analysis of health effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 15, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA520618
Entities
People
- John M. Myers
- Sheldon S. Sandler
- Tai T. Wu
Organizations
- Harvard College