MILITARY SYSTEMS:

Militaries around the world depend heavily on the use of RF Spectrum for command and control of weapons systems, sensor systems, and the dissemination of intelligence information to forces on the ground. These systems are evolving to become more complex and more capable. Military systems also have to be able to tolerate a battlefield RF environment, and even the use of electromagnetic weapons and Electromagnetic Pulse effects. FMS can provide expertise around the world to solve RFI problems involving military systems. Often military systems can interfere with civilian equipment and ways to cooperatively co-exist must be found. FMS has the experience and knowledge to find creative ways to solve problems involving military RF systems.

 

HEMP (HIGH ALTITUDE ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE):

According to industry and government studies in the United States and allied nations, there are growing risks of long duration, wide area electric outages due to a range of increasingly severe hazards, both natural and malicious. These hazards include catastrophic earthquakes, highly destructive hurricanes, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) weapons, sophisticated cyber-attacks and coordinated physical assaults on key grid components. Many of these hazards could cause electric power outages lasting far longer, and covering a much wider area, than those caused by Superstorm Sandy, and could strike with little or no warning.

Industry, government, and non-governmental organizations are partnering to strengthen the grid’s resilience against these extraordinarily severe hazards. Deepening and expanding their collaboration into new realms is essential to meet the many resilience challenges that remain.

PUBLIC SAFETY:

Cities, states and the federal government are recognizing that the many arms of public safety, including police, emergency services, fire fighters and other entities not only need to communicate effectively among their own agencies, but among all public safety agencies. First responders to the attacks on 9/11 didn’t always have the most current information, and many firefighters probably lost their lives needlessly when they heroically ran into the burning buildings when collapse was imminent.

There are plans for a nation-wide 4G First Responder network which will involve careful planning around surviving in a multi-hazard environment that might include RF systems, and even EMP (electromagnetic pulse) events. Correctly designed and implemented, such a network will be a major asset for Public Safety.

FMS is uniquely qualified to advise on the design and implementation of public safety networks, with deep expertise in RF/RFI and EMF/EMI.

STANDARDS, LEGAL, REGULATORY:

There are generally clear standards for wireless systems, and clear definition for most RFI. Contrary to low frequency electric and magnetic fields, there are clear standards and regulations for RF/RFI in the North America and international standards that are applied throughout other parts of the world. In the U.S. OET65, which is the FCC policy on human exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields, must be followed, Canada has similar standards (Safety Code 6). The FCC in 1996 also adopted the ICNIRP’s recommended Maximum Permissible Exposure limits for field strength and power density for transmitters operating at frequencies of 300 kHz to 100 GHz, and the SAR (specific absorption rate) limits for devices operating within close proximity to the body as specified within the ANSI/IEEEE C95.1-1992 guidelines. These standards are focused on human health and safety.

RF networks are generally assigned a power and a frequency for their use; often Radio Frequency Interference is a result of non-compliance with intended RF signal emanations. FMS is deeply familiar with FCC and more informal guidelines such as industry standards and “rules of thumb.” for effective operation of RF devices in complex environments. Our measurement and analysis equipment and personnel have decades of experience in the field and at the design table helping solve these problems.

In office areas human exposure to RF fields will be predominately caused by two way radio, mobile phones, Wi-Fi and unintentional RF signals nearby equipment. Depending on the type of equipment, radio frequency fields are normally considered to present a threat of malfunction to standard office electronic equipment when the field strength exceeds 50 to 100 V/m.

Electronic equipment often will produce low level narrow and broadband signals at frequencies up to and above 1 GHz. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) specifies the maximum level of radio frequency interference (RFI) that computer equipment is permitted to generate in Part 15 the FCC Rules and Regulations. These limits are set in order to prevent computer equipment from interfering with the operation of licensed RF communications and commercial broadcast systems.