APD radiated transient measurements produced by electric sparks employing time-domain captures

Electric sparks phenomena produce electromagnetic radiated transient noise which is one of the main interference causes that disturb digital communication systems such as DVB-T or GSM-R. Detectors and methodologies defined at the EMC harmonized standards are not sufficient to measure and characterize properly this type of interference noise. Otherwise, amplitude probability distribution (APD) detector is an appropriate measurement to reach the main parameters of impulsive interferences; as in addition to acquire the amplitude of the disturbance, it provides statistical information. Moreover, the APD diagram of an interference has been related to the bit error probability of some digital coherent radio receivers. In this paper, an ESD spark generator according to EN 61000-4-2 has been employed to produce radiated transient interferences to evaluate the impact over the APD results considering several frequency bands. Several APD measurements have been carried out employing an EMI receiver and also an oscilloscope for validation propose. The radiated transient produced by the sparks has been evaluated at GSM-R and TETRA frequency bands. Results shows that GSM-R system can be interfered by ESD electric sparks and emphasize the powerful capabilities of the time-domain procedure.