Radio-frequency leakage into missiles

Missile functions are often initiated by the detonation, upon command, from either a wire or radio circuit, of sensitive electroexplosive devices. The possibility exists of inadvertent detonation of these devices caused by the leakage of radio-frequency energy into the missile from high-power radar or communications facilities. This paper treats the idealized problem of RF energy leakage through a slot in an infinite cylinder as a perturbation on the scattering problem for the same object with no slot. It is shown that interior response depends on three factors: the exterior skin current density from the scattering problem, the transmitting admittance of the slot, and an eigenfunction expansion of the interior field when unit voltage is impressed across the slot. It is then proposed that the form of this solution may be applicable and conceptually useful in treating other problems either theoretically or experimentally.