High Power Radio Frequency/Microwave (HPM) Directed Energy Weapons (DEW)

An introduction to High Power Radio Frequency/Microwave (HPM) Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) and their effects. The webinar will cover what HPM weapons are, the type of weapons – Narrowband and Wideband, how the weapons are like, but different from traditional Electronic Warfare (EW) and Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), how the HPM energy couples in to a target’s electronics and their effects. We will also cover some of the basic modeling and simulation tools for computing estimating the probability of target failure as a function of weapon power density and range. Finally, we will show an example of how to determine hardening requirements for a notional helicopter against an HPM weapon.

Speaker and Presenter Information

John T. Tatum is an electronic systems engineer working for the SURVICE Engineering Company as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the areas of Electronic Warfare (EW) and Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons (RF DEWs). He also acts as a SME for the Defense Systems Information Analysis Center (DSIAC) and provides information on RF DEW technology and effects. Before SURVICE he worked 36+ years at the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, Md. {formerly Harry Diamond Laboratories (HDL)} in ARL’s RF Electronics Division where he directed and participates in High Power RF/Microwave (HPM) effects investigations on military systems and supporting infrastructure. Mr. Tatum also investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of RF DEW for Army applications. Mr. Tatum was the Army chairman of the RF DE JMEM Working Group and chaired RF Effects Panel for the OSD Technology Panel on DEW. He is a fellow of the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) and has published several papers on RF susceptibility assessments, system effects investigations and effects databases in both DoD and IEEE conferences. Mr. Tatum recently published a book entitled “Radio Frequency Directed Energy Systems and their Effects” that is based on the short course he teaches for DEPS.