Dr. Randy Jost

Aerospace manufacturers expend a significant amount of time during the design and testing process ensuring the proper operation of their platforms and systems in typical and adverse electromagnetic environments.  Electromagnetic environmental effects also known as E3 or E-cubed are both ubiquitous and diverse.  The adverse electromagnetic environment that most people are familiar with is lightning, and chances are, if you fly frequently, you have been or will be in an aircraft that has been hit by lightning, and may not even be aware of it.  However, there are other electric, magnetic and electromagnetic phenomena that can cause problems to aerospace platforms, both on the ground and in the air, such as triboelectric charging, precipitation static or P-Static, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF).  This presentation provides an overview of the protection of aerospace systems from lightning and other electromagnetic effects. This has become an even more important topic with the introduction of “electric” aircraft, where electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by or affect the aircrafts power and propulsion systems can have catastrophic effects.

Starting with a brief introduction to the sources of electromagnetic events that can cause interference with the proper operation of an aerospace platform, we will examine how electric, magnetic and electromagnetic signals can interact with platforms and systems.  Both direct and indirect effects will be addressed.  After the introduction to EME sources, we will cover many of the ways that protection is built into the modern aerospace platform, including those made of composite materials, where the usual Faraday Cage protection approach has to be modified.  Also to be addressed is the protection of key systems and subsystems, such as the weather radar and its associated radome, avionics, and fuel sensors.  A key takeaway from this presentation is that EMC and protection of the aerospace platform must be designed in from the start, an integrated design approach should be used, and that there are significant trade-offs that must be negotiated to obtain a balance between performance, protection, SWAP and price.

Biography:

Dr. Randy J. Jost has worked in academia, industry, the US government, the US military and is a consultant.  He received the BSEE (1978), MSEE (1980), and Ph.D. in EE (1988) from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He served as an officer in the USAF (1982-2006), and retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2006. For more than 25 years, he has developed calibration and measurement procedures to accurately and verifiably measure the signatures of components, subsystems, and platforms for aerospace systems. Additionally, he has been involved in the area of electromagnetic compatibility of aerospace systems since the late 1980’s. He recently retired from his position at Ball Aerospace as a Staff Consultant in electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) where he provided company-wide support in EMC/EMI technologies as well as in-house training on EMC design and testing for aerospace systems.  Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor at Utah State University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  He is teaching courses in space engineering, remote sensing, EMC, Radar and systems engineering. He also does consulting and teaches short courses in several topic areas, including EMC, Radar, and RF/Optical Sensors. Dr. Jost is a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and has served in many positions in the EMC Society, including a term on the Board of Directors and is very active in both the EMC and AES Societies, serving on several committees and reviewing papers for both groups. He recently founded the Utah Section’s joint APS/EMC and AES/MTT chapters and is the current Vice-Chair of the Utah section of the IEEE.  He is a Senior Member of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA), and has served on the AMTA Board of Directors and hosted the 2009 conference in Salt Lake City, UT.  He is also a member of the AIAA, SPIE and Association of Old Crows (AOC). He was a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Virginia, and is an iNARTE certified EMC Engineer, an iNARTE certified Spectrum Management Engineer, a licensed Commercial Radio Operator, and a licensed Amateur Radio Operator, Extra Class (N8NAZ).

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