Operational performance of the Horizontal Fast Rise EMP pulser at the Patuxent River EMP test facility

For the past two years, the Naval EMP test facility located at the Patuxent River Naval Air station has been working with L-3 Pulse Sciences to develop and procure the new PS-6 pulser developed under the Horizontal Fast Rise EMP (HFREMP) project. The PS-6 pulser was designed to compliment and upgrade the Horizontally Polarized Dipole (HPD) simulator and will greatly improve its test capabilities for future EMP testing. The new PS-6 pulser utilizes two battery charged, dual opposing Marx generators (+/− 3 MV) with two pulse compression circuits per Marx, to generate an EMP pulse with a peak amplitude of up to 77 kV/m at a distance of 24.5m away from the source. Combined with the two dual compression circuits, a 200 PSIG center switch allows the PS-6 pulser to generate a fast rise time of 1.3 ns to 2.8 ns. By utilizing the multiple onboard diagnostics and free field measurements, the operators are able to adjust various switch timing parameters/settings to achieve a multitude of peak amplitudes, rise times, and Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) values required for EMP testing. In this paper, we will examine a few of the operational parameters and the resulting performance, demonstrating the versatility and capability of the new PS-6 pulser.