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JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

ELECTROMAGNETIC ENVIRONMENT

With the development of electronics and digital systems in aviation, aircraft are
becoming increasingly susceptible to High Intensity Radio Frequencies (HIRF).
Design philosophies in the area of aircraft bonding for protection against HIRF
employ methods which may not have been encountered previously by
maintenance personnel. Because of this, HIRF protection can be unintentionally
compromised during normal maintenance, repair and modification. It is therefore
critical that procedures contained in assembly and repair manuals contain reliable
procedures to detect any incorrect installation, which could degrade the HIRF
protection features.
1.1 PROTECTION AGAINST HIRF
There are three primary areas to be considered for aircraft operating in HIRF
environments.
Aircraft Structure - (aircraft skin and frame).
Electrical Wiring Installation Protection - (Solid or braided
shielding/connectors).
Equipment Protection - (LRU case, electronics input/output protection).

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE

uk

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

engineering

Table 1 gives some indication as to the maintenance tasks which may be applied
to certain types of electro magnetic protection features:
PROTECTION
TYPE

CABLE
SHIELDING

Description

Over braid shield,

critical individual
cable shield
Metallic conduit,
braid

Raceway,
conduits

RF gaskets

Raceway,
conduits

Removable
panels

Corrosion,
damage

Corrosion,
damage

Corrosion,
damage,
deformation

Damage,
erosion

Visual
inspection,
bonding
measurement

Visual
inspection of
gaskets,
bonding leads
and straps

Visual
inspection,
measurement
of shielding
effectiveness

Examples
Degradation or
Failure Mode
Maintenance
Operations

Visual inspection,
measurement of
cable shielding
bonding

AIRCRAFT STRUCTURE SHIELDING

Shield for non
conductive
surfaces
Conductive
coating

CIRCUIT
PROTECTION
DEVICES

Structural bonding
Contact
bonds, rivet
joints
Corrosion,
damage
Visual
inspection,
bonding
measurement

Bonding lead
and straps,
pigtails
Corrosion,
damage,
security of
attachment
Visual
inspection for
corrosion
attachment
and condition,
bonding
measurement

HIRF protection
devices
Resistors, Zener
diodes, EMI filters,
filter pins.
Short circuit, open
circuit
Check at test/repair
facility in
accordance with
maintenance or
surveillance plan.

Applicable Maintenance Tasks for HIRF Protection Measures

Table 1
Note: Raceway conduits refers to separate conduits used to route individual
cables to the various areas of an aircraft system.
RF gaskets are gaskets having conductive properties to maintain the bonding
integrity of a system.
1.2 TESTING TECHNIQUES
Tests of HIRF protection carried out depend upon the criticality of the system
under test. Types of test are as follows.
1.3 VISUAL INSPECTION
The protection feature should be inspected for damage and corrosion.
Degradation may be found in this way but where integrity cannot be assured,
other tests may be carried out.
1.4 DC RESISTANCE
The milliohm meter is often used to measure the ground path resistance of
ground straps or bonding. This technique is limited to the indication of only single
path resistance values.

uk
engineering

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

1.5 LOW FREQUENCY LOOP IMPEDANCE

Low frequency loop impedance testing is a useful method complementary to DC
bonding testing. A visual inspection of cable bundle shields, complemented by a
low frequency loop impedance test, gives good confidence in the integrity of the
shielding provisions.
Low frequency loop impedance testing is a method developed to check that
adequate bonding exists between over braid (conduit) shields and structure. To
achieve the shielding performance required, it is often necessary that both ends
of a cable bundle shield be bonded to aircraft structure. In such cases, it is hard
to check bonding integrity by the standard DC bonding test method. If the bond
between shield and structure at one end is degraded while the other one is still
good, there is little chance to find this defect by performing DC bonding
measurements. The remaining bond still ensures a low resistance to ground but
the current loop through the shield is interrupted, causing degradation of shielding
performance. The fault can easily be detected by performing a low frequency
loop impedance test.
The test set-up requires simple test equipment, refer to Figure 1. A current of
about 1 kHz is fed into the conduit under test while measuring the voltage
necessary to drive that current. Other versions of the loop impedance test
arrangement use different frequencies (200 Hz is typical), and provide the
resistive and reactive parts of the loop impedance.

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE

uk

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

engineering

CURRENT
MONITOR
(AC MILLI-VIOLTS)

VOLTAGE
GENERATOR

CLAMP-ON CURRENT
TRANSFORMER

V1

II

CLAMP-ON CURRENT
TRANSFORMER

FIXING HARDWARE
PROVIDING ELECTRICAL
BONDING

CONDUIT
LOOP UNDER TEST

STRUCTURE

ZCONDUIT + ZSTRUCTURE = V1/II

Loop Impedance Test

Figure 1
The test equipment consists of a generator operating at 1 kHz feeding an
injection probe and a current monitoring probe, connected to an AC
millivoltmeter. A voltmeter connected to the generator enables the voltage
necessary to drive the current to be measured. 1 kHz is a high enough frequency
to drive the injection and the monitoring probes and is also enough to avoid
specific RF effects, like non-uniform current distribution along the loop under test.

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE

uk

MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

engineering

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

If, in practice, the current is set to 1A, the voltage figure, when expressed in
millivolts, gives the loop impedance in milliohms directly. The loop impedance is
normally in the range 1-100 milliohms. In this range, accurate results can easily
be achieved.
If too high loop impedance is found, the joint determining the problem has to be
identified. This can be performed by measuring the voltage drop across each
joint. The joint with the high voltage drop across it is the defective one, refer to
Figure 2.

VOLTAGE
GENERATOR

CLAMP-ON CURRENT
TRANSFORMER

VOLTAGE
MONITOR
V1

V2
FIXING NUT
BAD JOINT

FERRULE
BRACKET
CONDUIT

LOOP UNDER TEST

STRUCTURE

V2 = V1 ACROSS BAD JOINT

Identification of A Bad Joint

Figure 2

uk
engineering

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

As there is no need for a wide band swept RF generator, the test equipment can
be quite simple and easy to handle. Hand held battery powered test equipment,
especially designed for production monitoring and routine maintenance, is
available on the market.
1.6 ELECTRO MAGNETIC INTERFERENCE (EMI)
EMI is a subject closely allied to HIRF. Interference can occur in systems from
internal sources and external sources.
Its prevention and maintenance of measures taken is described under High
Intensity Radio Frequencies.
1.7 ELECTRO MAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY (EMC)
A further allied subject is EMC. If a new avionics system is introduced into an
aircraft, it must be operated at its full range of operating frequencies to ensure no
interference to other systems is caused. Similarly, other systems must be
operated across their full range to ensure no interference occurs to that system
introduced.
Full tests to be carried out are normally stipulated by the manufacturer or design
organisation.
1.8 LIGHTNING/LIGHTNING PROTECTION
Lightning protection is given by the primary and secondary conductors of an
aircraft's bonding system. The system is enhanced by the methods discussed
under HIRF.

uk
engineering

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

1.9 DEGAUSSING
If an aircraft is struck by lightning, structural damage can occur and parts of the
aircraft may remain magnetised. This magnetic force remaining is called
'Residual Magnetism', and since it could adversely effect some aircraft systems,
areas affected must be de-magnetised.
The process of de-magnetising is called 'degaussing'. Effected areas are
detected using a hand held compass, then an ac electromagnet is passed over
these areas to disperse the residual magnetism. A discrepancy between an
Aircrafts main compass and standby compass of (typically) 8 indicates that
degaussing is necessary.

uk
engineering

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

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INTENTIONALLY
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MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENVIRONMENT

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1

MODULE 5

uk
engineering

DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.14
ELECTROMAGNETIS
ENVIRONMENT