By Dr. Nicolas Mora

Abstract:

The progress of high power electromagnetic (HPEM) sources during the late 1990s raised concern in the EMC community that they could be deployed for criminal purposes to interfere with the operation of modern electronic systems. It is well established that sufficiently intense electromagnetic fields can cause upset or damage in electronic systems and, therefore, can affect almost every critical infrastructure (CI) based on information and communication technologies (ICT). Protection against Intentional Electromagnetic Interferences (IEMI) threats can be acknowledged as reminiscent of the cold war period and the research programs on protection against HEMP. This talk reviews the assessment techniques of the vulnerability of CI against IEMI. To quantify their impact, the IEMI environments need to be characterized, the susceptible components and subsystems of the CI should be identified, and the expected disturbances have to be evaluated.

Dr. Nicolas Mora (M’07 - SM ‘18) received a B. S. degree in Electronics Engineering in 2007, and a M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering with a major in High Voltage Engineering in 2009, both from the National University of Colombia. He joined the EMC Research Group of the National University of Colombia in 2007. In 2009, he joined the EMC Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from EPFL in 2016.

From 2015 to 2019, he worked as an R & D Engineer for Montena Technology. In 2020, he joined the Directed Energy Research Center of the Technology Innovation Institute in Abu Dhabi, where he is the Director of Electromagnetic Effects. In 2011, he received the Frank Gunther Award of the Radio Club of America and the Young Scientist Award from URSI. From 2013-2016, he was the president of the Colombian Association of Researchers in Switzerland.

In 2015, he received the Young Scientist Award from the Summa Foundation. He was appointed as a Distinguished Reviewer of the IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020. He was the chair of the joint EMC/ AP/MTT Chapter of IEEE in Switzerland between 2016 and 2019. In 2016, he received the Best Paper Award from the EMC Europe Wroclaw Symposium. In 2018, he received the HPEM Fellow award from the Summa Foundation and in 2019 the Motohisa Kanda Most Cited IEEE Transactions on EMC Paper Award.

Next up? Are you interested in learning more about recent advancements in EMC, Signal and Power Integrity technologies? If so, join us IN-PERSON August 1-5, 2022 for the 2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY, SIGNAL & POWER INTEGRITY.