Automated analysis of RF effects on electronic devices through the use of device unintended emissions

• US 10,254,326 B1
• Filed: 09/22/2017
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokomis Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nokomis Inc.
• Inventors: Heike Spieler Canne, Karen, Keller, Walter John, Chornenky, Todd Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Sobutka, Philip
• Application Number:
  US15/712,240
• Time in Patent Office: 564 Days
• Field of Search: 455 6711- 6716, 455423
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 29/0814 Field measurements related to measuring influence on or from apparatus, components or humans EMC, EMI and similar testing in general G01R31/001, e.g. in ESD, EMI, EMC, EMP testing, measuring radiation leakage; detecting presence of micro- or radiowave emitters; dosimetry; testing shielding; measurements related to lightning
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/002 where the device under test is an electronic circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/00 Monitoring; Testing of line transmission systems H04B3/46; arrangements for monitoring or testing transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio waves H04B10/07
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

An apparatus, configured and operable to determine a state and/or an operation of a powered electrical device, comprises one or more antennas, a receiver operable to receive emission(s) of electromagnetic energy from the electrical device; an illumination device operable to illuminate the electrical device with a pulse of electromagnetic energy; a controller including: one or more processors, a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of selecting a spectral frequency target component of the emission(s), iteratively controlling the illumination device, measuring, at each iteration, a change in characteristic(s) of the spectral frequency target component of the emission(s), assigning a score value to each measurement, and iteratively effecting optimized parameter(s) of the pulse based on the score value until a final score value indicates a desired state, operation of the electrical device.

Claims

1. An apparatus that determines a state and/or an operation of a target electrical device, said apparatus comprising:

an illumination device comprising a housing, a pulse generator, a frequency generator, and an amplifier, said pulse generator, said frequency generator, and said amplifier disposed within said housing;

a transmit antenna coupled to said amplifier, said transmit antenna transmits electromagnetic energy in a radio frequency (RF) range toward the target electrical device, thereby illuminating the target electrical device with said electromagnetic energy;

a receiver;

a receive antenna positioned remotely from the target electrical device, said receive antenna coupled to said receiver, said receiver in a combination with said receive antenna collects intended or unintended emission from the target electrical device while said target electrical device being illuminated with said electromagnetic energy; and

a controller including;

one or more processors,

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, cause said one or more processors to perform the steps of;

selecting a spectral frequency target component of said intended or unintended emission in a selected interval of a wideband emission spectrum, recursively controlling said illumination device to illuminate the target electrical device with said electromagnetic energy,

measuring, at each iteration, a change in characteristic(s) of said spectral frequency target component of said intended or unintended emission,

assigning a score value to each measurement, and

recursively effecting optimized parameter(s) of said electromagnetic energy based on said score value until a final score value indicates a desired state and/or an operation of the target electrical device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said transmit antenna is integrated within said housing of said illumination device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a field probe coupled to said controller and being positioned to collect power of said electromagnetic energy illuminating the target electrical device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary device operable to control and/or change operation and/or operating environment of the target electrical device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a sensor positioned to sense a change in an operating parameter of the target electrical device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said spectral frequency target component comprises a peak.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the step of recursively controlling said illumination device comprises a step of recursively applying pulse modulation sequences or widths, frequency modulation widths, and/or other modulations or combinations of modulations to find a combination of illumination frequencies, modulations, and power levels which affect the target electrical device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said transmit antenna transmits said electromagnetic energy with varying illumination parameters.

9. A method of determining optimal illumination settings to be used by an illumination device to affect at least one of a state and an operation of a target electrical device, said method comprising steps of:

selecting initial illumination parameters for said illumination device;

illuminating, with a transmit antenna coupled to said illumination device, said target electrical device with an electromagnetic energy in a radio frequency (RF) range based on said initial illumination parameters;

collecting, with a receive antenna and a receiver, an RF emission spectrum from said target electrical device;

selecting, with a controller, a new set of illumination parameters based on received emission spectrum; and

iteratively repeating illumination of said target electrical device with said new set of illumination parameters, a collection of said emission spectrum and a selection of said new set of illumination parameters until said optimal illumination settings are determined by said controller based on a correlation of an associated disruption effect on said target electrical device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting said new set of illumination parameters, comprises steps of:

measuring, with scoring algorithms executed by a processor within said controller, said collected RF emission spectrum to determine effects of said illumination on said baseline emissions spectrum;

selecting, with said processor, illumination parameters resulting in a highest RF emission spectrum score after comparing all spectrum scores; and

narrowing or refining illumination parameters.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of narrowing or refining illumination parameters comprises a step of determining a frequency at which said target electrical device responds with reduced correct checksum digital transmission output or a step of suppressing an unintended signal from a local oscillator within said target electrical device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of narrowing or refining illumination parameters comprises a step of using a binary search or a linear or a non-linear interpolation or a non-linear extrapolation.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting said initial illumination parameters comprises a step of establishing a baseline measurement of an emission spectrum of an electromagnetic energy in said RF range from said target electrical device in a non-illuminated state.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting said initial illumination parameters comprises a step of calculating an initial illumination power output based on a distance between said transmit antenna and said target electrical device and an estimated initial safe non-destructive illumination power desired at said target electrical device.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of establishing said baseline measurement comprises a step of installing said transmit antenna and said receive antenna in an anechoic chamber;

a step of collecting a wideband emissions spectrum;

a step of selecting features of said wideband emissions spectrum and; and

a step of selecting a narrow band spectrum span based on said selected features.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein said illumination parameters comprises one or more of an illumination strength, an illumination frequency, a pulse frequency, a pulse width, a pulse duty cycle, a pulse repetition rate, a pulse shape, and a pulse envelope amplitude.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting said new set of illumination parameters comprises:

measuring the unintended emissions from the device; and

synchronously, independently and/or simultaneously varying illumination parameters of two or more incident electromagnetic wave generators.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising affecting or inhibiting operation of and/or unintended emissions from circuits within said target devices.

19. An apparatus that determines a state and/or an operation of a target electrical device, said apparatus comprising:

an illumination device comprising a housing, a pulse generator, a frequency generator, and an amplifier, said pulse generator, said frequency generator, and said amplifier disposed within said housing;

a transmit antenna coupled to said amplifier, said transmit antenna transmits electromagnetic energy in a radio frequency (RF) range toward the target electrical device, thereby illuminating the target electrical device with said electromagnetic energy;

a receiver;

a receive antenna positioned remotely from the target electrical device, said receive antenna coupled to said receiver, said receiver in a combination with said receive antenna collects intended or unintended emission spectrums from the target electrical device while said target electrical device being illuminated with said electromagnetic energy; and

a controller comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, cause said one or more processors to iteratively or recursively optimize parameters of said transmitted electromagnetic energy until a final score value of said collected intended or unintended emission spectrums indicates a desired state and/or an operation of the target electrical device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said computer readable medium comprises a spectrum characterization module, a spectrum scoring module, and an illumination control module.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said spectrum characterization module comprises:

a signature identification tool that causes said one or more processors to analyze an emission spectrum without active illumination to identify features unique to said target electrical device;

a correlation tool that causes said one or more processors to determine relationships between multiple features identified within said emission spectrum; and

a monitored frequency selection tool that causes said one or more processors to select narrowband frequency spans.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said spectrum scoring module comprises:

a signature identification tool that causes said one or more processors to analyze said intended or unintended emission spectrums during illumination and to identify features in said intended or unintended emission spectrums;

a signature scoring tool that causes said one or more processors to assign a score to each intended or unintended emission spectrum collected during said illumination; and

a baseline comparison tool that causes said one or more processors to compare each score to a baseline measurement so as to measure a degree of degradation or a change of said each emission spectrum and thereby measure a degradation or a change of the state and/or operation of the target electrical device.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said illumination control module comprises:

a pulse generator control tool;

a signal generator control tool; and

an illumination power tool.

24. A method of finding unintended, unpredictable and/or unexpected relationships in a circuitry of operating target electrical device, said method comprising steps of:

illuminating said target electrical device with multiple frequencies either parallel or in a series with each other;

monitoring resulting electromagnetic emissions in a radio frequency (RF) range from said target electrical device at frequencies being different from said illumination frequencies; and

determining, based on a variation of parameters other than a frequency parameter, effect of said illumination on an operation of said operating target electrical device.

25. An apparatus that determines a state and/or an operation of a target electrical device, said apparatus comprising:

an illumination device;

a transmit antenna coupled to said illumination device, said transmit antenna transmits electromagnetic energy in a radio frequency (RF) range toward the target electrical device, thereby illuminating the target electrical device with said electromagnetic energy;

a receiver;

a receive antenna positioned remotely from the target electrical device, said receive antenna coupled to said receiver, said receiver in a combination with said receive antenna collects intended or unintended emission spectrums from the target electrical device while said target electrical device being illuminated with said electromagnetic energy; and

a controller comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium, said non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a spectrum characterization module, a spectrum scoring module, and an illumination control module, said spectrum characterization module comprising;

a signature identification tool comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, causes said one or more processors to analyze an emission spectrum without active illumination to identify features unique to said target electrical device,

a correlation tool executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, causes said one or more processors to determine relationships between multiple features identified within said emission spectrum, and

a monitored frequency selection tool comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, causes said one or more processors to select narrowband frequency spans;

said controller configured to iteratively or recursively optimize parameters of said transmitted electromagnetic energy until a final score value of said collected intended or unintended emission spectrums indicates a desired state and/or an operation of the target electrical device.

26. An apparatus that determines a state and/or an operation of a target electrical device, said apparatus comprising:

an illumination device;

a transmit antenna coupled to said illumination device, said transmit antenna transmits electromagnetic energy in a radio frequency (RF) range toward the target electrical device, thereby illuminating the target electrical device with said electromagnetic energy;

a receiver;

a receive antenna positioned remotely from the target electrical device, said receive antenna coupled to said receiver, said receiver in a combination with said receive antenna collects intended or unintended emission spectrums from the target electrical device while said target electrical device being illuminated with said electromagnetic energy; and

a controller comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium, said non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a spectrum characterization module, a spectrum scoring module, and an illumination control module, said spectrum scoring module comprises;

a signature identification tool comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, causes said one or more processors to analyze said intended or unintended emission spectrums during illumination and to identify features in said intended or unintended emission spectrums,

a signature scoring tool comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, causes said one or more processors to assign a score to each intended or unintended emission spectrum collected during said illumination, and

a baseline comparison tool comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, causes said one or more processors to compare each score to a baseline measurement so as to measure a degree of degradation or a change of said each emission spectrum and thereby measure a degradation or a change of the state and/or operation of the target electrical device;

said controller configured to iteratively or recursively optimize parameters of said transmitted electromagnetic energy until a final score value of said collected intended or unintended emission spectrums indicates a desired state and/or an operation of the target electrical device.

27. An apparatus that determines a state and/or an operation of a target electrical device, said apparatus comprising:

an illumination device;

a transmit antenna coupled to said illumination device, said transmit antenna transmits electromagnetic energy in a radio frequency (RF) range toward the target electrical device, thereby illuminating the target electrical device with said electromagnetic energy;

a receiver;

a receive antenna positioned remotely from the target electrical device, said receive antenna coupled to said receiver, said receiver in a combination with said receive antenna collects intended or unintended emission from the target electrical device while said target electrical device being illuminated with said electromagnetic energy; and

a controller including;

one or more processors,

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, cause said one or more processors to perform the steps of;

selecting a spectral frequency target component of said intended or unintended emission in a selected interval of a wideband emission spectrum,

recursively controlling said illumination device to illuminate the target electrical device with said electromagnetic energy,

measuring, at each iteration, a change in characteristic(s) of said spectral frequency target component of said intended or unintended emission,

assigning a score value to each measurement, and

recursively effecting optimized parameter(s) of said electromagnetic energy based on said score value until a final score value indicates a desired state and/or an operation of the target electrical device.