Drone "Factory in a Can" Would Change Air War Forever

Popular Mechanics ^ | Sep 7, 2017 | Kyle Mizokami

[dayglored]

> All will be rendered useless with EMP.

They would presumably be rad-hardened, like most military and spacecraft gear intended for high-rad environments.

[nonsporting]

...> All will be rendered useless with EMP. They would presumably be rad-hardened, like most military and spacecraft gear intended for high-rad environments.

RAD hardening deals with bit flipping due to event upsets. RAD hardening uses redundancy and distancing to reduce the likelihood of bit flippinp\g.

Although I have not studied the damage mechanism of EMP in detail, a simple search reveals that it works by generating current or ESD which can damage (permanently) computer equipment.

A nuclear EMP is the abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation resulting from a nuclear explosion. The resulting rapidly changing electric fields and magnetic fields may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges.

Excerpted from Electromagnetic Pulse

[dayglored]

You're correct, I was imprecise -- I used "rad-hard" as a generic term for hardening/shielding against both ionizing radiation and electromagnetic/electrostatic fields/discharges. Strictly speaking, "rad-hard" is only about ionizing radiation (bit-flips, SEUs, totem-pole shoot-throughs, etc.).

In the 1980's I had the opportunity to design spacecraft gear which had to be rad-hard (in the proper sense), and some years later I was designing industrial/consumer gear which had to meet FCC high-voltage discharge (ESD) susceptibility requirements. In my earlier comment I conflated the two categories, which was incorrect, and I thank you for calling me on it.

[Rebelbase]

“All will be rendered useless with EMP.”

This stuff requires satellite communications.

We have the XB-37 which is capable of mining every potential enemy’s satellite network in orbit. At the appropriate time push the button and all go boom.

We are complete idiots if we are not already pursuing this.

[nonsporting]

In the 1980's I had the opportunity to design spacecraft gear which had to be rad-hard (in the proper sense), and some years later I was designing industrial/consumer gear which had to meet FCC high-voltage discharge (ESD) susceptibility requirements. In my earlier comment I conflated the two categories, which was incorrect, and I thank you for calling me on it.

I am impressed by your character and passion for truth. You've made my day. What a rare privilege it is to shared bandwidth. :)

[dayglored]

Aw, shucks, thanks for the kind words.

I have a lot of respect for my fellow FReepers and I wouldn't want to mislead anybody. Granted it's "just" an internet forum, but FR and Conservatives in general have high standards, and I'm proud to be part of that community.

As for a "passion for truth", well, being an electronics/computer engineer gives you lots of opportunities to find out just how bad things get when you are going down the wrong path. :-)

Thank you again, and have a great rest-of-the-day!

[txnativegop]

It is worrisome.