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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: How To Build A Simple Faraday Cage For EMP Survival PMF... Of all of the reasons to prepare, one that we all need to take seriously is the possibility of a catastrophic EMP, or electromagnetic pulse. This is a frequent topic in many post-apocalyptic novels and something that most of us are aware of, even if we do not completely understand the science. As I wrote way back when in the article Prepping for an EMP and Solar Flares: To be blunt about it, an EMP, if large enough, would affect the entire planet. In an instant, civilization as we know it would change as we get swept backward in time by a century or two. Understanding the risks of an EMP goes hand in hand with threats of a cyber-attack since there is a cause and effect relationship between the two. In this article I want to accomplish a few things: Explain EMPs and the risks in simple, easy-to-understand language Give you instructions to build a simple Faraday cage to protect your electronics Provide a list of items to put inside your Faraday cage What is an EMP? An electromagnetic pulse or EMP, is an abrupt burst of electromagnetic radiation. To start with, an EMP is caused by certain types of high energy explosions. A nuclear explosion, for example, will surely cause an EMP. Likewise, an EMP can be the result of a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field. Or, as I have mentioned before, it can be the result of Coronal Mass Eject (CME) from solar activity. But perhaps most sobering of all, is the possibility of a man-made EMP weapon that is purposely deployed in order to wreak devastation on our planet. Scary stuff. Regardless of the trigger, an EMP can be devastating to the power grid, resulting in rapidly changing electrical fields that will create fluctuating electrical currents and wild voltage surges. Bottom line? The electronic gizmos we have come to rely on would be toast. The microchips would be fried or so severely damaged that they would become useless. So what would life be like following a massive EMP event or episode? There would be no power, no transportation systems, no communication systems, no banking, no internet, and, no surprise, no food and no water delivery systems. This would truly be an End of The World As We Know it situation. Ask yourself these questions: What if the power went out and never came back on? Could you fend for yourself? Could you keep yourself warm in the winter and cool in the summer? Where would you find food? What would you use for money if credit cards and ATM's no longer worked? How would you get from one place to another without transportation? How would you wash your clothes? How would you keep yourself healthy if sanitation systems were no longer functional and medicine could no longer be manufactured. And the biggest question of all, how would you communicate with the rest of the world? An electromagnetic pulse could potentially fry the vast majority of all the microchips in the United States. In an instant, nearly all of our electronic devices would be rendered useless. Back in 2004 the Wall Street Journal wrote: "No American would necessarily die in the initial attack, but what comes next is potentially catastrophic. The pulse would wipe out most electronics and telecommunications, including the power grid. Millions could die for want of modern medical care or even of starvation since farmers wouldn't be able to harvest crops and distributors wouldn't be able to get food to supermarkets. Commissioner Lowell Wood calls EMP attack a "giant continental time machine" that would move us back more than a century in technology to the late 1800s." With that introduction, today I would like to introduce you to the Faraday cage, and further, how to build a simple Faraday cage. The Faraday Cage In the simplest of terms, a Faraday cage is any shielded enclosure that surrounds your electronic devices and protects them an EMP blast. Commonly used enclosures include galvanized metal garbage cans, popcorn tins, and even tightly sealed metal filing cabinets. In all cases, the metal container is lined with insulating material to prevent the contents from having contact with the metal. Examples of insulating material are cardboard, Styrofoam, and even carpet scraps. More elaborate structures can be custom built from sheet metal but for the home user, why bother? As a matter of fact, I suspect that wrapping your devices in plain, ordinary, aluminum foil will work as well. Factoid: Faraday cages are named after English scientist Michael Faraday, who invented them in 1836. What About Using a Microwave Oven? In my research I read that a microwave oven, new or used, can be used as an effective Faraday cage. On the surface, that seems logical since, by design, a microwave oven keeps the energy it creates confined to the interior which likewise, should prevent strong electrical pulses from getting back inside. This was easy enough to test. I put a cell phone inside my microwave oven and tried calling it. It rang. Oops. On the other hand, I wrapped my cell phone in aluminum foil and called it. Nothing. Nada. No Michael Buble ringtone; the call went straight to voicemail. How To Build A Simple Faraday Cage For EMP Survival | Faraday-Cell-Phone-Test | PreparednessSurvival Science & Technology A foil-wrapped cell phone blocked the cell signal Granted, cell phones operate at various radio frequencies so while one cell phone may not work, another one will. Still, with this being so easy to test, why chance it? Testing the Faraday Cage Aside from calling a cell phone, you can test your homemade Faraday cage by putting a portable radio inside the shield after tuning it to a strong FM station. If you can hear the FM station while the radio is inside your Faraday cage, then you need to go back to square one to ensure your shield is properly sealed. Sealing your garbage can with duct tape will help tremendously. A Second (Expert) Opinion I asked my friend George Ure to comment and to offer his perspective on Faraday cages since EMP preparedness is something he covered in-depth on his subscriber site, Peoplenomics ($40 a year but worth it for the technical information on the many topics he covers.). He was quick to point out several things about EMPs. The definitive public information is contained In the 2004 Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report "High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices: Threat Assessments". The following diagram shows how an EMP causes the complex systems we rely on to provide everyday essentials for living, to fail in a cascading manner. How To Build A Simple Faraday Cage For EMP Survival | EMP-Cascade-Effect | PreparednessSurvival Science & Technology So, a quick inspection of the EMP failure modes, George offers, is one way to build a list of items to put in your Faraday cage. He also told me some personal research he's done that seems to indicate that about 90% of cars will continue to operate after an EMP event of moderate size. The problem, he points out, is that with an EMP, the grid is likely to fail, and with that, power transformers will likely fail, along with the supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) control systems for railroads, power, water, and other utility distribution. George's personal Faraday cage is a 33 gallon garbage can. He considers his metal garbage effective by itself because the metal lid overlaps the can itself by an inch and radio waves don't like to go around corners, too well. Still, the ultimate prepping device would be a metal garbage can which has the top cover sealed to the bottom of the can with aluminized duct tape such as the type found at Amazon, Lowes, Home Depot and other hardware stores. What to Put in the Faraday Cage The equipment you store in a Faraday cage should encompass those devices that will help you communicate with the world following a devastating loss of the grid. Short-range communications will be critical. A good starting list would include: Multiple GMRS radios and chargers along with cables to plug in for solar charging. Multiple 2 meter and 440 MHz ham radios (such as the portable Baofengs), again with charging cables and solar power adapters. A laptop computer with a fresh battery, a charger, solar adapter, and all the key software on CD so if you need to bring up a fresh copy of the operating system, you'll have the product key and then any prepping articles or references you might need. An AM/FM/Shortwave/NOAA Weather radio that includes a solar panel charging mechanism. High-capacity USB thumb drive holding pertinent financial information including past year tax records, scanned copies of birth certificates, passports, marriage licenses, deeds, vehicle registrations and medical records. George also recommends simple insulation for your electronics, so that units do not touch each other, He uses low tech insulation: a combination of cardboard and bubble-wrap works well. Protecting Small Electronics Day to Day This article would not be complete if I did not mention the availability of small, shielded metalized bags that can be used to provide EMP protection on a daily basis. I am currently testing this type of bag from Mobilsec and an quite impressed. While my phone is in the bag, it reads "no service". If a cell signal cannot be detected, I can only assume that an EMP would also not touch it. Good to know and certainly an option, especially for a laptop that could be placed inside a properly sized bag when not being used. Couple the Faraday bag with a solar charging system and if there was an EMP, you would still have a working computer. One other thing. You may find sources online that say that when a device is turned off, it will not need EMP protection. I reached out to Joel Ho, the developer of the Mobilesec BagsHow To Build A Simple Faraday Cage For EMP Survival | ir?t=continmoti-20&l=ur2&o=1 | PreparednessSurvival Science & Technology and asked him about that. Here is what he said: I'm assuming you are referring to the part about devices being off not needing protection - it's simplified a bit - essentially, devices that are off are extremely difficult to damage because there's no existing current to piggyback on. Imagine that an EMP is a tidal wave. If it approaches a full reservoir (electricity and current) it can keep going. If the reservoir is empty (no juice), the tidal wave loses energy navigating the reservoir. There are hints of this in the article Electromagnetic Pulse Protection by Jerry Emanuelson. The major reason [most sources] don't say "your devices are safe if off" is because most devices are usually still connected to power lines and thus susceptible - but if devices are in EMP bags (which by definition are almost always disconnected as the filters are expensive), AND the devices are off, it is unlikely, given the relatively high FCC shielding regulations to prevent excess energy from bleeding OUT into the environment, that enough can get IN to damage those electronics. This is NOT true for every device - more like a guideline than a hard 100% rule. Different devices have different levels of built-in shielding - a computer has much more than a $10 Radio Shack timer, for example. The Final Word Should a massive EMP occur, stores won't be open, credit cards won't work, and the gas you have in your car may be all the gas you'll ever have for months or even possibly years. When you think about it, an EMP will become the "Ebola virus of electronics". That said, you know that I am not a doom and gloomer. Quite the contrary. I am an optimist to the nth degree. Yet even the optimist is sobered at the ramifications of an EMP and especially at the prospect of a weapon-based EMP. If nothing else, I would like to have a mode of communication following a massive EMP. Will the DIY Faraday cage work? It is speculation to say for sure. My own research plus my limited understanding of electronics tells me it will, but this premise will remain unproven until an actual EMP event occurs. The bottom line is that I hope a catastrophic EMP never happens. But if it does, I want to be ready to fend for myself without electronics. Sure, having communication gear and other electronic gizmos in a working Faraday cage will be a wonderful thing. But even if it doesn't work, the goal of preparedness is to prevail, even if that means living in an off-grid society for weeks, months, or even years. www.thesleut...e-emp-survival/ www.survivope...a-faraday-cage/ www.thesurviv...cage-heres-how/ truthcdm.com/...a-faraday-cage/ survival-mast...raday-cage.html www.survivals...d-faraday-cage/ modernsurviva...a-faraday-cage/ www.survivalr...raday-cage.html asurvivalplan...a-faraday-cage/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLkkgjKaNKk www.youtube.com/watch?v=50JKBHPAnIY www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsMBait9tks www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD-_Wp_Rv_8 www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLEooxIFkL0 www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tKoYV7b24 Electro-magnetic Pulse (EMP) Systems 23 January 1998. "Russia is among the best in the world when it comes to manufacturing this type of electronic weapon," said Anders Kallenaas of the Swedish National Defense's Research Institute (FOA). Quoting the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (1-23-98), the news agency AFP said the high-power microwave bombs ("bear cans") could be bought on the Russian market for "several hundreds of thousands kronor" (< $150,000) and had already been bought by the Australian military among others. It said the bomb was stored in a briefcase and emitted short, high-energy pulses reaching 10 gigawatts, which could destroy complex electronics systems. As tested, the bomb presents a threat to the Swedish military, in particular to the JAS 39 Gripen jet fighter that it is trying to export. It can also knock out electronic systems of nuclear or electric power plants, banks, trains, or even a simple telephone switchboard. Despite the science-fiction flavor, the electro-magnetic bomb is close to reality. It has been the subject of extensive research in the US and presumably (Sakharov tested his magnetic compression generator 40 years ago + Altshuler, Voitenko and Bichenkov ) Russia for decades. The concept arose through early nuclear testing when scientists realized that high altitude atomic blasts produced an electro-magnetic pulse capable of destroying delicate electronics systems on the ground. Any thermonuclear war would have started with such ionospheric blasts. One consequence was that military computer and electronic systems were "hardened" to minimize such damage, but civil systems remain vulnerable. Two types of non-nuclear EMP devices have been developed. One uses conventional explosives to induce the EMP; another uses a single-use, high-power microwave generation device. EMP capabilities were discussed in a paper published by the RAAF Air Power Studies Center in 1996. Its author, defense analyst Carlo Copp, [1] concluded that the design and deployment of electro-magnetic warheads for bombs and missiles was technically feasible in the next decade. "Providing that satisfactory solutions can be found for these problems, electro-magnetic munitions for bomb and missile applications promise to be an important and robust weapon in both strategic and tactical operations, offering significantly reduced collateral damage and lower human casualties than established weapons," he said. "High Power Electro-magnetic Pulse generation techniques and High Power Microwave technology have matured to the point where practical E-bombs (Electro-magnetic bombs) are becoming technically feasible, with new applications in both Strategic and Tactical Information Warfare. The development of conventional E-bomb devices allows their use in non-nuclear confrontations. This paper discusses aspects of the technology base, weapon delivery techniques and proposes a doctrinal foundation for the use of such devices in warhead and bomb applications." It can be used by special forces teams who infiltrate the enemy's and detonate a device near their electronic devices. It destroys the electronics of all computer and communication systems in a quite large area. The EMP bomb can be smaller than a HERF gun to cause a similar amount of damage and is typically used to damage not a single target (not aiming in one direction) but to damage all equipment near the bomb. [2] The efficient execution of an Information Warfare campaign against a modern industrial or post-industrial opponent will require the use of specialized tools designed to destroy information systems. High Power Electro-magnetic Pulse generation techniques and High Power Microwave technology have matured to the point where practical electro-magnetic bombs are becoming technically feasible, with new applications in both Strategic and Tactical IW (Information Warfare). Targets of the E-bombs: The telecommunication systems The national power grid Finance and banking systems The national transporting systems The mass media Because these systems based on electronic systems. An Radio Frequency Weapon is one that uses intense pulses of RF energy to destroy or degrade the electronics in a target. These weapons can be employed in a narrow beam over a long distance to a point target. They are categorized as High Power Microwave Weapons (HPM) and Ultra Wide Band Weapon (UWB). The phrase non-nuclear electro-magnetic pulse is sometimes used. Advantages of the HPM: All weather Low cost per engagement Possible to engage multiple targets Non-lethal to humans Not able to detect attacks Electro-magnetic effects The high temperatures and energetic radiation produced by nuclear explosions also produce large amounts of ionized (electrically charged) matter which is present immediately after the explosion. Under the right conditions, intense currents and electro-magnetic fields can be produced, generically called EMP (Electro-magnetic Pulse), that are felt at long distances. Living organisms are impervious to these effects, but electrical and electronic equipment can be temporarily or permanently disabled by them. Ionized gases can also block short wavelength radio and radar signals (fireball blackout) for extended periods. The occurrence of EMP is strongly dependent on the altitude of burst. It can be significant for surface or low altitude bursts (below 4,000 m); it is very significant for high altitude bursts (above 30,000 m); but it is not significant for altitudes between these extremes. This is because EMP is generated by the asymmetric absorption of instantaneous gamma rays produced by the explosion. At intermediate altitudes the air absorbs these rays fairly uniformly and does not generate long range electro-magnetic disturbances. Figure 1. Typical electro-magnetic pulse The formation EMP begins with the very intense, but very short burst of gamma rays caused by the nuclear reactions in the bomb. About 0.3% of the bomb's energy is in this pulse, but it last for only 10 nanoseconds or so. These gamma rays collide with electrons in air molecules, and eject the electrons at high energies through a process called Compton scattering. These energetic electrons in turn knock other electrons loose, and create a cascade effect that produces some 30,000 electrons for every original gamma ray. Conclusions Electro-magnetic bombs are Weapons of Electronical Mass Destruction with applications across a broad spectrum of targets, spanning both the strategic and tactical. As such their use offers a very high payoff in attacking the fundamental information processing and communication facilities of a target system. The massed application of these weapons will produce substantial paralysis in any target system, thus providing a decisive advantage in the conduct of Electronic Combat, Offensive Counter Air and Strategic Air Attack. Because E-bombs can cause hard electrical kills over larger areas than conventional explosive weapons of similar mass, they offer substantial economies in force size for a given level of inflicted damage, and are thus a potent force multiplier for appropriate target sets. The non-lethal nature of electro-magnetic weapons makes their use far less politically damaging than that of conventional munitions, and therefore broadens the range of military options available. This paper has included a discussion of the technical, operational and targeting aspects of using such weapons, as no historical experience exists as yet upon which to build a doctrinal model. The immaturity of this weapons technology limits the scope of this discussion, and many potential areas of application have intentionally not been discussed. The ongoing technological evolution of this family of weapons will clarify the relationship between weapon size and lethality, thus producing further applications and areas for study. E-bombs can be an affordable force multiplier for military forces which are under post Cold War pressures to reduce force sizes, increasing both their combat potential and political utility in resolving disputes. Given the potentially high payoff deriving from the use of these devices, it is incumbent upon such military forces to appreciate both the offensive and defensive implications of this technology. It is also incumbent upon governments and private industry to consider the implications of the proliferation of this technology, and take measures to safeguard their vital assets from possible future attack. Those who choose not to may become losers in any future wars. CONTINUED >>>>>>>>> Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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