Numerical Simulation of the Overall Transfer Impedance of Shielded Spacecraft Harness Cable Assemblies

Abstract

In this paper, we present general considerations for the application of the multiconductor transmission-line theory for simulating shielded spacecraft harness cable assemblies. Some of the practical issues that occur in the modeling process of various components of cable assemblies in spacecraft applications, namely connectors, pigtails, and backshells are discussed. The overall transfer impedance of the assembly measured through a current injection with a pseudomicrostrip line is used as a figure of merit to evaluate the total shielding provided by the harness. Some of the parameters of the model were available from the manufacturers' datasheets, while others were determined either experimentally or empirically. The position of the cables along the cross section was randomly assigned by the simulation tool. In general, the obtained simulation results are found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental data. It is found that the generally overlooked contact impedances between the cable shields and connectors play a significant role, especially at low frequencies. The presented simulation results also emphasize the importance of the inductance and resistance of the connector backshell interconnection to the spacecraft chassis.Index Terms-Cable shielding, multiconductor transmission line (MTL), transfer impedance.

Reduced Modeling for Electromagnetic Coupling to Randomly Wiring Automotive Cable Harness

“…During the wiring process in automotive, the cable harness always has some stochastic wiring factors of "spatial bending" and "randomness" as shown in Figure 1 [13][14][15], which bring a great challenge to the modeling of the EM illumination. Conventional modeling and simulation methods cannot easily accommodate complicated automotive system because of the difficulties in EMC modeling for cable harness [16][17][18]. Numerical simulation of the whole cable harness model requires strict conditions on calculation resource and even makes it impossible.…”

Crosstalk Analysis in Aerospace Environments

“…Finally, MTL models are used to perform sensitivity analyses of more complex cabling phenomena such as cable twist and meandering, as well as transfer impedance of braided shields. Crosstalk appears not only in cables, but also in for instance connectors or through pigtails [27][28][29][30]. Even though the MTL models used in this thesis are well applicable to such cases, the scope of this thesis is restricted to cables.…”