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MPE TEMPEST filters prevent covert interrogation of conducted lines

10th March 2011

MPE Ltd

ES Admin

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The fact that electronic equipment such as computers and peripherals gives off electromagnetic emanations has long been a concern of the military, governments and commerce. Aimed at information security, filters for TEMPEST, often referred to as Transient ElectroMagnetic Pulse Emanation Standard, prevent eavesdropping on data radiated as signals from computers and peripherals via conducting lines (such as power, telephone or control line cables).

These signals may be intercepted by an enemy’s intelligence services or a business rival. For instance, a classified signal from a laptop inadvertently picked up and transmitted down an unprotected telephone line could potentially be accessed by intercepting the telephone cable many miles away. Equally vulnerable are incoming power cables.

For example, mobile tactical shelters enhance a military commander’s ability to mobilise, deploy, manoeuvre and sustain forces. Within such enclosures, applications requiring MPE’s EMI/RFI shielded enclosures encompass telecommunications and radar, IT systems, power supplies and a wide variety of portable electronic equipment. So you will find MPE EMP equipment filters offering a TEMPEST level of performance located typically on the inside or outside wall of a mobile tactical shelter protecting the incoming mains supply to equipment, as well as further MPE TEMPEST filters installed on individual systems inside.

In this whole field MPE Ltd of Knowsley, Liverpool, specialises in the manufacture of TEMPEST specification filters that offer high insertion loss performance across a very wide frequency spectrum, in standard or custom formats. The accepted industry standard for TEMPEST EMI filter performance is 100dB in a frequency range from 14kHz to 10GHz, with a secondary level of TEMPEST protection of 60dB from 100kHz to 1GHz on individual pieces of equipment. This may call for power, data, telephone and control line filters to cover all systems at risk.

Accordingly MPE has recently launched a new range of high-performance TEMPEST EMI filters for single-phase AC mains lines. So, meeting the TEMPEST standards of 60dB performance in the frequency range 100kHz to 1GHz, these filters are of compact size for easy, flexible, bulkhead or chassis mounting into rack systems and stand-alone computer equipment, especially where low earth leakage is critical. A 3.5 milliamp (mA) maximum leakage current at 250V AC / 50Hz is seldom available in filters of such high performance.