RS105: Designing for Survival, Not Graceful Degradation

RS105 is intended to evaluate system behavior under exposure to extremely high-intensity transient electromagnetic fields that can result from severe external events. These conditions are far beyond normal operational interference and are meant to stress the limits of system robustness rather than functional performance margins. The expectation during RS105 testing is not graceful degradation or temporary loss of function. The requirement is survival. The equipment must not suffer permanent damage, must not enter unsafe operating states, and must not require repair or manual intervention to recover. Any condition that compromises safety or long-term operability is considered a failure.

Failures observed during RS105 testing often include latch-ups, unintended resets, corrupted states, or component damage. These outcomes indicate that transient energy is coupling into sensitive circuits without adequate dissipation or control. RS105 therefore evaluates the effectiveness of enclosure integrity, grounding and bonding, energy diversion paths, and internal protection strategies. This test is not concerned with elegance or optimization. It is concerned with resilience. Systems that pass RS105 demonstrate that they can withstand extreme electromagnetic stress and remain safe and recoverable in environments where less robust designs would fail catastrophically.