IEC 61000-2-10:2021 defines the high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) conducted environment that is one of the consequences of a high-altitude nuclear explosion.Those dealing with this subject consider two cases:

high-altitude nuclear explosions; low-altitude nuclear explosions.

For civil systems the most important case is the high-altitude nuclear explosion. In this case, the other effects of the nuclear explosion such as blast, ground shock, thermal and nuclear ionizing radiation are not present at the ground level. However, the electromagnetic pulse associated with the explosion can cause disruption of, and damage to, communication, electronic and electric power systems thereby upsetting the stability of modern society. The object of this document is to establish a common reference for the conducted HEMP environment in order to select realistic stresses to apply to victim equipment to evaluate their performance. This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1998. This edition constitutes a technical revision. This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition:

a new Annex E has been added to describe the time waveform characteristics of the response of simple linear antennas to aid in the development of test methods;

technical support for this waveform is provided in Annex E. a procedure to use the waveforms presented in Annex E along with the peak values previously provided in Annex C is provided.