Week 5 Bench: Shielding a room

Pricing out what it would take to stop a monitor's electromagnetic emissions from leaving the room they are generated in

22 March 2027

Before the Bench#

No recording equipment needed this week — bring the willingness to do a costing exercise instead of a capture.

In the Bench#

Starting from a stated attenuation target in decibels, work out what shielding a single room to that target actually requires: conductive mesh or foil coverage, seams and penetrations (power lines, ventilation, doors), and where the easy 80% of the attenuation ends and the expensive last 20% begins. The number that matters is not the total cost, which varies with the room; it is the shape of the cost curve, because that shape is why TEMPEST shielding is a military and diplomatic practice and not a consumer one.

Afterwards#

Compare your bill of materials with another pair’s. The rooms will differ; the shape of where the cost concentrates should not.