Abstract: In order to analyze the induced surface current on a cable in electromagnetic pulse (EMP) environment, an irradiation measurement experiment is carried out, and the current is calculated theoretically. A new ellipse-arc transitional section bounded-wave simulator is used in the measurement system. The current probe is calibrated, and its disturbance is minimized. Then useful experiment data are obtained. The finite difference time-domain(FDTD) thin wire model is used in numerical simulation, which requires tiny calculating quantities and is easy to achieve. The measured current data conform well to the FDTD results, and the results of simulation proved the validity of the measuring method presented.