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Comparing Standards
Unintentional Antennas
*Free with registration
Noise Sources in EVs
*Up to $15 registration for non-IEEE members
Upcoming Events
This is a course that I’m very excited to be giving! There are so many new people entering the field of aerospace/defense EMC, and so few people with the time and experience to sit down and give someone a full run-down of everything you need to know about the key standards: MIL-STD-461, 464, and DO160. They are ubiquitous and important–but not always intuitive or easy to grasp on first reading. In this course we are going to go section-by-section through the EMC-relevant portions of these three documents. Any time we get to a topic that’s a little outside of what people normally learn in engineering school (and not many of us were lucky enough to have a dedicated EMC professor in college), we’re going to stop and walk through the fundamental EMC principles that inform why these standards are written the way they are.
Along the way we’re going to compare how different standards tackle the same topics–not just the three listed above, but also AIAA-S-121, GSFC-STD-7000, and SMC-S-008, along with a few other informative documents. We’ll be diving deep into the appendices to glean every last “lessons learned” nugget and kernel of wisdom. We’ll talk about requirements tailoring and test setups, plus common errors you might see in test plans or labs. We’ll treat EMC like the Systems discipline that it is, looking at how engineering fields like EE, RF, mechanical, aerospace, and systems all intersect with Physics to bring about EMC problems–and all the ways you can use these standards to try to prevent EMC problems from derailing a project during testing.
Depending on which lab you ask, 50 – 90% of units fail EMC testing on their first pass. At the end of this course you should have a much better sense of how to tailor requirements, write a control plan, and draft test plans to increase your rate of EMC success. This course is designed to be accessible to folks just starting out, whether you can get institutional support for the whole bundle or end up registering every other week for the individual sessions. If you miss a session, the recordings will be available until July 31st.
I’ll be presenting at PCB East in Massachusetts! My talk will be on “Shielding for EMI Concerns”, 9 am - 3 pm on Wednesday, April 30.
Shielding is a topic that seems so simple, yet yields so much confusion. From board level shields to enclosures to cabling, there are a lot of different ways to implement shielding – and some can make EMI problems worse.
This presentation will go over the fundamentals of shielding for EMI, covering kHz – GHz ranges. We’ll talk about the mechanisms in play when different structural or board layer elements are combined with the goal of reducing EMI radiated emissions. We’ll get to the bottom of how to terminate cable shields.
You will learn:
How different shield configurations interact with electromagnetic fields
Different ways to evaluate shielding effectiveness
Considerations for implementing shielding at the board, enclosure and cable levels
Case studies of poorly and well-implemented shielding.
Who should attend: PCB Designer/Design Engineer, System Designer, Hardware Engineer
Target audience: Beginner
Two key things to understand about EMC
EMC has a reputation for being “black magic”, but I maintain that it is the product of physics and electrical engineering interacting in counter-intuitive ways. Unfortunately, most people’s first exposure to EMC comes in the form of bad news: “your hardware failed EMC testing and we have zero schedule and budget to fix it.” (Depending on who you ask, 50 - 90% of units fail EMC testing on the first attempt, with most of those failing radiated emissions or radiated immunity/susceptibility.)
This talk is meant to be a clear and concise introduction to the two topics that cause more EMC heartache than any others:
Why things can start radiating like antennas, even though they’re PCB traces, cable shields, or metal enclosures
Why otherwise innocuous switching operations can cause massive amounts of high frequency electromagnetic noise
This presentation is pitched for interested parties with any technical background: electrical engineers but also mechanical engineers, technicians, and managers. Technicians can especially benefit from this class, since they are in a position to spot potential problems as hardware is coming together. Most EMC problems don’t show up on schematics alone!
Class Location: Online
Date and time: At your convenience
Class duration: 2 hours; 90 minutes of lecture and 30 minutes open Q&A
Cost: Free to any group!
I will happily give this online talk to any group for no cost. Just get in touch via email (karen@emcunited.com) or our contact form and we can set up a time.
Past Events
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) engineer has long had a reputation as being Black Magic, mysterious except to an arcane few. It’s easy to see how people get that idea: any time that we wiggle a cable and go from failing a test to passing; or when you add shielding and the problem gets worse; or designs that always worked before now fail radiated emissions by huge margins.
I maintain that EMC is not Black Magic–it is physics and electrical engineering interacting in counter-intuitive ways. EMC seems to live in those places where our intuition about electrical designs breaks down. This webinar aims to highlight exactly those topics and explain where our gut feelings tend to lead us astray.
By the end you should have a better understanding of exactly what parts of a design are critical to preventing EMC issues and where to focus your attention.
This course is aimed at anyone involved with hardware projects: electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, technical managers, and/or technicians. So many products fail EMC testing the first time (between 50 – 90%, depending on who you ask). The issues discussed in this course should give you a better chance of beating those odds.
Date: March 10, 2025
Time: 9 am - 4 pm, Pacific time
Shielding for EMI: Abstract
There is a lot of confusion about implementing shielding when EMI is the primary concern. This course will aim to get past the universal-sounding advice that turns out to have limited applicability. By going back to fundamentals, we want every engineer to be able to determine what shielding works best for their hardware, with their application and in their installation. We will also cover a variety of test methods that can be used to ensure your shields are performing as needed.
How do shields work–and how does their function differ depending on application? There are many considerations in play, including: frequency range of concern; material construction of shields, seams and apertures, enclosure shielding vs. cable shielding; terminations of cable shields, installation conditions, etc.
This course is designed for electrical engineers, EMC engineers, and any technical professionals involved in the design, testing, or integration of electronic hardware where electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a concern. Whether you’re new to shielding for EMI or looking for new strategies, this seminar will provide you with immediately useful insights.
Date and time:
November 5th, 2024
From 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Pacific time
Class duration: 6 hours
Location: This event will be hosted online via Zoom
Certificate: Yes
Cost: $195 to September 28; $245 afterwards
In this seminar, you will learn:
Live demonstration of varying RF energy picked up by cables with different shield arrangements
Theory of shielding functionality
Introduction to transfer impedance and shielding effectiveness
Overview of shielding test methods, both for enclosures and cables
Case study of the challenges associated with shield implementations
EMC shielding best practices
Enclosures
Cables
Abstract
Join us for our second webinar led by Karen Burnham, designed to shed light on two essential measures of shield quality for electromagnetic compatibility concerns: transfer impedance and shielding effectiveness. In the world of electronics, ensuring that your designs are protected from electromagnetic interference is crucial for maintaining performance, reliability, and regulatory compliance. This webinar aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of these key metrics, their significance, and their practical applications in your design processes.
Transfer impedance and shielding effectiveness are both critical parameters that help designers evaluate the effectiveness of shielding materials and structures. By understanding these metrics, you can better assess how well your design can prevent unwanted electromagnetic interference from affecting your circuits. This knowledge is vital for creating robust and reliable electronic products.
In this session, which is an intro to Karen’s longer seminar on shielding for EMI, you will learn about the foundations of each metric, exploring their definitions, how they are measured, and the importance of each in different contexts. Karen will also discuss the similarities and differences between these measures, providing you with a clear picture of when and how to use them effectively. Additionally, we will cover recommended testing techniques that can help you accurately evaluate the shield quality of your designs.
What you will learn:
The basis of transfer impedance
The basis of shielding effectiveness
How those two quantities differ
Recommended test methods per measure and frequency range
This webinar is an excellent opportunity for electronics designers, engineers, managers and anyone involved in electronics to gain deeper insights into shield quality. By understanding transfer impedance and shielding effectiveness, you can make more informed design decisions, ultimately leading to higher quality and more reliable electronic products.
Date and time: October 23rd, 2024
From 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Pacific time
Cost: Free with registration
Location: This event will be hosted online via Zoom
Abstract
MIL-STD-461 RE102 (radiated emissions, 10 kHz – 18 GHz) is commonly applied to components/modules that are used on aerospace and defense projects. It is also one of the most common points of test failures, with easily two-thirds of units failing their first attempt. Sometimes these failures reflect serious deficiencies in the hardware that need to be addressed—but sometimes they reflect emissions limits that haven’t been appropriately tailored to the project at hand. If you’ve ever had a unit fail RE102 testing and then allowed to proceed based on a waiver, that’s an indication that the limits weren’t set appropriately at the beginning of the program.
RE102 is a test that is meant more than anything else to protect intentional RF receivers, co-located on a platform with the Equipment Under Test (EUT), from unintentional emissions from electronic/electrical equipment.
This one hour webinar (45 minutes plus Q&A) will cover specifically how to tailor RE102 limits to protect the RF receiver systems on a platform. With reference also to GSFC-STD-7000, it will go over the specific information needed and analysis approach to ensure that receivers are adequately protected.
Date and time: September 12, 2024
From 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Eastern time
Cost: Free with registration
Presenting:
Efficient Crosstalk Evaluations for Electric Vehicles Using FDTD and Transmission Line Simulations
At the EMC Symposium in 2024, Karen Burnham is the Standards Week Chair. As such she will be found at as many standards meetings as she can fit in. In either the Advanced or Final Program, look for the listing of “collateral meetings” to see what activities will be taking place. For the first time we will be hosting a Standards Happy Hour event on Thursday, August 8, 16:00 - 18:00. Tickets are available only to those who attend at least one full standards meeting during the course of the Symposium.
Karen will also be presenting the paper “Efficient Crosstalk Evaluations for Electric Vehicles Using FDTD and Transmission Line Simulations” at 13:30 on Tuesday, August 6.
She will also be presenting two demonstrations in the Exhibit Hall:
“Using Low Cost Software Defined Radio (SDR) for EMC Investigations”, Tuesday August 6, 10 am - 12 pm
“EMC Society PCB Experiments Kit” in conjuction with Adinath Phene of Ansys, Wednesday August 7, 2 - 4 pm
Seminar:
Unintentional Antennas and Solving EMI Problems
One of the biggest causes of EMC test failures is radiating structures in a unit, whether from the PCB or cabling, that are acting in ways designers never intended. This full day course will aim to combine theory and demonstration of some of the counterintuitive ways physics and electrical engineering interact to cause EMI problems.
Agenda
Demonstration of PCB picking up RF signals
Basic antenna theory
Demonstration of noise from switch mode power supplies
Fundamentals of how switching signals produce RF noise
The goal is for the attendee to leave with a better understanding of how and why EMI/EMC problems occur and simple approaches to improve designs before experiencing late EMC testing failures.
Date and time: July 16th, 2024 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Pacific time
Location: This event will be hosted online via Zoom
Price: $195 for early birds through June 15th (then $245)
Webinar:
Unintentional Antennas: Why PCBs and Cables Start Radiating and How You Can Stop It
One of the biggest causes of EMC test failures is radiating structures in a unit, whether from the PCB or cabling, that are acting in ways designers never intended. This talk covers basics of antenna theory and how to identify potential radiating “antennas” in your product and is an introduction to the antennas and EMI one-day seminar scheduled on July 16th, 2024.
What you’ll learn:
Basic antenna theory
Different kinds of antennas
Examples of structures that can accidentally become antennas
Easy design steps to mitigate these risks
Date and time:
June 6th, 2024
From 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Pacific time
Location: This event will be hosted online via Zoom, free registration