2009 International Symposium

The 2009 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Kyoto (EMC’09/Kyoto), was held 20–24 July 2009, at the Kyoto International Conference Center. The Symposium has been held every five years since 1974, and this was the sixth conference since its inception. The last was held in 2004 in Sendai, chaired by Professor A. Sugiura. emc-09 kyoto
     The symposium was held just after the “Gi’on Festival” in Kyoto, which is one of three famous festivals in Japan, attracting many visitors from all over the world, not to mention many domestic visitors. Ordinarily, the climate at this time of year is very hot, drawing people away from work and towards these enjoyable summer festivals. It was, however, rather cool this year, and the heavens cooperated in welcoming our symposium guests. The sun and moon also displayed an attractive show – a partial solar eclipse – right in the midst of our symposium. table 1
     The venue of this symposium, KICC, was built 40 years ago in order to accommodate “international level” meetings by the Japanese government as a part of the ministry of foreign affairs. The scenery around the center is designed according to a traditional Japanese principle, “borrowed scenery”; namely, the environmental scenery of nearby mountains and forests appearing to be part of the garden. Tall buildings are prohibited by law to be in view from the garden. Inside the conference center, visitors would feel as if they are stepping into the “Starship Enterprise,” while the outer profile of the building is modeled after ancient 2000-year-old Japanese architecture.
     The number of attendees was approximately 420 from 20 countries and districts. Two hundred and twelve technical papers were presented in four days, during four parallel sessions. Sessions on automotive electronics were originally planned, but the global economic recession that arose last autumn spoiled those plans. Most of the affected companies denied permission for their engineers to either present papers or attend the symposium, due to traveling costs. Similar situations occurred in other fields, but not to the extent that we saw in the automotive field. It is our great relief to hear that the economy is gradually recovering these days, and that this recovery features the dramatic auto industry switch from pure combustion engines to hybrids, or directly to pure electric automobiles, both in the sense of ecology and the expansion of our field, EMC.
     The number of presentations as a whole increased compared to the last symposium in Sendai. This symposium is already viewed as the central event for EMC engineers in the Asian region. Fresh-faced young engineers were able to come together, get acquainted, discuss issues, and advance their level of knowledge and skill in technical and social communication. Older, more experienced participants wove thicker relationships and strengthened the organization among the many academic and engineering societies they represented. Core members, of course, brushed up on comprehension of their results, and approached each new idea keeping their own long tradition of learning in mind. They will return to future EMC Symposia bringing their established, and yet newer, results to higher levels. Presentations were classified under a number of subjects (see Table 1). The dominant category was EMI from PCB/IC/chip as with the last symposium. Interest in EMI is now no longer confined to PCB but also reaches toward IC’s and chips. The field of bio-effect of EM radiation is still of social concern. System level EMC seems to have moved beyond the nurturing stages and is now at the stage of harvesting. Security problems are on, not under, the table to help realize their approaches.


The façade of the venue for EMC’09/Kyoto: The Kyoto International Conference Center (KICC).	The registration desk of the symposium; people visiting here for the first time might quickly forget they are in the ancient capital of Japan.

The meeting rooms at the KICC featured state-of-the-art facilities for an international conference.	The symposium gala featured Japanese traditional dance by Geiko professional dancers.

Participants could talk to the usually mysterious Maiko dancers during the symposium gala. Elya Joffe (left), EMC Society President, and Francesca Maradei (right), EMC Society President-elect, visited with a dancer following the gala.	Mr. Joffe, as the representative of the IEEE EMC Society, relayed a celebratory message at the gala.

Many symposium participants enjoyed the gala banquet, including Professor Koga shown on the far front left of photo.

The gala began with celebratory speeches from the presidents of both the IEEE EMC Society and the Communication Society of the IEICE. The audience enjoyed traditional Japanese dance by a team of professional “Maiko” and “Geiko” dancers, whose skill and appearance have developed over the course of 1,000 years, on the history of Kyoto, the original metropolis of Japan.
During and after the symposium, accompanied persons as well as attendees were able to visit historical and cultural sites around Kyoto. They enjoyed visiting a small number of sites as visiting everything the city has to offer would take weeks or months. Hopefully, these impressions of Kyoto, in the minds of all the attendees, complemented the technical harvest they received at the symposium. EMC