Again this year, we had an outstanding series of EMC experiments and demonstrations at the 2009 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Austin this past August. These sessions ran for each period the exhibit hall was open, with a total of ten hardware experiments and ten computer software demonstrations conducted in the Austin Convention Center. We saw a number of first-time presenters as well as several popular veteran presenters demonstrate some very important EMC concepts, phenomena, and effects, including EMI measurement and troubleshooting procedures, all meant to illustrate principles of EMC techniques. Overall, this forum, now going into its 18th consecutive year, proved again to be highly successful and educational.
This forum is sponsored by the Education & Student Activities Committee (ESAC) of the EMC Society with the goal of providing a live, interactive educational tool to help others understand EMC via examples and problems that are often encountered in our day-to-day work. Since we first started these experiments and demonstrations, the problems have become more complex, as have their solutions. Yet, these presentations still provide excellent opportunities for intimately examining the various electromagnetic phenomena, physics, and mechanisms underlying EMI coupling including methods for mitigating interference.
This year’s experiments and demonstrations were ably organized by Colin Brench and Michael Vrbanac. Arranging for and juggling the time slots for twenty experiments and demonstrations over a 2 1/2 day period was no small feat. In addition to our dedicated volunteers and symposium committee staff, we are again indebted to the equipment suppliers which included ETS-Lindgren and Agilent. There were other donors whom we would like to recognize but they remain anonymous, as many of those presenting the experiments made their own arrangements to procure the necessary instrumentation. Supplying their own equipment is often easier as the presenter can ensure that the correct equipment is available and is not faced with learning to use a new piece of instrumentation. We would also like to thank these special donors for their ongoing support of the symposium demonstrations, and we look forward to their assistance next year in Ft. Lauderdale at EMC 2010.
PHOTOS BY KEN WYATT |
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Colin Brench (second from left) of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas demonstrated enclosure transfer impedance to evaluate individual elements of an enclosure. |
Jennifer Kitaygorsky of Electro Magnetic Applications, Lakewood, Colorado showed an FDTD simulation of a multi-layer, multi-conductor, transmission line compared to the experimental results. |
Hardware Experiments
The hardware presentations included the following, which drew significant crowds and much interest:
Demonstration of Antenna Pattern Measurements, by Dr. Michael D. Foegelle, Director of Technology Development at ETS-Lindgren, Cedar Park, Texas. 2-D and 3-D pattern measurements, animations, and theoretical background, presented at an introductory level, made this demonstration entertaining for any audience.
Demonstration of Enclosure Transfer Impedance, by Colin Brench, Staff Engineer; Herbert Walker Jr., Senior Engineering Technologist; and David Smith, Staff Technician, all of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas. The use of transfer impedance to evaluate individual elements of an enclosure was demonstrated, and its direct application to EMC design explained.
Improving EMC Test Productivity with Automated EMC Test Software, by Joe Tannehill, EMC Software Engineer at ETS-Lindgren; and David Guzman of RFTEK, Raleigh, North Carolina. This demonstration provided practical tips on how to evaluate the software available, how to utilize existing test instrumentation, and how to generate reports. Simple steps were shown to improve productivity for emissions and immunity testing.
Damping of Cavity-Modes in a PCB Power-Bus, by Gerd Heinrich and Stefan Dickmann, both of the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Helmut-Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany. This experiment showed two methods for damping PCB cavity-modes: the use of lumped decoupling capacitors and the segmentation of the upper plane. The results were compared to calculations.
Radiated Emissions and Susceptibility Hardware Experiment Demonstration, by Bogdan Adamczyk of Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Jim Teune, Lead EMC Engineer at Gentex Corporation, Zeeland, Michigan. This experiment demonstrated that mismatched lines produce much higher levels of emissions and are more susceptible to external fields. Mathematical models were also presented with the underlying antenna theory to support the demonstrations.
Demonstration of MIL-STD-461F Methods CS-115 & CS-116, by Steve Ferguson of Washington Laboratories, Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Tom Revesz of HV Technologies, Manassas, Virginia. Methods CS115 and CS116 of MIL-STD-461 simulate lightning and electromagnetic pulse threats to electronic equipment. This demonstration showed how to set up and select test levels, and how to calibrate and run these tests. Design mitigation techniques to meet the requirements of the standard were also covered.
Demonstration of a Metrology Grade Cable TDR, by Mike Royer and Robert Flake, both of the University of Texas, Austin, Texas. This experiment was unique because the test pulse was not a conventional TDR shape. A 300 ft. long RG-58U coax cable was measured, and then cut about 5 mm from the end of the cable. A second measurement showed the difference in cable length with an accuracy of about 10 ppm.
Lightning and P-Static Effects to Aircraft, by Fred Heather, EM Environmental Effects Lead at the U. S. Naval Air System Command, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), Patuxent River, Maryland. This experiment demonstrated and explored the natural occurring phenomena of lightning and precipitation effects that aircraft experience. The experiment explored the design options available to the E3 engineer to mitigate these effects to result in a safe and operational aircraft.
Basic EMI Effects at the PCB Level, by Frank Leferink and Frits Buesink, both of the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. This experiment was drawn from EMC
lectures and demonstrated a number of electromagnetic effects such as parasitic elements and discontinuities.
Overview and Demonstration of Measurements of Shielding Effectiveness Using IEEE P299.1 Techniques, by Kermit O. Phipps, EMC Specialist at Electric Power Research Institute, Knoxville, Tennessee; Dr. Lothar O. (Bud) Hoeft, Consultant with Electromagnetic Effects, Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Garth D’Abreu, Technical Manager at ETS-Lindgren, RF Engineering Group, Austin, Texas. Shielding effectiveness measurements using a strip line from 30 kHz to 200 MHz, and a mode or frequency stirred chamber for frequencies above 100 MHz were demonstrated.
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Gerd Heinrich (with hands on hips) of the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Helmut-Schmidt University, Hamburg,
Germany showed two methods for damping
PCB cavity-modes: the use of lumped decoupling
capacitors and the segmentation of the upper plane.
The results were compared to calculations. |
Dr. Michael D. Foegelle, of ETS-Lindgren, Cedar Park,
Texas provided an introductory level demonstration of 2-D
and 3-D antenna pattern measurements, animations,
and theoretical background. |
Computer Software Demonstrations
This year’s agenda of computer modeling and simulation demonstrations read again like a Who’s Who of EMC. These were run in parallel with the hardware experiments and included:
Illustrating a Progressive Modeling and Simulation Approach Using Both Conservative and Numerical Models to Analyze EMI for Large, Complex Systems, by Andrew L. Drozd and Irina Kasperovich, both of ANDRO Computational Solutions LLC, Rome, New York. This computer-based demonstration showed how a progressive approach that applies bounded, closed-form solutions followed by the judicious application of numerical techniques, can be a most effective way of analyzing the EMI for a complex system.
Power/Ground Plane Noise on PCBs using Cavity Resonance Method, by Dr. Bruce Archambeault, Distinguished Engineer at IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. This presentation illustrated how the cavity resonance method allows engineers to quickly create complex structures from simple building blocks, change decoupling configurations, and observe the effects on the power plane impedance and noise.
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| Fred Heather, EM Environmental Effects Lead at the U.S. Naval Air System Command, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), Patuxent River, Maryland demonstrated and explored the natural occurring phenomena of lightning and precipitation effects that aircraft experience. The experiment explored the design options to mitigate these effects to result in a safe and operational aircraft. |
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| A demonstration of MIL-STD-461F methods CS-115 and CS-116 to simulate lightning and electromagnetic pulse threats to electronic equipment was provided by Steve Ferguson (far left) of Washington Laboratories, Gaithersburg, Maryland. |
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| Bogdan Adamczyk (right) of Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan and Jim Teune, of Gentex Corporation, Zeeland, Michigan demonstrated how mismatched lines produce much higher levels of emissions and are more susceptible to external fields. |
Analyzing the Coupling of Radiated High Intensity Fields to Cables Attached to Electrically-Initiated Devices (EIDs) in Electrically-Large Structures, by Irina Kasperovich and Andrew L. Drozd, both of ANDRO Computational Solutions LLC, Rome, New York. This computer demonstration showed how cables terminated to sensitive EIDs installed on a complex vehicle such as an aircraft can be modeled using a relatively straightforward and conservative approach.
Demonstration of Antenna Design Tools for EMC Applications, by Dr. C. J. Reddy, President of EM Software & Systems Inc., Hampton, Virginia. This demonstration presented computer simulation tools for an effective design of antennas for EMC applications, and antenna designs for simulations of EMC test environments.
Finite-Difference Time-Domain Transmission Line Code Model Validation, by Jennifer Kitaygorsky and Cody Weber, both of Electro Magnetic Applications, Lakewood, Colorado. An FDTD simulation of a multi-layer, multi-conductor, transmission line
(1.2 m long, three-branch multi-conductor shielded cable over a copper ground plane) was compared to the experimental results.
Modeling of (i) a Horn-Antenna Array and (ii) a Cassegrain Antenna (use of shaped reflector dish) to Demonstrate Improved Field Uniformity of RF Immunity Test Fields over 1.0 to 6.0 GHz, by
Dr. Vince Rodriguez of ETS-Lindgren, Cedar Park, Texas; and Thomas Mullineaux of Milmega Ltd., Ryde, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. IEC61000-4-3 Edition 3 requires field uniformity of 10 V/m +6 dB/–0 dB across the calibration plane and over the frequency range 1 to 6 GHz. Alternatives to a single antenna pointing directly at the calibration plane were modeled.
Multi-Fidelity System-Level Modeling and Simulation for Cosite EMI Analysis, by Fred German of Delcross Technologies, Champaign, Illinois. This demonstration showed the application of numerical simulation tools for predicting system-level cosite interference in complex RF environments involving multiple emitters and victims.
Finite Element Simulation of Reverberation Chamber EM Fields, by Charles Bunting of Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. This demonstration illustrated the wide range of field distributions that can be produced in a reverberation chamber.
Predicting Near-Field Emission of Radio-Frequency Device for 3G Mobile using IC-EMC, by Celine Dupoux, Samuel Akue-Boulingui, Alexandre Boyer, and Etienne Sicard, all of INSA-DGEI, Toulouse, France. This demonstration showed the power-amplifier parasitic emission of a third generation mobile platform. The radiated magnetic field from current dipoles associated to package inductances was computed, and enabled comparisons with near-field scan measurements.
Increasing the Probability of Intercept When Using Automated Software, by Murali Soundarajana of TDK RF Solutions, Cedar Park, TX. This demonstration showed the importance of manually performing some basic scans prior to using fully automated measurements systems. These pre-scans helped to understand the RF behavior of the EUT, such as looking for intermittent, unstable, or frequency drifting/hopping signals.
The presentation of a demonstration or experiment is not a small commitment; apart from the preparation work and logistics of putting everything together, there is also the time, at least 2.5 hours, taken during the symposium to give the presentation. The entire symposium committee and the ESAC would like to acknowledge and thank all the presenters for their support, hard work, and a job well done!
We continue to seek new topics and ideas for novel experiments or demonstrations for next year. We have begun the process of planning next year’s EMC Hardware Experiments and Computer Demonstrations for EMC 2010 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. If you have an idea for an experiment or demonstration and want to have it considered, please contact Steve Koster (Steve.Koster@ISEMC.org), the Demonstrations Coordinator for EMC 2010 in Ft. Lauderdale. Also, go to the 2010 EMC Symposium web site (https://www.emc2010.org) for more information. We encourage you to submit your proposal and look forward to your
feedback. EMC
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