Our 2011 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Long Beach, California has disappeared into history now, along with that one week of the year when EMC experts and friends from all over the world get together for the exchanging of ideas. This year, the symposium committee tried a few new things on the exhibit floor that were intended to enhance the experience of all our attendees and exhibitors. One experiment that Symposium Chairman Ray Adams encouraged the Exhibits Chair to try was a unique attempt to honor some important members of our Society by telling the stories of about a dozen “Pioneers of EMC” (POE). Those readers who attended the symposium in Long Beach will surely recall the attitude of unusual excitement as we all got to meet and shake hands with engineers within our Society who, collectively, are singularly responsible for what our industry looks like today.
     One of the new ideas tried at the Long Beach Symposium had rather impressive results and is worthy of a special mention. Our “Pioneers of EMC” (POE) event appears to have been thoroughly enjoyed and supported by our entire membership.
     While I was driving between account calls one day, sometime during the month of March, I had the ‘bright idea’ of putting together our POE display. After attending dozens of IEEE EMC Society events over the last decade, I was struck by the thought that there was a pretty important class of people that our Society does not generally have a good track record of recognizing, such as our pioneers in the EMC industry.
     Any attendee at an IEEE EMC Symposium event can visit Dan Hoolihan’s Historical display and discover when our Society was founded and a host of other related information. We often put old EMC test and measurement equipment on display for educational purposes. It is pretty amazing what ‘we’ used to do with some pretty rudimentary hardware… and that was before “software” was even a word, much less a reality!!! Well, there’s another thing that new engineers and members of our profession can learn from visiting the EMC Society’s History booth, but it is a bit on the subtle side. EMC test standards always drove test equipment development and there were usually market leaders who drove the standards and then designed the necessary test equipment and procedures to satisfy the standards.
     Our ‘rule of thumb’ in looking for POE nominations from symposium committee members and others was including individuals who met the following criteria:

• They left the corporate world 30–40 years ago because they had a ‘better idea’;
  
• They risked it all (at the time) with no guarantees, but they were successful;
  
• They focused on some specialty niche area within the EMC industry;
  
• They went back to their garage and developed that ‘better idea’ into a marketable product;
  
• They turned that marketable product into a company that impacted our industry;
  
• Their product/expertise has had a significant impact on our industry;
  
• Their company (or a version thereof) still exists today and is critical to our industry;
  
• They became (and remain to this day) a bit of a ‘guru’ both to their own company as well as to others; and,
  
• They remained ‘true’ to our EMC industry throughout and still contribute to it today.

     I leave it to future symposia and exhibits chairpersons to decide whether our POE honoring exhibit of 2011 was a new tradition worth repeating or whether it was simply a one-time ‘transient’. Regardless, it is with great pleasure that I introduce our Society to the Pioneers of EMC who were nominated for our 2011 Symposium on EMC. The people that we honored and introduced on the exhibit floor at our 2011 Long Beach Symposium are responsible for the gainful employment (within our industry) of at least 1,000 people. They represent and/or support several hundred small businesses and have products in literally hundreds of EMC test labs around the world.

Bob Dockey admires the tribute display to Joe Fischer of Fischer Custom Communications, part of the EMC Pioneers exhibit at the EMC 2011 symposium. From lifeguard on the beaches of southern California to EMC engineer – what a career for Mr. Fischer!	Walter Poggi started Retlif over 30 years ago to provide a qualified, knowledgeable site for EMC compliance testing to FCC Parts 15 and 18. He recognized the great need for these services and rose to the occasion.	Paul Bender founded Carnel Labs in his garage in November, 1961 as a calibration laboratory. In 1992, Carnel began manufacturing its own EMI products based on their purchase and consolidation of the Eaton line. Carnel Labs became the Receiver Systems Division of AR in 2002.

     Mr. Art C. Cohen – AH Systems, Inc – Art ‘unofficially’ started his work long before he established AH Systems in 1974. However, once he graduated and moved beyond modifying ‘Pringles’ cans in his basement, he developed a complete set of antennas that came to be depended upon by many people for whom EMC testing was ‘the great unknown’. Now, his company manufactures a complete line of affordable, reliable EMC test equipment including Test Antennas, Preamplifiers, Current Probes and Low-Loss Cables that are used to satisfy almost every possible test standard.
     Mr. Paul Bender – AR Receiver Systems – Paul started Carnel Labs in his garage in November, 1961, as a calibration laboratory. He quickly became the key West Coast service center for the servicing of receivers, spectrum analyzers and other EMI instruments ranging from DC to 40 GHz. Paul and his team put their hands on (and repaired or calibrated) equipment used by the US Navy and Air Force, NASA, JPL, Hughes, General Dynamics, Rockwell and Litton Data Systems, just to name a few. In 1992, Carnel began manufacturing its own EMI product offerings based on their purchase and consolidation of the old Eaton line. Carnel Labs became the Receiver Systems Division of AR in 2002. Paul likes to say that he is still an employee in the field after 50 years and he still continues to enjoy the many challenges that it brings to him. He adds that he is happy to still have a nice head of hair in spite of pulling out many of them due to those many frustrating challenges!

Don Shepherd of AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation also started his company in his garage. He and his partner began work in an era when RF amplifiers were expensive, unreliable, difficult to work with, very touchy in performance, and hard to find.

     Mr. Don Shepherd – AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation – “Shep” started work in his garage. He and his partner began work in an era when RF amplifiers were expensive, unreliable, difficult to work with, very touchy in performance, and hard to find. One of Shep’s founding principles was to provide exceptional customer support. Over the last 40+ years, he has been persistent and has turned those dreams into reality with a worldwide reach. No EMC lab in the world is unfamiliar with the wide orange stripe and the quality and service record that it represents.
     Mr. Don Sweeney – DLS Electronic Systems, Inc. – Today, Don is the president of DLS. However, his career has been varied and included stints at Extel, Teletype, Gates Radio and Collins Radio along with specialized consulting contracts. He has devoted the last 40 years of his career to solving problems in electromagnetic engineering. Through his formal educational courses at various universities along with other teaching venues, Don has educated hundreds of people in EMC theory and practice.
     Mr. Alwyn Broaddus – DNB Engineering, Inc. – DNB is a full service test lab and world leader and an expert provider of EMC testing. Alwyn Broaddus originally founded the company in 1979 to provide an EMC test facility with engineering support. Alwyn was always noted for his interest in and willingness to solve unique or unusual EMC test problems and DNB has retained that ability through the years. Today, DNB Engineering provides unrivaled EMC, Lightning, High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF), and Regulatory Testing to customers around the world. The company goal is to provide an accredited facility for customers where they will be able to obtain a qualified third-party product evaluation.
     Mr. Jim Klouda – Elite Electronic Engineering Inc. – In many ways, Elite began aboard a USAF bomber sometime in the early 1950s. An on-board camera system started to interfere with the bomber’s autopilot when it was turned on. An urgent call was placed to the camera manufacturer’s new young engineer – Jim Klouda. With a little sleuthing – and a little shielding – Klouda fixed the problem and saved the day. Shortly after that experience, Jim founded Elite labs. In 1954, Elite had two employees and a 2,500 sq ft storefront. By 1973, the company had grown 10 times. Today, in 2011, they are three times larger yet, with 60 employees and more than 45,000 square feet of modern facilities. Located in the heart of the USA, its Illinois facility serves as both headquarters and the primary testing site with 27 RF test chambers in various configurations that can be tailored to meet a customer’s exact testing needs. One thing hasn’t changed in 50 years: Elite remains dedicated to serving its customers and ensuring their complete satisfaction.
     Mr. Richard Parker – Fair-Rite Products Corp – For over fifty years Fair-Rite has been the first choice in cost effective ferrite components. The history of ferrites (magnetic oxides) began centuries ago with the discovery of stones that would attract iron. However, Richard came sometime after that and he focused his early efforts on using ferrites for EMI energy attenuation. He was a pioneer and a pathfinder in that area. The company he founded so many years ago now offers a comprehensive product line that includes a wide range of materials and geometries for EMI Suppression, Power Applications and RFID Antennas. It would be hard to find any other product on the market today that can offer such a fast, simple and effective way to suppress unwanted EMI energy.

The “Pioneers of EMC” display created by Gene Taylor of Altamont Technical Services attracted much attention during the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on EMC. The respected pioneers profiled featured Don Sweeney (foreground) of DLS Electronic Systems and George Kunkel of Spira Manufacturing Corporation (rear), to name a few.

     Mr. Joe Fischer – Fischer Custom Communications – FCC has been a stable supplier to our industry for almost forty years now. During that entire time, FCC has consistently been a reliable source for specialized transient protection devices, RF test and measurement instruments and EMP test systems. Joe ‘got the bug’ many years ago and has never looked back. His indomitable partner Virginia (congratulations on a marriage of over 50 years!) has always been by his side and provided just the ‘push’ or encouragement that he needed! He and she are still right there at FCC providing innovative high technology products that meet the specialized needs of our industry.
     Mr. Brian Lawrence – iNARTE, Inc. – Brian Lawrence began his EMC career designing ”Stealth” materials for the British armed services. In 1973, he moved to the USA and established a facility providing these materials to the US Navy. In 1980, he joined Rayproof to develop their Anechoic Chamber product line. Rayproof later merged into Lindgren RF Enclosures and then into ETS-Lindgren. Brian retired as Managing Director of ETS-Lindgren UK in 2006. He is now Executive Director at iNARTE, the International Association of Radio, Telecommunications and Electromagnetics. iNARTE has expanded its personnel credentialing programs and is today affiliated with RABQSA, a part of the American Society for Quality.
     Mr. Walter Poggi – Retlif Testing Laboratories – Walter started Retlif over 30 years ago to provide a qualified, knowledgeable site for EMC compliance testing to FCC Parts 15 and 18. He recognized the great need and rose to the occasion. In the years since, Retlif expanded their test offerings, but Walter did a lot more than that for our industry. He was a key driver and contributor for the first EMC laboratory accreditation program through NVLAP and was similarly effective in working with the ACIL. Walter’s ‘fingerprints’ are sprinkled throughout many of our standards bodies and within many of our internationally recognized and accepted trade agreements.

     Mr. George Kunkel – Spira Manufacturing Corporation – In his earlier years, George was a ubiquitous writer. He was always extremely active within the EMI/RFI and electromagnetic industry and has authored and presented over 100 papers internationally. His papers, inventions and products are invariably focused nicely around his own area of particular interest – EMI gasketing. The unique gasketing that Spira markets has had an impact on many other manufacturers and users. George has taught several courses on applied electromagnetic theory at UCLA. He held the position of chairman of the Technical Committee on Interference Control of the EMC Society of the IEEE for seventeen years.
     To close this article, I’d like to thank those pioneers listed above for their perseverance, individualism, entrepreneurial spirit and innovations through the years.

Pioneers of EMC attending the EMC 2011 Symposium in Long Beach included (front row from left) Ray Klouda, Judy Ware (daughter of Paul Bender), George Kunkel of Spira Manufacturing Corporation, Richard Parker of Fair-Rite Products Corp, Art Cohen of AH Systems, and Tom Klouda. Tom and Ray are the sons of Jim Klouda, founder of Elite Electronic Engineering. (Back row from left) Richard Janiec of Retlif (representing Walter Poggi), Don Shepherd of AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation, Joe Fischer of Fischer Custom Communications, Brian Lawrence of iNARTE, Alwyn Broaddus of DNB Engineering, and Don Sweeney of DLS Electronic Systems rounded out the pioneers present in Long Beach.

     I’d also like to offer my thanks and recognition to the following people who played a key role in assisting to help make our POE event a success: Mark Frankfurth, Dan Hoolihan, Janet O’Neil and Ray Adams. Without their assistance and able support, this event would not have occurred and those people shown above would have – once again – not been singled out for this recognition. Hopefully, the POE idea will be further refined and again presented to our community in the future.          EMC