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by Franz Schlagenhaufer
The University of Western Australia
In February of every odd-numbered year many EMC experts go on a pilgrimage to the EMC Symposium in Zurich, Switzerland. This year about 600 participants gathered there to attend over 130 presentations, workshops, tutorials and industry fora and, equally important, discuss the current research activities and latest results during the coffee breaks or throughout the evenings in Zurich's restaurants and pubs. (After all, the word "Symposium" originates from the Greek meaning "having a drink together".)
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Since 1975 this EMC symposium is held biennially in Europe, since 1981 at the Federal Institute of Technology (Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule) in Zurich. An EMC event in Germany just three weeks later dropped the number of exhibitors in Zurich this time; however, the quality of the presentations was not affected. The program committee rejected about 1/3 of the submitted papers, and this tough selection process ensured the high scientific standard of the symposium.
Participants and presenters came from all continents, with the exception of Antarctica, and most aspects of EMC were covered. In 19 sessions, topics from Biological Effects to High Power Electromagnetics and Lightning, to Transients and Transmission Lines, to Measurement Techniques and EMC in Networks to Computer Codes and Validation were covered. Test Chambers and Cells and Reverberation Chambers were addressed in two sessions, as was EMC on chip-level.
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EMC is not a new science, and many problems in achieving an electromagnetic compatible environment are quite well understood. The solution of these problems is, however, still a challenging task and there is plenty of work ahead.
Looking for the ultimate test site continues with OATS, anechoic chambers, various test cells and reverberation chambers all having their place in EMC testing. Computer simulation has made enormous progress in the last decade and was the subject in several sessions. The trend here is the combination of different techniques in hybrid methods.
It was again a successful EMC event, enjoyed by all the experts interested in the more scientific aspects of the area. Many of them are certainly looking forward to February 2003, to the next pilgrimage to Zurich. EMC