Chapter Chatter (Part 2)

Harry Gaul reports that the Phoenix chapter held their last meeting on May 15th with past IEEE EMC Society Distinguished Lecturer, Scott Roleson, from Hewlett Packard in Rancho Bernardo, California. The topic of Scott's talk was "EMC Bench Top Troubleshooting" which covered several proven techniques for locating emissions problems using "sniffer" probes, current probes, and directional couplers. In this talk, we learned that it is easier to locate emissions sources by using shielded magnetic field probes instead of electric field probes. The sources of magnetic fields include PC board loops, shield imperfections, and inductive components. Scott demonstrated an innovative technique using a sniffer probe, directional coupler, and a spectrum analyzer with a tracking generator. In essence, one searches in frequency to see where the power reflected from an enclosure's cavity is a minimum. This frequency corresponds to where the cavity is resonant and hence could be a problem if any clocks or data rates exist at the resonant frequency. Scott summarized his talk by saying, "Don't search for fixes but rather seek understanding." Bench top testing should be used to understand the physics of what's happening in the product. Then the design can be modified to address the phenomenon that's creating the emissions. Check out the Phoenix web site at https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/phoenix/phoenixemc/ for the latest schedule on upcoming meetings.

Rocky Mountain Chapter

For the May meeting, Dr. Eric Bogatin, Chief Technical Officer of Giga Test Labs, presented "Practical Analysis of Lossy Transmission Lines" to thirty-seven chapter members and guests, including a dozen first-timers. In this talk, Eric "took the lid off" the mysteries of transmitting high frequency signals across back planes. The basic problem is that transmission lines begin to attenuate signals at high frequency, some more than others. In this lecture we looked at what design and material factors influence the signal losses and how to measure, model and simulate these effects. Eric started the talk with the obvious question - Why worry about lossy lines? The answer is that losses in the transmission line attenuate the signal resulting in collapse of the "eye diagram." After showing the frequency effects in the time domain, a frightening detail was presented - for high frequency signalling, 1ns rise time becomes a showstopper. Eric then presented the physics behind the losses in a transmission line, both DC and AC, as well as some practical approximations for modelling the effects of the conductance and the resistance. The next part of the talk addressed the impact on signal integrity from the losses. Using clear and simple charts, Eric demonstrated how the amplitude of a clock is affected by varying dissipation factors and then postulated the obvious question — How does one measure the dissipation factor? In the last segment, Eric discussed how dissipation factors may be measured utilizing specialized equipment. Eric also discussed some surprising results of measurements of transmission lines including vias. In conclusion, the largest limiting factor of transmitting high frequency signals is the attenuation in the laminate. Accurate determination of the dissipation factor is vital for proper simulation of the effects. The slides for this presentation have been posted on the Giga Test Labs web site https://www.gigatest.com/. The Rocky Mountain Chapter will host a Regional Symposium and Table-Top Show on October 3. The event will feature multiple technical tracks including a Tutorial with Dr. Clayton Paul and workshops including Dr. Eric Bogatin, Doug Smith, and Bill Ritenour, in addition to the technical papers and exhibits. More information on the Symposium and other Rocky Mountain Chapter programs is available at https://www.ieee.org/rmcemc/.

San Diego


Tabletop exhibitors Robert Tozier of CKC Labs (left) and Rob Hoffman of EMC Automation participated in the San Diego Chapter's EMC event on June 8.		Abby Alejos of Parker Chomerics, Eugene Matarrese of Viasat, Henry Osgood of Haefely Test, and Paul Rostek of NCR (left to right) enjoyed the hazy sunshine of San Diego during a break in Clayton Paul's presentation.

Brian and Dave Bernardin visited with Bill Denke of Aurora Biosciences (left to right) over lunch during the San Diego Chapter's one-day tutorial and exhibition with Clayton R. Paul. Dave Bernardin chaired the one-day EMC event. Brian Bernardin had just graduated from Annapolis Naval Academy and took in the tutorial at his Dad's suggestion.		San Diego EMC Chapter Chairman Mark Frankfurth of Cymer (left) and Jim Knighten of NCR celebrate during the reception which concluded the San Diego Chapter's colloquium and exhibition. During the reception, Jim won the Palm Pilot raffle prize that was donated by ETS-Lindgren.

After a long day staffing his tabletop display, exhibitor Thomas Mullineaux of Ophir RF enjoys the cheese platter during the reception in San Diego.		Wendy May of Eclipse Shielding was an enthusiastic exhibitor at the tabletop show organized by the San Diego EMC Chapter.

That's the legendary Del Mar Racetrack in the background of this lunch gathering of Greg Viviano of Cymer (left) with Rhonda Saxson and Chip Fleury of TUV Product Service in San Diego. As EMC Lab manager, Chip closed the lab for the day and sent all his EMC engineers and technicians to the Clayton Paul tutorial entitled "The Fundamentals of EMC." Now that's supporting the chapter!

The San Diego Chapter held a very successful one-day colloquium and exhibition titled "The Fundamentals of EMC" on Friday, June 8 at the Hilton San Diego/Del Mar. Even though the hotel was located just across the wide boulevard from the legendary Del Mar Racetrack, all the attendees stayed from the start to the finish of the great presentation by Clayton R. Paul, also a legend in the EMC community for his expertise. Some 100 people attended the event, chaired by Dave Bernardin of TUV Product Service. Paul Rostek of NCR Corporation ably handled the registration. San Diego EMC Chapter Chairman, Mark Frankfurth of Cymer was also on hand to lend his support. Dr. Paul spoke about EMC requirements for electronic systems, non-ideal behavior of components, signal spectra, crosstalk, shielding, radiated and conducted emissions and susceptibility and lastly, system design for EMC during his one-day presentation. He kept the topics lively and humorous with his quotes from Dave Barry and recollections about his early days in EMC. 18 exhibitors of EMC related products and services occupied the 20 tabletop spaces available, including three new tabletop show participants, Ophir RF and WEMS Electronics, both from the greater Los Angeles area, and Eclipse Shielding of Mission Viejo, California. At the reception following the technical presentation, many attendees lined up to have Dr. Paul personally sign his book "Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility" which was available for purchase on the event registration form. It was a great event according to Dr. Paul's wife Carol who especially enjoyed the authentic Mexican food served the night before. Carol advised that the Mexican food in Macon, Georgia (where she and Dr. Paul live) is no match to that offered in San Diego. Olé!

Seattle


The Seattle EMC Chapter organized a "table-top show" with exhibitors of EMC related products and services on the final day of the Users Meeting. Kent Madsen of Flextronics did "double duty" as he presented a paper titled "Reverberation Chambers for Mobile Phone Antenna Tests" and he staffed his company's tabletop display.		A gala dinner was held the night before the tabletop show. Enjoying the fresh salmon offered were, from left, Heinrich Kunz of Schaffner EMC, Diethard Moehr of Siemens AG and Dan Hoolihan of Hoolihan EMC Consulting.

Kevin Goldsmith of Defense Science and Technology, Air Operations Division, in South Australia is shown at left with Galen Koepke of NIST in Boulder, Colorado. Both men are well known for their expertise in and enthusiasm for reverberation chamber test methodology.		Supporting the tabletop show were exhibitors (left to right) Casey Sullivan of Cascade Sales, Chris Toy of Laird Technologies, and Mack Davis of ETronic.

The organizing committee of the 2001 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber and OATS Users Meeting included, from left, Mike Hatfield of the Navy in Dahlgren, Heidi Scheuer of Underwriters Laboratories, Grant Erickson of Boeing Phantom Works EME, and Janet O'Neil of ETS-Lindgren.		Chris Kendall of CKC Labs in Mariposa, California (left) made a surprise appearance during the Seattle Chapter's tabletop show. He visited with Fred Heather of the Navy at Patuxent River.

The gala dinner provided a good opportunity for Users Meeting attendees, from left, Sandra Koppen and Theresa Salud of Lockheed Martin to visit with Diane Kempf of the Naval Air Warfare Center. Diane has attended all but one Users Meeting since the first one held in 1991.		Amplifier Research was one of the exhibitor sponsors of the "Farewell Reception." They gave out "AR" hats during the reception to those who visited their booth. Shown from left are George Barth and Ken Shepherd of Amplifier Research with John Drapala and Rob Steinle of Boeing EMC Labs.

A "Farewell Reception" was held in the tabletop show area. Mark Lamp of Sundstrand Aerospace enjoyed the elaborate buffet.		Matt Wills of Cessna Aircraft displays the gift he received as winner of the Best Paper presented during the 2001 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber and OATS Users Meeting. His paper was titled "A Different Antenna for the Mode-Stirred Chamber." The paperweight he received depicted an ocean scene that was hand crafted by a local Seattle artist.

Peter Shin of Ansoft was the speaker at the May joint meeting of the Seattle EMC and MTT/AP/EDS Chapters. He was thanked after the meeting by the respective Chapter Chairs, Tom Raschko (center) of Sea-Port Technical Sales who Chairs the MTT/AP/EDS Chapter and Janet O'Neil, Seattle EMC Chapter Chair.		Relaxing towards the end of the three day Users Meeting in Seattle are, from left, Maurizio Migliaccio with the Universita di Cagliari in Italy, Heidi Scheuer of Underwriters Laboratories, John Ladbury of NIST, Ted Lehman of SARA, Inc. and Paolo Corona of the Naval University of Naples, Italy.

The Seattle Chapter April meeting featured speaker Dave Walen of the FAA. Over 30 chapter members enjoyed the presentation. The Chapter's Vice-Chairman, Pat Andre, gave a very humorous introduction of the speaker. Something about noting Mr. Walen's involvement in the various SAE, HIRF, EMC, CISPR, etc. committees and launching into an "EIEIO" song. (It must have been a long day for Pat, ha!) Nevertheless, the topic "Assessment of Recent Aircraft Lightning-Related Accidents" was presented by a very professional speaker with five years experience at the FAA plus 19 years experience at the Boeing Company. Mr. Walen discussed the weather conditions at the time of the accidents, the aircraft damage resulting from the lightning strikes, and the consequences to the aircraft, crew and passengers. He provided details on the aircraft design features that were affected by the lightning strikes and the changes that are required to prevent similar lightning strikes from causing future accidents. It was a riveting presentation, plus it was great to have local EMC talent present at the chapter meeting. Thanks are due to AT&T Wireless in Redmond for their generosity in providing pizza and soft drinks for the April meeting. On May 17, the Seattle Chapter held a joint meeting with the IEEE MTT, EDS and AP Chapters. The speaker was Peter Shin of Ansoft who spoke on the topic: "Electrical Modeling of High Speed, High Density Packages." Thanks are due to the joint MTT, EDS and AP Chapter Chair, Tom Raschko of Sea-Port Technical Sales, who organized the meeting and whose chapter treated for the gourmet pizza. On Friday night May 18, several chapter officers and their spouses attended the IEEE Seattle Section Spring Banquet that was held at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville. It was a great banquet as always. An award was presented to Janet O'Neil for her efforts as Chair of the Seattle Chapter. Finally, on June 6, the Seattle Chapter organized an EMC "tabletop" show which was held at the Bellevue Hyatt in conjunction with the 2001 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber and OATS Users Meeting. Over 20 exhibitors of EMC related products and services were on hand to educate the meeting attendees, some of whom travelled from as far as Australia and Sweden to attend the Meeting. Several chapter members joined the close to 70 meeting attendees during the "Farewell Reception" held in the tabletop area. This marked the close of the three-day meeting and the presentation of the "Best Paper Award." Everyone enjoyed the international cheese, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and fajitas buffet which was sponsored by Rohde& Schwarz, ETS-Lindgren, Schaffner EMC and Amplifier Research.

Singapore

See Kye Yak reports that the Singapore EMC Chapter was officially formed in April 2001. The following members were nominated and successfully voted into office: Chairman: Professor See Kye Yak, Deputy Chairman: Dr. Li Er Ping, Secretary: Mr. Timothy Foo, and Treasurer: Mr. Sampath K.V.K. Chapter members include Professor Yeo Tat Soon, Mr. Tan Joo Huat, Dr. Roger Tay, Mr. Chow Wee Sin and Dr. Sam Chan.

Southeastern Michigan


The Southeastern Michigan Chapter sponsored a one-day EMC Fest 2001 on April 23. Attending the event were, from left, Scott Lytle of Yazaki North America, Richard Deppisch of NASA-Glenn Research Center and Noel Sargent of Analex. Yazaki sent a dozen engineers and technicians to the event. Now that's supporting the chapter!		Kimball Williams of Eaton chaired EMC Fest 2001. His is shown at right with Igor Belokour of Visteon who won a raffle drawing.

IITRI supported the EMC Fest 2001 event by sending Seth Shapiro (left) and Rohit Vohra to man their tabletop display.		There was a "tabletop" show during EMC Fest 2001 where exhibitors Sheryl and Jordy Bradley of J. Bradley Sales represented Fair-Rite products.

Those making EMC Fest 2001 happen included (front row left to right) speakers Lee Hill of Silent Solutions and Jim Muccioli of Jastech EMC Consulting, and event organizers (back row left to right) Janet O'Neil of ETS-Lindgren, Kimball Williams of Eaton, Scott Lytle of Yazaki North America, and Graeme Rogerson of Defiance. Not pictured is Mark Steffka of General Motors who helped with publications for the event.		EMC Fest 2001 speaker Lee Hill managed a smile during pack-up time following the technical presentations. Lee conducted several real-time demonstrations of the material he presented which was appreciated by the attendees.

Kimball Williams of Eaton chaired a super one-day event for the chapter which took place on Monday, April 23 at the Dearborn Inn in Dearborn, Michigan. The title of the event was "EMC Fest 2001: A Colloquium and Exhibition on Practical Control of Inductance and EMI in PCBs, Cables, Connectors and Motors." The speakers included the energetic Lee Hill of Silent Solutions of Amherst, New Hampshire, who spoke on the topics "Fundamentals of PCB Inductance" and "Designing for Min-imum Inductance in PCBs" and the enthusiastic Jim Muccioli of Jastech EMC Consulting who presented "Fundamen-tals of Filtering" and "Real World Applications of Filtering." Some 20 exhibitors of EMC related products and services participated with tabletop displays in a ballroom which adjoined the technical presentation room. The exhibitors appreciated getting to know the approximately 80 registrants, many of whom are largely SAE members and thus do not attend the IEEE's annual EMC Symposium. Henry Ford built the Dearborn Inn in 1931 to use as his personal hotel for visitors who flew into his nearby private airport for business with Ford Motor Company. It provided a very suitable venue for the audience of largely automotive EMC engineers.

Toronto

The Toronto joint EMC and Radiation Chapter have sponsored several technical lectures in 2000 and 2001. Summaries of the lectures have been posted to the website www.tor.ieee.ca/ societies/electromag.htm. On March 27, 2000, Dr. Tapan Sarkar with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at Syracuse University, New York, spoke on the topic "A Pragmatic Approach to Adaptive Antennas and Space Time Adaptive Processing (STAP)." Mark Montrose, Principal Consultant of Montrose Compliance Services, Inc. in Santa Clara, California spoke about "Fundamental Concept of Signal Integrity and EMC for Printed Circuit Boards" at their meeting on March 29, 2000. On July 5, 2000, Dr. Kamal Sarabandi, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor spoke on the topic "Radar Remote Sensing of Vege-tation: A Tool for Monitoring Global Warming." On March 27, 2001, Michel Cuhaci, a Research Manager with the Advanced Antenna Technology Com-munication Research Centre (CRC) in Ottawa spoke on the topic "Satcom and Wireless Antenna Technology at Communications Research Centre." On June 1, 2001, the chapter heard Professor David R. Jackson of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Univer-sity of Houston, Texas speak on the topic "Microstrip Antennas with Reduced Surface-Wave and Lateral-Wave Excitation." All chapter meetings were held during the day at the University of Toronto. Attendance at the meetings ranged from 17 to 46 people.

Twin Cities

Dan Hoolihan, Program Chair for the Twin Cities Chapter, reports that the chapter has had two recent meetings. The latest one was held on June 14th at the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency Hotel in conjunction with the EMC Society Board of Directors meeting. The featured speaker was Jim Muccioli, an EMC consultant and a member of the Board of the EMC Society. Jim spoke on a topic of increased interest, "New X2Y Filter Technology Emerges as Single-Component Solution for Noise Suppression." He covered real world applications and test results of the technology. The physics principles behind the concept were discussed as well as the use of the technology in specialized signal-cable connectors. Approximately 25 people attended the luncheon presentation including several members of the Board of Directors who had arrived early for the Board meeting scheduled for the next day. The April meeting was held at the Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota on Monday, April 30th. This was also a luncheon meeting and the guest speaker was Doug Smith, in his role as a Distinguished Lecturer of the EMC Society. About 30 people attended the talk where Doug spoke on a number of ESD phenomena that he has experienced in his many years in EMC. He had several interesting experiments that he performed to demonstrate his points. He also discussed the latest engineering standards being developed in the ESD areas including ANSI C63.16 and IEC 61000-4-2.

United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

The Chapter holds four to six meetings each year at a variety of venues such as Osborne House, which was Queen Victoria's home, and onboard the 1860's warship HMS Warrior at Portsmouth dockyard. The series last year culminated in EMC Society Distinguished Lecturer Doug Smith's very well received afternoon lecture at King's College London on "High Frequency Measurements." Some meetings are jointly held with various Compliance Associations that are regional business "self help" groups and speakers are often provided by the Chapter. At the March meeting, Brian Jones covered the EU EMC Directive SLIM Initiative and David Mawdsley spoke on OATS measurements. In June, an excellent meeting on Earthing and Lighting was held at Bletchley Park, the World War II secret code breaking heritage centre. Keith Armstrong spoke on "Earthing for EMC and Lightning Protection for Apparatus and Installations." John Hardwick and Tim Bowly then continued the lightning protection and testing theme for aerospace systems. After lunch all enjoyed a guided tour of the site. Checkout the forthcoming event information at https://www.ieee.org.uk/emc.html. EMC

Chapter Chatter - Part 2

Phoenix

Scott Roleson of Hewlett Packard displays a small H-field "sniffer" probe used for finding sources of radiated emissions.

Rocky Mountain Chapter

At the May meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, Dr. Eric Bogatin, Chief Technical Officer of Giga Test Labs, presented "Practical Analysis of Lossy Transmission Lines" to 37 chapter members and guests.

After the May meeting, speaker Dr. Eric Bogatin pauses with the Rocky Mountain Chapter officers Bob Reinhart, Lyle Luttrell, and Chas Grasso (left to right).

San Diego

Tabletop exhibitors Robert Tozier of CKC Labs (left) and Rob Hoffman of EMC Automation participated in the San Diego Chapter's EMC event on June 8.

Abby Alejos of Parker Chomerics, Eugene Matarrese of Viasat, Henry Osgood of Haefely Test, and Paul Rostek of NCR (left to right) enjoyed the hazy sunshine of San Diego during a break in Clayton Paul's presentation.

San Diego EMC Chapter Chairman Mark Frankfurth of Cymer (left) and Jim Knighten of NCR celebrate during the reception which concluded the San Diego Chapter's colloquium and exhibition. During the reception, Jim won the Palm Pilot raffle prize that was donated by ETS-Lindgren.

After a long day staffing his tabletop display, exhibitor Thomas Mullineaux of Ophir RF enjoys the cheese platter during the reception in San Diego.

Wendy May of Eclipse Shielding was an enthusiastic exhibitor at the tabletop show organized by the San Diego EMC Chapter.

Seattle

A gala dinner was held the night before the tabletop show. Enjoying the fresh salmon offered were, from left, Heinrich Kunz of Schaffner EMC, Diethard Moehr of Siemens AG and Dan Hoolihan of Hoolihan EMC Consulting.

Kevin Goldsmith of Defense Science and Technology, Air Operations Division, in South Australia is shown at left with Galen Koepke of NIST in Boulder, Colorado. Both men are well known for their expertise in and enthusiasm for reverberation chamber test methodology.

Supporting the tabletop show were exhibitors (left to right) Casey Sullivan of Cascade Sales, Chris Toy of Laird Technologies, and Mack Davis of ETronic.

The organizing committee of the 2001 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber and OATS Users Meeting included, from left, Mike Hatfield of the Navy in Dahlgren, Heidi Scheuer of Underwriters Laboratories, Grant Erickson of Boeing Phantom Works EME, and Janet O'Neil of ETS-Lindgren.

Chris Kendall of CKC Labs in Mariposa, California (left) made a surprise appearance during the Seattle Chapter's tabletop show. He visited with Fred Heather of the Navy at Patuxent River.

The gala dinner provided a good opportunity for Users Meeting attendees, from left, Sandra Koppen and Theresa Salud of Lockheed Martin to visit with Diane Kempf of the Naval Air Warfare Center. Diane has attended all but one Users Meeting since the first one held in 1991.

Amplifier Research was one of the exhibitor sponsors of the "Farewell Reception." They gave out "AR" hats during the reception to those who visited their booth. Shown from left are George Barth and Ken Shepherd of Amplifier Research with John Drapala and Rob Steinle of Boeing EMC Labs.

A "Farewell Reception" was held in the tabletop show area. Mark Lamp of Sundstrand Aerospace enjoyed the elaborate buffet.

Peter Shin of Ansoft was the speaker at the May joint meeting of the Seattle EMC and MTT/AP/EDS Chapters. He was thanked after the meeting by the respective Chapter Chairs, Tom Raschko (center) of Sea-Port Technical Sales who Chairs the MTT/AP/EDS Chapter and Janet O'Neil, Seattle EMC Chapter Chair.

Relaxing towards the end of the three day Users Meeting in Seattle are, from left, Maurizio Migliaccio with the Universita di Cagliari in Italy, Heidi Scheuer of Underwriters Laboratories, John Ladbury of NIST, Ted Lehman of SARA, Inc. and Paolo Corona of the Naval University of Naples, Italy.

Singapore

Southeastern Michigan

Kimball Williams of Eaton chaired EMC Fest 2001. His is shown at right with Igor Belokour of Visteon who won a raffle drawing.

IITRI supported the EMC Fest 2001 event by sending Seth Shapiro (left) and Rohit Vohra to man their tabletop display.

There was a "tabletop" show during EMC Fest 2001 where exhibitors Sheryl and Jordy Bradley of J. Bradley Sales represented Fair-Rite products.

EMC Fest 2001 speaker Lee Hill managed a smile during pack-up time following the technical presentations. Lee conducted several real-time demonstrations of the material he presented which was appreciated by the attendees.

Toronto

Twin Cities

Jim Muccioli of X2Y Attenuators was the speaker at the June meeting of the Twin Cities EMC Chapter. He is shown at left with the Twin Cities Chapter Chair Curt Sponberg of Medtronic.

United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

Doug Smith was the speaker at the last meeting of 2000 held by the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland Chapter. He spoke on "High Frequency Measurements" and is shown in action in the lower left of this photo.