TEST & MEASUREMENT


EMC Community Forum Presents Latest Developments in Standards and Technology


Being a part of the EMC community is the most effective way to keep up to date with the latest standards, tools, and expertise in designing, testing and compliance. Rohde & Schwarz’s platform for building the community, Demystifying EMC, returned in 2024 to highlight the value of learning from each other in real time and space.


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oday’s digital lifestyles and the pursuit of sustainability are key drivers for the growing numbers and different types of smart electronic devices/systems pervading homes, offices, factories, and highways. Ensuring these devices can coexist in space and in the electromagnetic spectrum, and so operate reliably without interference, requires engineers to have a sound understanding of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). The legislation is complicated, with frequent updates adding new requirements and stricter targets. On the other hand, there are many technical challenges associated with setting up and performing tests.


Regulations updates


In Europe, the EU’s EMC Directive and Radio Equipment Directive (RED) are the dominant norms for product acceptance. They each reference individual specifications developed by standards bodies to establish appropriate technical requirements. The major bodies here are the International Electrotechnical Commission’s International Special Committee on Radio Interference (IEC CISPR) and the International Standards Organisation (ISO). There is a hierarchy of CISPR standards that comprises Basic, Generic and Product standards. The Basic standards describe assessing EMC, the nature of interference, and measurement and test techniques. They include CISPR 16, CISPR 17, and the IEC 61000 Part 4. Generic standards are IEC 61000 Part 6 specifications that describe essential requirements and test procedures that apply to all products intended for use in a particular environment, subdivided into residential and industrial. Above these, the product standards define specific EMC requirements, test procedures and limits. Sub-committees are assigned to manage the standards. It is worth noting that CISPR also publishes guidance documents on subjects such as


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setting up and using equipment, acceptable emission levels, and making assessments and calculations.


The standards are routinely updated for several reasons, so keeping informed about their status is important. Mathias Hofer of Rohde & Schwarz delivered a heads-up on forthcoming changes at Demystifying EMC 2024, the industry event dedicated to sharing the latest knowledge on designing and testing electronic equipment for safe electromagnetic coexistence. “EMC is complicated, rooted in physics, governed by technical principles, and dependent on a huge number of variables,” he says. “Also, the standards landscape is constantly changing. More and more devices need to share the same space and spectrum, and new technologies challenge existing regulations.” Important changes happening now include updates to expand the measured frequency ranges, as the rollout of 5G services introduces strong signals up to 6GHz in the RF environment. In addition, the automotive standards are changing to ensure electric


JUNE 2024 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS


vehicles are properly tested, updates to CISPR 14-1 now cover the introduction of wireless power charging equipment in domestic environments, and the industrial product standard, CISPR 11, is changing to reflect the adoption of autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) in factories.


Testing and Measurement in Practice


The famously mysterious comment by American politician Donald Rumsfeld, “there are things we know we don’t know, and things we don’t know we don’t know”, has become theorised as the Rumsfeld matrix, a framework for evaluating degrees of certainty and uncertainty.


Lee Hill of SILENT Solutions LLC & GmbH recalled the principle in his demonstration of real-time spectral analysis at Demystifying EMC 2024, to highlight how easily the cause of a random disturbance can evade detection. In an entertaining presentation, with props including a taser and a walkie talkie, he showed how engineers can now


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