I learned a new term the other day, and it actually seemed to catch a lot folks by surprise, myself included. I am very used to hearing and am very familiar with the term “electromagnetic environment” or EME. For the US DoD, the EME is defined as (from Joint Publication 1-02):“The resulting product of the power and time distribution, in various frequency ranges, of the … [Read more...]
To EMP or Not to EMP… Is That the Question?
So what are our thoughts on the threat of an electromagnetic pulse event (God forbid) causing some sort of catastrophic damage to our telecommunications, power, and whatever other kind of electronic infrastructure that might be out there? I know, I know…it depends who you talk to! Being in the EMC business, I’d like to believe that I understand the fundamental issue (danger) … [Read more...]
Well THAT Didn’t Take Long …
At long last, the US Department of Defense Chief Information Officer has released the updated version of DoD Instruction 3222.01, the DoD Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) Program, into the DoD Portal for formal stage 3 coordination, or in English, for official review and comment by interested DoD organizations. It’s actually been several years on the making, … [Read more...]
E3 Risk Gap Analysis or Once More into the Breech!
Assessing the EMC-related risk of using commercial items (CI or COTS, as they are known) has long been a pet project of mine. So, I received a question lately that went something like this (paraphrasing the main points):I am aware the risk analysis or gap analysis is part of the process for analyzing the risk severity depending on test methods, level, frequency coverage … [Read more...]
Wi-Fi Anyone?
So I found another item of EMI interest to whine - I mean write - about: EMI in legacy equipment. You can find the article in question here.In a nutshell, the FAA wants certain older cockpit displays (made by Honeywell) replaced because they believe them to be susceptible to interference from Wi-Fi systems that are going on board many aircraft today. It’s an interesting … [Read more...]
Which Came First? The Chicken or the Egg?
I came across an interesting article in ITEM this past week about a Canadian helicopter that apparently has EMI problems. Like most such articles that I come across, I dutifully posted it in a variety of EMC related groups on LinkedIn. I do that for a couple of reasons. First, I believe its always a good idea to circulate relevant information to the EMC community. How can we … [Read more...]
That’s a Wrap! The 2013 IEEE EMC Symposium
BLUF—that’s "Bottom Line Up Front" for those that don’t speak acronym-ese—the 2013 IEEE International Symposium on EMC was another smashing success! Denver is a great town for a convention, the facilities were excellent and as always, the Symposium committee pulled it all together and put on an outstanding show. If there were any hitches or glitches, it sure didn’t show. I’ve … [Read more...]
Another IEEE International Symposium on EMC
By the time you read this, you SHOULD be at the annual IEEE EMC Society’s Symposium in Denver, CO. At least I hope you are! I know that the fiscal environment is tight these days, and if you happen to work for the US DoD and/or are a contractor supporting the US DoD, funding travel is almost impossible. I suspect that numbers will be down, but hopefully not down too much. … [Read more...]
OMB Circular A-11: Preparation, Submission and Execution of the Budget
What’s that you say? What does OMB Circular A-11 have to do with anything EMC related? That’s a pretty good question, and one that I would have asked myself. Until I read (because it was pointed out to me) section 31-12 of the latest edition of the Circular. It starts off:“The value of radio spectrum required for telecommunications, radars, and related systems should be … [Read more...]
Commercial EMI Standards vs. MIL-STD-461 … Now What?
I seem to hear a never ending litany of complaints about how the US military acquisition community has to use more and more commercial equipment (COTS or CI) and that said equipment tends to be highly problematic from an EMC perspective. I tend to dwell on this subject in this blog space, hopefully from different angles, but at the end of the day, I don’t see much being done … [Read more...]
