While there are a number of affordable spectrum analyzers available to the product designer or EMC engineer, such as the Rigol DSA800-series or Siglent SSA3000X-series, I discovered an extremely low cost analyzer useable for general-purpose EMI troubleshooting. This tiny module (Figure 1) is actually a high quality software defined radio (SDR) that can tune from 24 … [Read more...]
DC-DC Converter Noise Evaluation
By Kenneth Wyatt, Wyatt Technical Services LLCMore of my clients are starting to use small third-party DC-DC converters to provide the multitude of voltages required for today’s processor and DDR RAM ICs. While these are convenient to drop onto a circuit board, they can be quite a source of radiated and conducted emissions – especially those that switch in the MHz range.I … [Read more...]
Our Top Five Articles
Hi Everyone! I wanted to introduce myself as the new senior technical editor for Interference Technology. I spent the early part of my career in the aerospace industry as a design engineer and the last 20+ years as an EMC engineer, test center manager, and EMC lead for Hewlett-Packard and later the spin-off, Agilent Technologies. In 2008, I “retired myself” early and started a … [Read more...]
Assembling A Low Cost EMI Troubleshooting Kit – Part 1 (Radiated Emissions)
By Kenneth Wyatt Wyatt Technical Services LLC Those of us who are either in-house or independent EMC consultants can benefit greatly by assembling our own EMI troubleshooting kit. I’ve depended on my own kit for several years and it has proven not only valuable, but depicts a sense of professionalism in dealing with your own product development engineers, their managers, … [Read more...]
Troubleshooting EMI Seminar with Lee Hill: Interview
By Senior Technical Editor, Kenneth Wyatt. This interview was conducted on Dec 9th, 2015 in anticipation of the upcoming Troubleshooting EMI with Lee Hill: Identify, Characterize, and Prevent Interference Problems Seminar Tour hosted by Rohde & Schwarz and Interference Technology. The tour is running from March 10-24, 2016 in five different cities - Austin, TX; Irvine, CA; … [Read more...]
The HF Current Probe: Theory and Application
This article describes one of the most valuable tools in the EMC engineer's “bag of tricks” – the high-frequency current probe. Current probes are invaluable for measuring high-frequency common-mode (or “antenna”) currents flowing on wires or cables. Experience has proven that poorly terminated (bonded or filtered) cables are the no. 1 cause for radiated emissions failures at a … [Read more...]
