When my son was working on his EE degree he found an article titled: Stop That Noise in the IEEE Potentials, October - November 1995. Being a dutiful son, he brought it home to his EMC-dad and I read it. It is a great little article giving an overview of the cause and effect of EMC problems. The articles primary thrust is to introduce EMC to college students and encourage them … [Read more...]
Where are the Resumes?
Sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle to come up with something relevant to write. I try to write about topical subjects in EMC or spectrum supportability, but sometimes things are just slow. Right now we’re trying to hire a RF Spectrum engineers for some Navy work and it's just hard to find quality resumes. I started wondering why, and I’ve concluded it’s a combination of high … [Read more...]
Let’s Twist Again
Some time ago I introduced the equation for DM radiation from a loop. I also let Howard Johnson make fun of the single ended crowd that do not believe in loops by quoting from one of his articles. (Refer to “Why Digital Engineers Don’t Believe in EMC”, IEEE EMC Society Newsletter, Spring 1998.) The whole article is available on the internet.Anyway, to continue:E = … [Read more...]
The Hybrid Ground System
We’ve already concluded that for low frequencies the Star or SPG ground works best and at the high frequencies, the so-called equipotential ground plane with a MPG system works best. No one grounding system is perfect. On top of that, most of the equipment these days operates at frequencies from DC to daylight, so the grounding design has to cover all frequencies … [Read more...]
Personnel Certification – What’s in it for Me?
I have recently heard, as part of some of my activity with the IEEE EMC Society (which really should be a lot more than it is (my activity, not the EMCs!), but that’s another story), questions about what iNARTE should do for us, as certified EMC Engineers. The gist of the question is: what is the overall benefit to the EMC Society and its members from iNARTE and having one … [Read more...]
The Equipotential Plane That Isn’t
The success of the multipoint ground (MPG) system requires having an extremely-very-low RF impedance grounding connection to an extremely-very-low RF impedance equipotential reference plane. It also helps if the conducting materials are homogeneous and the bad things are kept separate from the good ones. Does that sound easy? You’re right – it’s not! A couple of posts … [Read more...]
Spectrum Soapbox
“Soapbox: Also, soap box; an improvised platform, as one on a street, from which a speaker delivers an informal speech, an appeal, or political harangue” (dictionary.com).Well, it may feel like a harangue, but the fact is that the U.S. Department of Defense remains on its soapbox about the potential impacts of continuing changes in the arena of spectrum use. … [Read more...]
Talking Smack….
So, I attend regular US DoD E3 meetings—aptly titled the DoD E3 Integrated Program Team (IPT) and chaired by the Defense Spectrum Office—held monthly and attended by representatives of the four services, the DoD CIO’s office, the Joint Staff and others. A majority of the discussion these days centers on spectrum activity, rather than purely E3 discussion (those days are … [Read more...]
Twinkle, twinkle, little star . . .
We often wonder how good you are. Want to start a heated argument in the EMC community? Just start talking about grounding systems and why the Star or single point ground (SPG) system is so-o-o-o much better than those ridiculous multipoint ones being used by all those other people. Really? Are they that good? Before I answer that, let me first mention Scott … [Read more...]
Grounding Conductor Limitations!
I briefly mentioned some of the elements of grounding in the last post. Technically, there are three types of grounding systems that work: (1) the single point (a.k.a. star) ground (SPG), which uses wires; (2) the multipoint ground (MPG), which requires a ground plane or mesh; and (3) the floating (no) point ground (FPG). All three utilize some variety of RF … [Read more...]
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