EMC: ”Disregarding EMC as part of a design process can lead to serious problems”

Den snabba teknikutvecklingen . inom många områden innebär nya EMC-utmaningar. Behovet att uppgradera sin befintliga kunskap och komplettera med ny har aldrig varit viktigare. Under EE 2018 i april återkommer vi därför med heldagarskursen inom EMC.
Precis som 2016 är Michel Mardiguian kursledare som under många år har utbildat elektronikingenjörer över hela världen. Michel har också, bland mycket annat, skrivit åtta handböcker om EMC. Så här säger Michel om utmaningarna för EMC idag och imorgon, samt behovet av kompetensutveckling.

Why is EMC such an important issue for today’s electronics production?

– From mere recommendations and black magic recipes, EMC has grown up to a mature discipline that can analyze and predict circuit, equipment, system performance and malfunction, like any engineering domain. Disregarding EMC as part of a design process can lead to serious problems in terms of cost, redesign, liability etc. Part of this, EMC tests that guarantee immunity and non-interference are complex, expensive, adding costs and delays if not foreseen properly.

How big is the need for new skills in the field?

– The need is substantial, but not out-of-reach for a decently managed company. If the key concern is ”new skills”, the newness is in the more sophisticated EMC equipment – smart spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, 3 axis antennas and sensors. The recent progresses in shielding and filtering technologies. Also the uprise of new techniques like nano-technologies and robotics, that bring new EMC approaches, and the growing use of prediction software in EMC analysis.

What are the challenges of the future for EMC?

– The future challenges is that bringing EMC understanding down to the Integrated Circuit (IC) and in-chip level, miniaturization and monumental increase in IC density ( > thousands of active devices / mm2) such as human eye nor human brain can manage at a glance all the possible EMI interactions in a single IC. And the shorter and shorter lead times between the initial ”GO” for a new product and its release to market.

What will you especially emphasize during the EMC course?

– EMC is not a black art, with recipes based on chancy empirical rules. Once its rather simple mechanisms are explained, EMC is like any design discipline. I will especially emphasize the possibility of predicting through analysis, why and how Interference happens. Further to work with prototypes and validate by testing, essential tests and limits and manufacture using the most economical choices of components and process.

– The course will describe the basics of all the above, with many simple, easy-to-understand real life examples.

Om kursledaren

Michel Mardiguian, IEEE Senior Member, graduated electrical engineer BSEE, MSEE, born in Paris, 1941. Michel Mardiguian started his EMC career in 1974 as the local IBM EMC specialist. From 1976 to 1980, he was also the French delegate to the CISPR Working Group on computer RFI, participating to what became CISPR 22, the root document for FCC 15-J and European EN55022. In 1980, he joined Don White Consultants (later re-named ICT) in Gainesville, Virginia, USA, becoming Director of Training, then VP Engineering. He developed the market of EMC seminars, teaching himself more than 160 classes in the US and worldwide. Established since 1990 as a private consultant in France, teaching EMI, RFI, and ESD classes and working on consulting tasks from EMC design to firefighting. One top involvement has been the EMC of the Channel Tunnel, with his British colleagues of Interference Technology International. Michel has authored 8 widely sold handbooks, two of them being translated in Japanese and Chinese. He has presented 28 papers at IEEE and Zurich EMC Symposia, and various conferences, and authored 23 articles in technical magazines.