The EMC 2010 Symposium took place in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, on July 25-30. The theme of the 2010 Symposium is "Systems Engineering" and the emphasis was on preventing or catching EMC issues early in design with proper modeling and early testing. The technical program was designed to cover everything from EMC fundamentals to advanced numerical techniques for prediction and control.
The Symposium offered a diverse range of sessions, meetings, experiments, demonstrations, professional development and society awards. There were displays of highly integrated systems that demonstrated innovative efforts put forth by EMC engineers to integrate large systems with challenging EMC designs. The technical sessions provided in-depth coverage of system EMC and EMC management, EMI testing and component design challenges. We heard several loud explosions each day as the fuel cell demo boomed through the exhibition hall during each session. The workshops and tutorials offered a wealth of information on basic EMC integration.
The exhibition was very busy for the first couple of hours on the first day, but seemed to slow until happy hour. Traffic the other days was normal. Most exhibitors were happy with the quality of the attendees, as most people attending the shows are the ones really involved in this area. Some of the major companies with a large presence were AR, R&S, ETS Lindgren, Agilent, SPEAG, TDK, Teseq, CST and Ansoft to mention a few. We took videos of five major exhibitors demonstrating their products for the show.
Here is a wrap up of the companies we visited during the show and their featured products:
Aeroflex has several test solutions in its booth including the 3250 series spectrum analyzer operating from 1 kHz up to 26.5 GHz. Phase noise is -115 dBc/Hz, DANL of -145 dBm/Hz and standard 30 MHz I/Q demodulation bandwidth. It is optimized for various mobile and wireless communications standards such as GSM/EDGE, UMTS, WiMAX and WiBRO.
Agilent Technologies introduced the N/W6141A EMC measurement application for its X-Series signal analyzers (see video). The EMC measurement application enables easier, more accurate pre-compliance emissions testing of prototype electrical components, sub-assemblies and systems. It is the only pre-compliance test solution on the market today that helps users reduce test margins, while ensuring their devices meet all regulatory limits. It allows R&D engineers to evaluate the EMI performance of their designs. Its sensitivity and measurement accuracy enables identification of low-level signals and guarantees more precise measurement of signals against commercial (CISPR 16-1-1) and MIL-STD limits with pass/fail and delta indicators. It also enables easy differentiation of ambient signals from device emissions. A frequency scan can be used to continuously search and measure signals, while a strip chart display and real-time detectors enable views of intermittent emissions over time.
Agilent also had various other equipment/software on hand like their FieldFox handhelds and SystemVue. The SystemVue product fully automated the process to define SERDES behavioral architecture and synthesize IBIS AMI Models with a single click of a button.
Ansoft was featuring HFSS 12.1 simulation tool for 3D full-wave EM field simulation. HFSS provides E- and H-fields, currents, S-parameters and near and far radiated field results. Also their SIwave software (2D post layout verification) analyzes entire PCBs and IC packages prevalent in modern electronics products. The tool allows engineers to perform complete signal- and power-integrity analyses from DC to beyond 10 Gb/s.
AR had the featured booth right inside the main entrance displaying the wide variety of EMC offerings including antennas, amplifiers, field monitoring, instruments, generators, receivers, modules and EMC/RF test cells and systems. One product they were featuring was the “S” Series (solid state) amplifiers ranging in frequency from 0.8 to 18 GHz and generating 1 to 800 Watts of power (see video). They have amplifiers up to a whopping 100,000 W (2 to 32 MHz) including 40,000 W at 1 GHz.
They were showing their EMI receiver operating from 9 kHz to 18 GHz, which is expandable to 40 GHz, and the new Model ATR26M6G-1 antenna that is uniquely suited for use in both traditional applications and in compact test chambers. Its broad frequency range addresses existing RF susceptibility requirements as well as anticipated developments. The ATR26M6G-1 features a 75% size reduction over standard log periodic antennas covering this frequency range. It is matched to work directly with AR’s “W,” “S” and “A” series RF power amplifiers. Also of note was the company's new EMC test software, which was offered for free at the show.
ARC was at the show with their materials solutions such as their WaveX heat shrink tube absorber for EMI/RFI control. It is designed to integrate seamlessly with wire and cable assemblies, neatly sealing junctions and connector interfaces while absorbing unwanted EMI interference.
CPI Satcom was displaying its complete line of high-powered CW and pulsed instrumentation amplifiers for EMC testing, available in octave and multi-octave bandwidths from 1.0 GHz to 95.0 GHz and power levels exceeding 2.0 kW to meet the new military and automotive standards. CPI is the only supplier that manufactures both the traveling wave tube (TWT) and the TWT amplifier.
CST announced major workflow improvements for EMC simulation at the show. CST’s complete technology for 3D EM simulation is further enhanced by tighter integration of CST CABLE STUDIO™ (CST CS) and the CST MICROWAVE STUDIO® (CST MWS) TLM solver in CST STUDIO SUITE™ 2011. Users of CST STUDIO SUITE 2011, interested in the analysis of radiated emissions and susceptibility, will benefit from a single unified environment for all EMC related modeling tasks, including greatly simplified model set up and simulation. The CST MWS TLM solver (Microstripes) and CST CS provide features for “real world” EMC analysis including coupled simulations which enable large system analysis and installed performance studies.
Delcross Technologies develops simulation software and provides engineering services for electromagnetic and RF phenomena as well as develops RF measurement systems. Their EMIT software predicts co-site interference between RF systems. EMIT employs a multi-fidelity modeling approach that allows the user to employ whatever data is available to them and refine their models as they gather more information. The Savant software predicts installed antenna performance for antennas mounted on electrically large platforms. Delcross also offers a measurement system for characterizing the broadband performance of RF systems, which can be used by EMIT for more accurate simulations.
ETS Lindgren also had a major presence at the show including horn antennas, calibration software, LED chamber lighting (see video), anechoic absorber, EMI shielded camera, ruggedized cases and tabletop test enclosure. They introduced their RF shielded LED chamber lighting offering 50,000 hours life, low temperature, reduced energy consumption and easy installation into existing test chambers. Their double-ridged waveguide horn antenna features broadband performance from 400 MHz to 6 GHz, 1500 W power input capacity, optimized high frequency gain, low VSWR and flexible mounting system.
FEKO offers a comprehensive EM analysis software suite, building on state of the art computational EM (CEM) techniques to provide users with software that can solve a wide range of electromagnetic problems. They told us they would have a new release, 6.0, in September.
LeCroy was displaying their real time 40 MHz to 30 GHz oscilloscopes. Their WaveMaster 8 Zi Series claims to be the fastest real time oscilloscope (with no boosting). They feature 80 GS/s, 512 Mpts of analysis memory and can perform 32 measurements at a time. They also have the largest displays in the industry. There has been a lot of action on the oscilloscope front with Agilent’s new 32 GHz BW Infiniium 90000 X-Series, Tektronix and just entering the market Rohde & Schwarz RTO oscilloscopes with 10 GS/s.
Rohde & Schwarz demonstrated its broad range of instruments designed for EMC measurement such as Rohde & Schwarz EMI receivers, complete benchtop full-compliance and pre-compliance systems, as well as the new R&S RTO Series of oscilloscopes just introduced last month.
The R&S ESU is a family of CISPR16-1-1-compliant EMI test receivers (20 Hz to 8, 26.5, or 40 GHz) that meet all civil and military standards for electromagnetic interference measurements. The R&S ESL Series is the first in its class to combine an EMI test receiver and spectrum analyzer in a single instrument. The R&S ESCI7 is a standards-compliant measuring receiver for EMC certification measurements in accordance with CISPR 16-1-1 from 9 kHz to 7 GHz. The R&S ESPI test receiver brings features found in Rohde & Schwarz full-compliance EMI test receivers to pre-compliance measurements. The R&S BBA100 is a modular broadband amplifier delivers up to 500 W from 9 kHz to 1 GHz and can tolerate a 100% impedance mismatch for rugged reliability. The R&S RTO and the RTM are the first oscilloscopes offered by Rohde Schwarz and were introduced in June. They feature the highest active signal acquisition rate on the market, the first real-time digital trigger system and intuitive touch-screen operation (see video). The R&S SMB100A has a wide range of features, covers 9 kHz to 6 GHz, and delivers industry-leading spectral performance, making it an excellent choice for EMC applications.
TDK RF Solutions was displaying its components, software and system solutions for EMC/EMI. The company teams with Agilent to sell individual components and software or bundled products, such as pre-compliant systems. These can be configured in table top systems or completely integrated into a rack. They offer turn-key pre-compliant solutions such as EMI-3000P and EMI-6000P that include TDK automation software, Agilent EXA/MXA signal analyzer, TDK antennas/accessories plus integration and training. They also specialize in custom systems designed to user’s needs (see video).
Tektronix was featuring its spectrum analyzers, such as the RSA6120A, for pre-EMI compliance. The RSA6120A operates from 9 kHz to 20 GHz with 40 MHz BW (opt to 110 MHz). A typical 20 dBm TOI and –151 dBm/Hz DANL at 2 GHz gives a dynamic range for challenging spectrum analysis measurements. It allows for problem identification, isolation and triggering on events to diagnose and solve problems. Its speed has enable automated testing reducing one test time from 18 hrs to 10 min.
I was not familiar with Teseq, so decided to drop in on them as they had a large presence at the show. The company had several recent announcements including the improvement of its ITS 6006 (Immunity Test System) for radiated EMC immunity testing by enhancing the RF power meters used in conjunction with the unit. The ITS 6006 features two updated, rugged RF power meter models with an expanded frequency range from 1 MHz to 6 GHz and linear measurement range of -45 to +20 dBm. Teseq also recently announced that they offer a cost-effective, high-performance digital EMI receiver/analyzer with optimum measurement parameters for those EMC labs that do not require full CISPR compliance for radiated emissions measurements.