An Example of Why Military EMI Qualification is a Serious Issue Patrick André (of André Consulting) tells the story of how he got his start in EMC. He was hired, in part, to investigate a serious problem with the engine controller on a Navy ship. The ship was headed for sea trials in the North Pacific and passing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Captain ordered ship to shore communication of the ship's status. Immediately after the radio transmission began, the ship's engines shut down. Needless to say, the captain was not delighted about this feature. Upon investigation (back at the Naval base), the problem was found to be a combination of hardware and software controls. The ship was equipped with two screws (propellers to those who are not sea worthy). Each screw shaft had a torque sensor to measure the force applied to the screws. When the command from the bridge was given to sail straight, the software would adjust the engines to maintain equal torque. One of the torque sensors was located directly under the transmitting antenna for the ship-to-shore radio. When keyed, the sensor readings were greatly exaggerated. To compensate, the engines were reduced until the readings equalized. The software quickly backed the engines all the way off, and the readings would not equalize. As you can understand, the ship's Captain and other Navy commanders were quite concerned about a system failure that would cause a ship to become 'dead in the water.' The problem was solved by placing a few capacitors from line to chassis on the signal and DC power lines. The fix was incredibly simple for the severity and consequences of the problem.

 

Doug Smith projects information on IC package noise at the Central New England Chapter meeting.

Boston (Central New England)
John Clarke, Chapter Chair, reports that one meeting has been held by the CNE Chapter since the last issue of the EMC Newsletter. On Wednesday, May 21, Doug Smith, of D.C. Smith Consultants, Los Gatos, California presented, "Troubleshooting IC Package Noise." Parasitics in IC packages can affect the performance of the chip inside, particularly when a new technology chip replaces an existing custom chip in the same package. Such a combination, a new chip in an old package, has been a source of many working weekends on the part of an engineer trying to track down the resulting problems. A simple effective way of evaluating if an IC package and chip combination is robust was presented. The procedure can be performed in an hour or two and the results will determine if the chip and package combination is robust or not. All that is required is a scope, a paper clip (or other stiff wire) and a suitable voltage probe. To illustrate the principles involved, a live demonstration was made on a chip mounted on a working modem board. The meeting was attended by 15 members and 7 guests. The next meeting will be held in September. This is usually a joint meeting with the Northeast Product Safety Society (NPSS). The joint EMC-PSTC meetings have been held annually since 1997. In the meantime, the Boston 2003 Committee members are very busy with preparations for the Symposium scheduled for August 18 to 22. Most of the committee members and volunteers are CNEC EMCS members.

Central Texas Chapter officers Jim Greenwood of Airep, Dianne Brown of ETS-Lindgren, and Rich Worley of Dell Computer (from left) congratulate Diane Kempf of the Naval Air Warfare Center for winning the big prize: a digital camera! There to lend support was Mike Hatfield (far right), Technical Program Chair for the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber, and OATS Users Meeting. The Chapter sponsored the raffle that was held during the reception celebrating the successful conclusion of the three-day conference.

Mike Hatfield (foreground right) of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia held court during the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber, and OATS Users Meeting in Austin. And why not, he's "Mr. Reverb" in the industry!

Italian EMC engineers were well represented in Austin. The "Father of Reverb", Paolo Corona (left) from the Naval University of Naples, joined Monica D'Urso from Alenia Aeronautica and her husband, Paolo Torazzo, at a traditional Texan barbecue following the workshops held in conjunction with the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber and OATS Users Meeting.

Janet O'Neil of ETS-Lindgren, Tim Stevens of Dell Computer and Betty Robertson of Lyncole XIT Grounding (from left) enjoyed meeting the Central Texas Chapter members as well as the international gathering of engineers that attended the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber, and OATS Users Meeting.

Tom Hampton of Laird Technologies was an enthusiastic lunch sponsor for the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber, and OATS Users Meeting tabletop exhibition.

Ross Carlton of Motorola (left) enjoyed visiting with Toni Gurga of Credence Technologies during the tabletop exhibition organized by the Central Texas EMC Chapter during the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber, and OATS Users Meeting.

These engineers found a common bond in GTEM test methodology during the Austin meeting. Shown from left are Bill McDade of Corning Gilbert, David Wilson of C&D Technologies, Garth D'Abreu of ETS-Lindgren and John Ladbury of NIST.

It's not everyday you attend an EMC conference and get to see a major studio filming! "The Alamo" with Billy Bob Thorton was filming during the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber, and OATS Users Meeting in downtown Austin across the street from the Intercontinental Hotel, site of the conference.

Ken Baker of Amplifier Research welcomed Central Texas Chapter members Bob Ripley of Austin EMC and Greg Jurrens of Test Tech (from left) to his booth during the tabletop exhibition.

Jim Ott (left) and Norio Sasaki from TDK were on hand to showcase their products and services during the Central Texas Chapter event in downtown Austin on April 30.

Richard Worley, Chair of the Central Texas EMC Chapter, enjoys the sunshine of Austin from the balcony of the Intercontinental Hotel. Note the State Capitol in the background. They say everything is bigger in Texas and that's true in the case of the Capitol building. Modeled after the Washington DC Capitol, it is 10' taller!

Central Texas
Some 60 engineers dedicated to reverberation chamber, anechoic chamber and OATS testing methodology came to Austin, Texas over April 28-30 for the 2003 Reverberation Chamber, Anechoic Chamber and OATS Users Meeting. The engineers represented nine countries and a diverse mix of commercial and government organizations. This "think-tank" of leading industry experts convenes every 12 to 18 months to share the latest research undertaken in this specific area. Michael O. Hatfield of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia, Janet O'Neil of ETS-Lindgren in Cedar Park, Texas, and Mike Windler of Underwriters Laboratories in Northbrook, Illinois again teamed for their third effort in sponsoring and organizing this unique three-day event. The meeting started with a series of hands-on workshops at the ETS-Lindgren facility nearby. Attendees participated in workshops dedicated to reverberation chambers, GTEMs, and instrumentation uncertainty on an OATS. Technical material presented was enhanced with hands-on demonstrations using "real" equipment, such as ETS-Lindgren's full vehicle sized reverberation chamber. ETS-Lindgren hosted a traditional Texan style barbeque following the workshops complete with a frozen margarita machine. Horseshoes and a golf range were available for guests to play nearby their OATS. Following the workshops were two days of technical presentations held at the historic Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Austin. An awards banquet was held one evening to recognize the "best paper" presented by Tim Harrington of the FCC. His paper provided an update on informal laboratory comparison of reverberation chamber, GTEM, FAR and OATS using refrad and EU FAR project simple EUT. The final day of the presentations featured an informal tabletop exhibition by over 20 vendors of EMC related products and services in a neighboring ballroom. Organized by the Central Texas Chapter of the IEEE EMC Society, this exhibition perfectly complemented the technical presentations. Chapter Chairman Richard Worley of Dell Computer Corporation was on hand along with Chapter Webmaster Tim Stevens, also of Dell Computer Corporation, to ensure attendees were able to visit the vendors and get the latest information in advancing EMC technology. However, behind the scenes it was Chapter Secretary Mark Prchlik of Laird Technologies Company that directly handled the exhibition, along with the able help of Chapter Event Coordinator Dianne Brown of ETS-Lindgren. The Chapter's Steering Committee, including Ed Bronaugh and Bob Hunter, as well as Chapter Vice-Chair Jim Greenwood of Airep Electronics also participated. Mr. Bronaugh, of EdB EMC Consultants, in particular contributed his expertise on measurement uncertainty to one of the workshops. It was a full three days of diverse activities that kept the meeting lively and informative. All agreed it was one of the best meetings held to date with this group!

Frank Krozel, the 2003 IEEE EMC Chicago MiniSymposium Chairman, introduces speaker Mike Hopkins of Thermo KeyTek (left).

Kevin Baldwin of ETS-Lindgren (left), was presented with a speaker appreciation award by Ray Klouda, Chicago Chapter President during the 2003 IEEE EMC Chicago MiniSymposium.

Ray Klouda, Chicago Chapter President (left), presents DLS Electronics' Roger Swanberg with the Chapter's "Person of The Year Award."

Sean Emerson of Rohde & Schwarz speaking to attendees at the Chicago MiniSymposium.

John Whitney of Amplifier Research (center) appears with a MiniSymposium attendee and Mike Keppert of Electronic Instrument Associates (right) at Chicago's MiniSymposium.

Mike Keppert of Electronic Instrument Associates' Wisconsin office takes time to visit the EM Test booth at the 2003 IEEE EMC Chicago MiniSymposium.

 

Chicago
The Chicago Chapter held their annual MiniSymposium on May 20 and it was well attended. Although the Chicago marketplace is still struggling, the EMC engineers were optimistic and eager to learn from the speakers! The technical paper topics were selected to address the local needs of our marketplace. We look forward to a good year for EMC in the Chicago area. We plan to have another MiniSymposium next year, in the same place on Tuesday, May 18, 2004.
Editor's Note: Subsequent to submitting this text for Chapter Chatter, Frank Krozel shared the sad news on the passing of Michael Keppert, 42, shown in these Newsletter photos. Mike worked with Frank for many years and was a pleasant personality at EMC Chapter events in Chicago and Milwaukee. He passed away from injuries sustained in a highway accident when a tire came off a pickup truck and crashed through his windshield on the driver's side. Friends of Keppert described him as generous and a man of faith.
"Mike donated money anonymously to help people who were adopting children with special needs," said Ingrid Schlueter, host of the radio program "Crosstalk" on WVCY-FM (107.7). Schlueter's radio program broadcasts a weekly feature on a child with special needs waiting to be adopted. Many times Keppert e-mailed or called her after the programs to assure her that if money was an obstacle to people interested in an adoption, he would help, Schlueter said. Keppert was on a business trip when the fatal accident occurred, said his wife, Sally, who is expecting the couple's first child in November. Frank Krozel has started a Trust Fund for the baby along with members of the Keppert family. Donations may be sent to: Sally Keppert, c/o Electronic Instrument Associates - Central, Inc., 123 East Lake St., Suite 300, Bloomingdale, IL 60108.

France
Dr. André Berthon reports that the French Chapter held a meeting on April 25th at the Institut Supérieur d'Electronique de Paris. The meeting was devoted to reports on recent EMC work and included four presentations, followed by a discussion. The presentation titles were "Electromagnetic Cartography Test Bench" by François de Daran of VALEO, "Wide Band Dipolar Probe for Monitoring of Reverberation Chambers", "Lowering of the RCS of an Anechoic Chamber" by Gil Cottard of ANTEM, and "Invention for the Cancellation of Cross Talk in Interconnects" by Frédéric Broydé of EXCEM.

Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley Joint EMC/Reliability Chapter wound down its meeting and guest speaker engagements for the first half of this year. Chair Irina Kasperovich is making arrangements to host Distinguished Lecturers for the remaining luncheon meetings this year, which will resume after the summer hiatus. The recent meetings have been successful and well attended due to an excellent array of guest speakers, complimentary pizza and beverages, CD collections of our EMC symposia proceedings available upon request at the meetings, and the growing interest in EMC topics in the information age. The major activity this past term was the Annual Mohawk Valley IEEE Section and St. Lawrence Subsection Awards Banquet-an event at which many of the Section's worthy award recipients are recognized for their various contributions and accomplishments to the local technical and professional community. The Awards Banquet was held on 30 April. The Section awarded Sharon Hall the Charles A. Strom Engineering Award. Sharon is an IEEE Student Member and belongs to the IEEE EMC and Computer Societies. She is also an active member in the IEEE Student Branch at the SUNY Institute of Technology in Marcy, New York. The Engineering Recognition award is named in honor of Charles A. Strom, a highly respected electrical engineer throughout the world for his pioneering efforts and contributions in the art, science and practice of communications. Charlie spent the last 47 years of his life in Central New York promoting and advocating engineering at work, through professional activities, and as an adjunct Professor at the SUNY Institute of Technology. He held the distinguished grade of Life Fellow of the IEEE, it highest grade, and was a founding member of many of its national level, technical societies. Up to two awards are given annually to recognize and reward students who demonstrate outstanding talent in engineering related math and sciences and who are pursuing a degree in computer, electronic or electrical engineering or engineering technology. Sharon recently received a B.S. Degree in Computer Science from SUNY IT and is in the process of obtaining her M.S. in Computer Science also from SUNY IT. Congratulations Sharon!

The EMC Fest 2003 Orange County Organizing Committee (from left) Randy Flinders of Emulex Corp., Robert Tozier of CKC Labs, Janet O'Neil of ETS-Lindgren, Ed Nakauchi of Laird Technologies, and Rick Candelas of Aegis Labs.

The Hi-Tech Audio/Visual presentation allowed the audience to view real-time demonstrations and experiments illustrating the concepts presented during EMC Fest 2003 Orange County.

The state-of-the-art meeting room for EMC Fest 2003 Orange County offered an illuminated work surface and power ports to all attendees.

W. Michael King and Douglas C. Smith were the featured speakers at EMC Fest 2003 Orange County on June 12th.

Lunch sponsors Allen and David Fischer of Fischer Custom Communications visit with Reception sponsor Jerry Page of Northwest EMC (from left) at the exhibition held during EMC Fest 2003 Orange County.

 

Orange County
Randy Flinders, Chapter Vice-Chair, reports that it was a cool, overcast day on June 12th, 2003, when about 80 EMC professionals from Orange County, California and the surrounding regions converged on the Irvine Hyatt Regency Hotel. They were all gathering together to attend EMCFest 2003 - Orange County, hosted by the Orange County EMC Chapter. The Program: W. Michael King and Douglas C. Smith gave a one-day talk entitled "Electromagnetic Compatibility - Black Magic Dispelled (and Replaced with Basic Physics)." It was an excellent program which incorporated several real-time experiments designed to drive the concepts presented home to the attendees. Instead of the typical format where each speaker prepares and covers a separate section, both speakers interacted throughout the presentation, from conception through closing remarks. The Setup: The meeting room was outfitted with stadium style seating, with personal lamps and power ports provided to each attendee. The Audio/Visual setup was unprecedented at an EMCFest event, utilizing a room-width screen, two LCD projectors, a notebook PC, a video camera, an Agilent Oscilloscope, and "video switching technology." (O.K. - it was just one of those VGA switches.) The setup allowed the audience to view the experiments in real time with the results (scope trace) up for all to see. This was very well received and really brought the presentations to life. The Participants: It was not just the technical presentation that brought so many EMC professionals out of their cubicles! At EMCFest 2003, there were over 20 of the leading providers of EMC products, services, and test equipment on hand with the latest technology on display. The EMCFest 2003 organizing committee would like to give a special thanks to Fischer Custom Communications for sponsoring the lunch, and to Amplifier Research, Northwest EMC, and Rohde & Schwarz for sponsoring the reception! Also, special thanks to ETS-Lindgren for loaning out Janet O'Neil! The Raffle: If the technical presentation didn't bring them in, and the surplus of information on the latest EMC products and services didn't do it, then it may have been the amazing raffle prizes that brought some folks from as far away as Eugene, Oregon. Congratulations to Carl Vogelsang of Boeing, winner of the Sony 3 mega-pixel digital camera, Mario Robles of Boeing, winner of the EMCT EMC training software package, and to Michelle Radpour, the Com-Power near field probe set winner! This outstanding raffle would not have been possible if not for the generous prize donations from Aegis Labs, Elliott Labs, and Com-Power Corporation. If you missed EMCFest 2003 - don't worry! The Los Angeles EMC Chapter will be sponsoring a similar event next Spring. In the meantime, visit www.ieee.org/oc-emc for the latest updates in EMC related events in the Orange County, California area.

Members of the Oregon-SW Washington chapter gather prior to the ITE update presentation by Bruce Harlacher of Fischer Custom Communications.

Bruce Harlacher of Fischer Custom Communications before his April presentation to the Oregon-SW Washington chapter.

Dr. Cheung-Wei Lam from Apple Computer presented EMC design issues to the Oregon-SW Washington chapter in May.

Oregon-Southwest Washington
Dave Britton, the Vice Chair of the Oregon and SW Washington chapter reports that the April 30th meeting with Bruce Harlacher of Fischer Custom Communications, Inc was a big hit. His presentation was entitled, "CISPR 22: Radiated and Conducted Emissions Testing for Information Technology Equipment, What's Happening with the 4th Edition Due August 2003? Plus, Just How Does CISPR Operate?" The presentation was well attended. We look forward to hearing more from Bruce and his continuing work on CISPR issues. Our thanks go to Fischer Custom Communications for supporting Bruce's visit. At the May 21st chapter meeting, Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Cheung-Wei Lam from Apple Computer gave a paper entitled, "Signal Integrity Design versus Radiated Emission Control." The attendees thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and many questions were asked. Dr. Lam presented a number of subtle design points that can seriously impact EMC performance. The Oregon-SW Washington Chapter also held an election for the 2003/2004 chapter officers at the May 21st meeting. The current officers ran again as candidates for the coming term. The new officers are Derick Skouby as Chair, David Britton as Vice Chair, William Owsley as Treasurer, Chuck Britten as Secretary, Camille Good as Communications Director and Varuzhan Kocharyan as the Membership Director. We have scheduled Chris Kendall, EMCS Distinguished Lecturer, of CKC Laboratories, to speak at our fall kickoff meeting at the end of September. Chris does a great presentation so be sure to put this one on your calendar. For details on the date and time, check our website in September at: http://www.worldaccessnet.com/~emc/

Bruce Wallick of Tektronix highlights the need to lay out PC Board traces as transmission lines for high-speed signals to the Phoenix Chapter.

Phoenix
Harry Gaul, Chapter Chair, reports that the Phoenix EMC Chapter was pleased to welcome Bruce Wallick, Field Applications Engineer for Tektronix, on April 3rd. Bruce presented a talk entitled "Signal Integrity in Measurement Systems." Bruce began his talk with a review of today's faster (and ever faster) digital signals including Firewire (IEEE 1394b), with speeds up to 1.6Gbps. Because of these very high speeds, digital signals can be thought of as switching analog signals. Bruce also made the point that EMI and crosstalk increases as the edge rate increases. To mitigate these problems, signal traces should be routed as controlled impedance transmission lines with either source or load end termination. As an example, if a signal has 1ns edge rates, then any trace exceeding 3cm in length should be routed as a transmission line. Bruce completed his talk with recommendations concerning the proper choice of oscilloscope and probe bandwidth so as to ensure valid measurements of fast rise time signals. In general, the 3dB measurement bandwidth should be greater than 0.35/tr where tr is the signal rise time. The presentation materials from this meeting as well as announcements for future meetings are available on the Phoenix EMC Chapter Web site at http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/phoenixphoenixemc/.

Lee Hill explains an EMC concept during his May presentation in Colorado.

Charles Grasso (right), Vice-Chair of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, thanks Lee Hill of Silent Solutions for his presentation.

Chris Kendall of CKC Labs explains Military Emissions requirements to the members of the Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Matt Aschenberg of Echostar Technologies is shown explaining the finer points of prediction at the May meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter.

The audience asked many questions during Chris Kendall's presentation.

Matt Aschenberg (left) and Charles Grasso (right) thank speaker Colin Brench of Hewlett Packard.

Bob Reinert, Chapter Chair, with Storage Technology, (far left) and Charles Grasso, Chapter Vice Chair, thank Chris Kendall for his June presentation to the Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Bill Ritenour of EMC Compliance, LLC addresses an expectant group at the January Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting.

At his May presentation in Colorado, Dr. Bruce Archambeault of IBM reaches high to make his point.

Bob Johnk of NIST gave his "Ultrawideband Metrology" presentation at the IEEE Technical Symposium of the Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Matt Aschenberg (left) and Charles Grasso (right) thank Bill Ritenour.

Colin Brench begins his presentation marathon at the Rocky Mountain Chapter's February meeting.

Rocky Mountain
Charles Grasso, Vice Chair, reports that 2003 has thus far been very active for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the EMC Society. The winter sessions kicked off on January 23 with "Power Distribution System Decoupling - How 'Bout Them Vias?" delivered by T.J. (Bill) Ritenour. The power distribution system of a printed circuit board is a vital if unglamorous component in the struggle to maximize signal integrity while simultaneously minimizing radiated emissions. As circuit speeds increase, faster signal edges cause larger and larger consequential Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN). This is due to the faster current transitions that must flow through the Power Distribution System (PDS) and on to the logic devices that draw power from it. The PDS-logic device paths are inherently inductive, and, in a typical PWB, significant levels of Ldi/dt noise will abound. This talk covered some of the basic elements of the PDS power and ground planes before focusing on vias, decoupling capacitors, pad layouts and the equivalent inductance of the decoupling current paths. Inductance minimization methodologies applied to oscillator and logic circuits were presented. The Chapter's February meeting was an impromptu delivery by Colin Brench of Hewlett Packard titled "Antenna Behavior and Use - (What Really Goes on During a Test?!)" and "Understanding EMI Shield Behavior in Real Product Environments." The officers of the RMC EMC Chapter would like to thank Colin Brench for delivering two papers in an EMC double header. Some brave souls defied the elements (yes, it actually snowed!) and benefited from two excellent presentations. In the first presentation, "Antenna Behavior and Use - (What Really Goes on During a Test?!)," Colin explored the history of measurement techniques and looked at the magnitude of the errors introduced, and showed how, through the use of computational techniques, this problem is slowly being addressed. The first anomaly that Colin explored was the ubiquitous Antenna Factor. In a classic case of bureaucracy overcoming physics, Colin showed how having a constant antenna factor is really incorrect when testing an actual product. One attendee (much to the dismay of others) commented that if this test metric was properly implemented that, "we would end up with more failing products!" Colin then explored the behaviors of a number of different antennas in the EMC test environment and showed the errors involved as a result of the disconnect between the ways the antennas are designed, used and calibrated. All in all, it was a very informative and illuminating discussion. In a feat of speaker fortitude, Colin, after only a five minute break, presented "Understanding EMI Shield Behavior in Real Product Environments." As EMC engineers, we know that EMI shielding is a mainstay of EMI control. Frankly, without it, regulatory life would be very difficult indeed. However, there are often opposing requirements imposed on an enclosure's design. The EMC engineer tries hard to have no holes or slots but then the mechanical engineer insists on adding holes and slots to cool the electronics. In Colin's second presentation, he used test data and modeling to demonstrate and explain some commonly seen, but often misunderstood shielding problems. Typical cases were presented including the effects of internal and external cables when located close to an array of apertures. Any proximal conductors can influence the shielding performance of an enclosure, and can create windows where the shielding is much lower than anticipated resulting in excessive emissions. Colin also demonstrated the errors of using the existing SE equations. He further elaborated that there may be situations when an EMI shield can be working much better than thought; under these conditions, larger apertures are possible. To round off the evening, Colin showed some nifty simulation animations that showed the effects of cables, slots and even mounting ears. Thanks Colin for a great show! The March Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting was incorporated into the IEEE Denver Technical Symposium. The symposium was held at Denver University and was hosted by IEEE Section 5. In a show of support for the RMC EMC chapter, three scientists from the National Institute of Standards & Technology, RF Technology Division, located at Boulder, CO gave up one of their weekend days to present papers at the IEEE Denver Technical Symposium. First up was Robert Johnk with "Ultrawideband Metrology at NIST." Bob presented a nice summary of the theory and some of the promise for ultrawideband measurement systems. He relayed that a single event contains all the information of the unit under test. Gated properly, it is possible to test in non-ideal test locations and still make meaningful measurements. Some applications for Wideband Metrology are Precision Antenna Calibrations, characterizing scattering and propagation in measurement facilities and airframe shielding and cabin propagation. Next up was Chriss Grosvenor who presented "TEM Horn Antenna Design: Theory and Simulation." Integral to the ultrawideband metrology technology is the TEM horn antenna and Chriss showed some of the design intricacies that can be modeled and measured to understand and build an efficient design. Last, but not least, was David Novotny with "Ultrawideband Diagnostic Imaging of EMC Facilities." Using this technology, the accurate mapping of a test facility in a short period of time is now possible. In addition, by studying the reflections, it is possible to pinpoint the location of site anomalies. The May RMC EMC Chapter meeting(s) featured not one, not two, not three, but four technical presentations! On May 13th Lee Hill, in a meeting sponsored by Steward Ferrite, agreed to deliver "Signal Integrity/EMI Challenges & Design Solutions - A Seminar." The officers of the RMC EMC Society wish to extend their thanks for the support of Steward Ferrite and Lee Hill for agreeing to this impromptu meeting. The chapter benefited greatly from Lee Hill's excellent presentation and technical information on ferrites. Lee started the meeting by summarizing the challenges of EMI and using simple models. Lee described some typical EMI sources and how to find them. Lee reviewed some low, broadband and high frequency EMI problems and went on to some typical EMI fixes. A natural byproduct was a short discussion on how to avoid EMI problems in the first place as well as an overview of EMI challenges awaiting the unwary. Lee then focused very closely on ferrites and how they affected the EMI noise source model. He discussed some placement tips and shared some secrets of using ferrites. He then went into a description of common-mode vs. differential mode current and voltage with some design trade offs that might have to be considered. Lee then approached the issue of power bus filtering and some sneaky problems that lurk in the design shadows. All in all, this was a very comprehensive review of ferrites and how they might be applied in upfront design. Thanks Lee! 28 members and non-members of the IEEE were treated to three presentations at the Rocky Mountain Chapter's May 20th meeting. The meeting was started by Matt Aschenberg of Echostar Technologies with a presentation entitled "Predicting the Future - The GTEM tamed?" In his presentation, Matt addressed the age old (well ~25 yrs anyway) problem of correlation. All EMC engineers are familiar with the problems associated with comparing data between different OATS sites, let alone between a non-traditional site (such as a GTEM) and an OATS. Mat proposed a new way of looking at the problem. Instead of trying for a point for point correlation, why not use statistics to predict the probability of an EUT passing or failing? The presentation generated a great deal of discussion and served as a nice warm up for the main event. After a short break, Dr. Bruce Archambeault, in another example of the stamina of our Distinguished Lecturers, launched into the mysteries of EMI in printed circuit boards and that other mysterious technology: the humble decoupling capacitor. His presentations were titled, "Avoiding Typical PCB EMI Problems" and "Effective Power/Ground Plane Decoupling." Bruce focused the group very strongly on what was really important in EMI - current - not voltage. Bruce then put up a slide that displayed all the variants around the word "ground" and stated quite categorically that the only thing ground was good for was planting potatoes. Bruce was encouraging us to regard ground as a return path instead. Multi-layer PCBs typically contain a number of different high speed signals. Successful routing of all these signals often require some of the standard EMC "rules" to be violated; for example, trace density forcing traces to cross splits. A detailed presentation on the effectiveness of decoupling capacitors then followed which led nicely to that other myth laden area of EMC: decoupling. While there has been a lot of attention on this topic, there is still significant confusion about the best strategy for decoupling. This part of the talk focused on the sources of noise that the decoupling capacitors are intended to control, and the physics involved in the noise propagation, and how to properly analyze the decoupling capacitor performance. Using simulation, Bruce showed that the analysis must be performed in both the time domain and the frequency domain. The frequency domain analysis is a steady state analysis, determines resonances, and is most useful for analyzing EMI emissions. The time-domain analysis is a transient analysis and will help determine how well the current is delivered to the IC, and ultimately, how large (or small) the generated noise pulse will become. Real-world examples of measurements, as well as computer simulations were used to demonstrate the optimal decoupling strategy. At their June meeting, the Rocky Mountain Chapter welcomed Chris Kendall of CKC Labs who presented, "EMC Design Considerations for Military Systems Utilizing High Speed Commercial Interfaces Such As USB, Firewire, 100 BaseT, DUI and SERDES." In a different direction from the usual "ITE centric" EMC presentations, Chris accepted an invitation to speak to the RMCEMC on Military EMC Design. Many new military designs, especially those that employ video systems, are utilizing digital high speed data buses including DVI, Serdes, Fibre Channel, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), and Ethernet. In some cases, all of the above are being incorporated into the same system. Because some of these systems are being located in the cockpit area of the aircraft, the new designs are expected to meet MIL-STD-461E, RE102, external limits. Additionally, if the aircraft can be deployed from aircraft carriers (shipboard board environment), field strengths as high as 13,000 V/m (this is not a misprint!) may also be imposed. After a brief summary of the interfaces - so desirable for our next generation fighters - Chris showed how the high-speed interfaces have significant emissions and susceptibility issues using simulation software. Then Chris got onto one of his self avowed favorite subjects: Grounding and Referencing. Chris addressed the different grounding theories and discussed the use of shielded cables with different grounding techniques. Most remarkably, Chris showed how, in one circumstance, the shielding properties of a coax are governed mainly by the resistance of the cable. All in all, he presented a very interesting insight to the complexities of military EMC design.

Russia (Northwest / St. Petersburg)
Professor Mikerov, the Saint Petersburg AES/IE/C/EMC/PE Joint Chapter Chair, provided a detailed report on exciting IEEE developments in NW Russia. The IEEE Russia (Northwest) Section covers a territory of 1800 thousand square km and has a population of 15 million. This area includes the Russian Northwest Federal Okrug with the capital of Saint Petersburg. Although not organized until the 1990's, the first IEEE members worked in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) before the Second World War. The famous Chief Engineer of Electrosila Company, Professor Alexander Alexeev, joined the AIEE in the USA during a business trip to General Electric Corporation in 1929. However, before 1992, St. Petersburg had only five active IEEE members. The first IEEE Chapter in St. Petersburg was founded in 1995 by Professor Sergei Tretyakov from St. Petersburg Technical University with the financial support from IEEE Region 8. Sergei Tretyakov was a very active IEEE recruiter and even attempted to form the St. Petersburg IEEE Section in 1993. The first Chapter was the Electron Devices (ED)/Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT) Joint Chapter, which was transformed to the AP/ED/MTT Joint Chapter in 1996. At that time, it had 30 IEEE members, including 10 students. IEEE activity in our city was accelerated by the memorable visit in 1995 of the former IEEE Executive Director Theodore Hissey (now he is the IEEE Director Emeritus). The first annual Conference for this new Section took place on 10 June 2003 in St. Petersburg. The colloquium included a scientific session with 15 papers presented in English. The gathering also included Section Officers elections and the formal approval of the Section Bylaws. All papers were published in the "Proceedings 2003" of St. Petersburg IEEE Members. The conference was held at the majestic 18th century Shuvalov Palace and was attended by more than half of the 136 St. Petersburg active members. This meeting was organized in the frame of the annual St. Petersburg High Technology Week under the direct patronage of the City Government with the support from the major St. Petersburg exhibition company RESTEK. Warm and encouraging greetings were given by Professor Alexander Gelman (IEEE Communication Society Vice-President) and Professor Dmitry Puzankov (St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University Rector). The keynote addresses were followed by meetings that accomplished very important business for the section: 1. First Section Officers were unanimously elected: Professor Dmitry Puzankov (St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University) as the Chair, Professor Alexander Mikerov (from the same University) as the Vice-Chair, Professor Alexander Korotkov (St. Petersburg Polytechnic University) as the Secretary and Dr. Yuriy Sepp (St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University) as the Treasurer. 2. The Section Bylaws Draft with small corrections and additions was approved and a 15 members strong Section Executive Committee was formed. 3. Four St. Petersburg registered IEEE Chapters and their respective activity was noted. These Chapters include: ED/MTT/AP (Dr. Margarita Sitnikova), BT/CAS/COM (Dr. Dmitry Tkachenko), LEOS (Prof. Efim Portnoi) and AES/IE/C/EMC/PE (Prof. Alexander Mikerov). At the suggestion of IEEE volunteers, the future formation of four new separate Chapters have been planned:

Initiators and future Chairs of these Chapters (mentioned in brackets) launched Chapter Petition Signature campaigns. 4. The establishment in May 2003 of the first St. Petersburg Student Branch at Electrotechnical University (Chair: Eugene Pickulin, Councilor: Dr. Yurij Sepp) was appreciated as the very important contribution of this University and its Rector Professor Dmitry Puzankov in the development of the IEEE student activity in the area. The Constituent Assembly was followed on June 10 and 11 by scientific sessions in English with 17 papers published in the pre-conference Proceedings 2003 of St. Petersburg Chapters (in English also). The innovative and future looking direction of the Session was assisted by the exciting video and audio presentation of Professor Alexander Gelman covering perspectives of a global communications development (which will change all our day-to-day lives) and the important role of the IEEE in this process. We are very grateful to the IEEE as a whole, and especially to Region 8 and its Director Professor Anthony Davies, for their long and persistent efforts devoted to the creation of this new IEEE Section.

An EMC Symposium 2004 Steering Committee meeting was held on June 18, with support from Vita Feuerstein of IEEE Conference Management Services.

The dramatic logo for the 2004 IEEE International Symposium on EMC to be held in Santa Clara - California's famous Silicon Valley!

Santa Clara Valley
The April meeting of the SCV Chapter featured a presentation by Darryl Ray of Apple Computer on the "Design and Construction of Semi-Anechoic Chambers." Various issues were outlined for dealing with initial design trade-offs, chamber performance, procurement and the construction headaches that are often encountered. Darryl has been involved with building eight EMC labs in recent years and had plenty of war stories to share with the 47 attendees. Following the presentation, an open house was held at the new 10-meter semi anechoic chamber that Darryl built for Apple, located in Mountain View, California. In May, Sudip Das, of Cisco Systems, gave a presentation entitled "Considerations for Advanced EMC Design Flow." Sudip outlined a number of key design issues that EMC and signal integrity engineers now face. These issues are driven by the 'real world' constraints of insufficient time and resources. One approach suggested by Sudip was to embed the design requirements in the CAD tools. This would allow for the efficient designing of schematics and PCB layouts, preserving the compliance and SI knowledge-base from one project to another. The key point was to ensure that none of the design objectives are overlooked. Approximately 60 people attended the meeting. The SCV chapter is working very hard on the upcoming 2004 IEEE International EMC symposium. Monthly steering committee meetings are being held at Apple Computer in Cupertino, California. Vita Feuerstein Vita Feuerstein from IEEE Conference Management Services (CMS) attended the June meeting. Please see our new ad in this publication. The SCV chapter is now taking a well-deserved break during the summer months.

A pleasant, informal dinner preceded the April meeting of Seatle EMC Chapter.

Ghery Pettit of Intel, nominations chair and immediate past chair of the Seattle EMC Chapter (left) encouraged chapter members to run for office. Pat André of André Consulting, Inc. (right) was subsequently successfully elected as the new chair of the Seattle EMC chapter for 2003-2004. Congratulations Pat!

Bruce Harlacher of Fischer Custom Communications presented a contro- versial topic to the Seattle EMC Chapter members and guests.

Bruce is shown receiving the cherished "speaker gift" (a combination laser pointer and pen) following his thought provoking presentation to the Seattle EMC Chapter.

Seattle
The April meeting of the Seattle EMC Chapter featured Bruce Harlacher of Fischer Custom Communications, Inc., in San Diego, California. The meeting was held at CKC Labs in Redmond, Washington. Bruce spoke on "CISPR 22: Radiated and Conducted Emissions Testing for Information Technology Equipment, What's Happening with the 4th Edition Due August 2003? Plus, Just How Does CISPR Operate?" Bruce advised that the 4th Edition of CISPR 22 is presently due to be issued August 1, 2003. CISPR 22 deals with the requirements for radiated and conducted emissions for Information Technology Equipment (equipment that transmits/ receives digital data via wire). Measurement techniques given in CISPR 22 for conducted common mode emissions testing on AC mains and telecommunications cables have been an ongoing source of concern and confusion. The original issue date was intended to be August 1 2001, but was delayed two years in an attempt to rectify problem areas in CISPR 22. Among the more prominent problem areas were the Impedance Stabilization Networks (ISNs), non-invasive test techniques (Annex C of CISPR 22), and the use of ferrite clamps as per Amendment 1 of CISPR 22. The ISNs are intended for use on the telecommunications cables to simulate network balance (as determined by Longitudinal Conversion Loss - LCL) and provide a specified common mode impedance to ground. The non-invasive techniques were to be applied where an ISN could not be used. The ferrite clamps are to be applied to cables leaving the test area primarily to enhance test repeatability. The presentation discussed what has happened in these areas during the last two years and where things are at present. A brief overview of the CISPR process was also presented. In May, Dr. Cheung-Wei Lam of Apple Computer, in Cup-ertino, California and IEEE EMC Society Distinguished Lecturer presented: "Signal Integrity Design versus Radiated Emission Control." It being the last meeting of the 2002/2003 program year, the chapter was treated to a dinner catered by Tony Roma's. All enjoyed the barbecue beef sandwiches and chocoholic brownies! Dr. Lam explained that while it is true that good signal integrity design can help reduce EMI, it alone is not sufficient to achieve good radiated emission control. The presentation discussed where designing for one can help the other and where one may have more stringent or even conflicting requirements with the other. In today's competitive markets, Dr. Lam advised that it is important for signal integrity engineers and EMC engineers to understand each other's need to reduce design iterations and minimize product costs. For engineers responsible for both disciplines, an in-depth understanding of the similarities and differences between the two is even more important. In this presentation, key signal integrity and EMC concepts were reviewed. Design considerations in the two disciplines were compared and contrasted at the chip and PCB levels. The chapter members and guests present all agreed that Dr. Lam's presentation was excellent and were eager to have him return next year for a follow up presentation on this exciting topic. The Chapter will take the summer off and hold its next meeting in September.

Mike Bosley of Visteon (right) stopped by to visit with Mike Hart of Quantum Change EMC Systems at the SE Michigan's EMC Fest.

Steve Barnes of Lehman Chambers caught up on some work when the technical presentation by Dr. Paul resumed following an afternoon break in the exhibition area.

The SE Michigan Chapter's EMC Fest 2003 Organizing Committee included, from left, Scott Lytle of Yazaki-North America, Mark Steffka of General Motors, Janet O'Neil of ETS-Lindgren, and Kimball Williams of Underwriters Laboratories.

Scott Lytle of Yazaki (left) dropped by the Rohde & Schwarz booth at the SE Michigan Chapter's EMC Fest 2003 to see a product demonstration ably performed by Sean Emerson of R&S.

Elite Electronic Engineering is a long time supporter of the EMC Society and the SAE. Their Steve Laya is always welcome at these events. Here he enjoys a well-deserved beverage following a full day of booth duty at EMC Fest 2003 in Dearborn.

Herb Kramer of Micro Sales enjoyed booth duty during the SE Michigan Chapter's EMC Fest 2003. Good thing he stayed during the reception, as he was present to win a big raffle prize!

Mack Davis of ETronic USA (left) managed to catch a moment of Dr. Paul's time following lunch at EMC Fest 2003 held at the Dearborn Inn, in Dearborn, Michigan.

Ever the gracious southern gentleman, Dr. Clayton Paul, the featured speaker at the SE Michigan Chapter's EMC Fest 2003, patiently signed copies of his book during the reception following his full day presentation. Note the jumbo shrimp on his plate! There was great food offered at the reception buffet.

Raffle winners convene during the reception held following the SE Michigan Chapter's EMC Fest 2003. Shown from left are Michael Shovels of Yazaki, Alan Moore of Harman Becker Automotive Systems, Don Yordy of CMP, who donated the prizes, and Edward Mazorowicz with Alcoa Fujikura Ltd. Automotive Operations. They received hand held Extech instruments including a Pen Multimeter, Multipurpose Tool, and a Pocket IR Thermometer with Laser Pointer. Wow!

Amplifier Research enjoyed the many visitors at their booth during the SE Michigan Chapter's EMC Fest 2003. AR's Ken Shepherd welcomed Nick Grilliot, a local EMC representative, and Jason Granger of Robert Bosch Corp (from left).

SE Michigan
"EMC Fest 2003: A Colloquium and Exhibition" was presented on Friday, June 6 at the Dearborn Inn in Dearborn, Michigan. The featured speaker was the famed Dr. Clayton Paul of Mercer University in Georgia. Dr. Paul presented "The Fundamentals of EMC" to some 100 engineers representing such companies as General Motors, Ford Motor Company, DaimlerChrysler, Valeo, Visteon, Denso, Yazaki-North America, and Underwriters Laboratories. In addition to the full day presentation by Dr. Paul, vendors of EMC products and services held an exhibition. The SE Michigan Chapter of the IEEE EMC Society sponsored this event. The highlight of the event was the reception in the exhibition area. This followed the tutorial and featured a lavish buffet of jumbo shrimp, among other delectable items. Dr. Paul was present to personally autograph copies of his book "Introduction to EMC" that was used as the basis for the tutorial. It was a full and exciting day with the tutorial, the exhibition with over 15 companies participating, and the reception in the exhibition area. Many thanks to lunch sponsors Lehman Chambers and Schaffner EMC and to reception sponsors Amplifier Research and Rohde & Schwarz for contributing to the success of this event. We're sure Herb Kramer of Micro Sales wishes to thank the chapter for the excellent raffle prize he won during the reception: a new digital camera! Greg Pianczk of AM General Corporation (his company manufactures the Hummer) also won big during the chapter sponsored raffle: he won a gift certificate to Best Buys! Other raffle prize winners were Don Yordy of CMP who won a "Signal Solution Kit" courtesy of Fair-Rite Products Corporation, and Edward Mazorowicz of AFL Automotive Operations, Alan Moore of Harman/Becker Automotive Systems, and Mike Shovels of Yazaki who each won a hand held Extech instrument.

Toronto
Ramesh Abhari reports that the IEEE Toronto Electromagnetics and Radiation Joint Chapter (AP-S/MTT-S/EMC-S) had two meetings during the month of April, 2003. On April 8th, Professor Safieddin Safavi-Naeini from the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Canada) gave a lecture on "Fast Computational Methods for Complex Micro-electronic and Photonic Packages and Interconnects." During the next April meeting, Professor Jacob Gavan, Dean of the School of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Engineering, Holon Academic Institute of Technology (Holon, Israel) gave a presentation entitled, "Radio Systems Techniques for Enhancing Energy Efficiency and Reducing Interference and Radiation Hazards." Ramesh also announced that the IEEE Toronto Section is celebrating its centennial year. The Toronto Section is the first section of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) formed outside the Unites States in 1903. Many events are currently being planned to celebrate this unique occasion. To find out more about these activities, please visit the following link: http://ewh.ieee.org/r7/toronto/centennial/index.html

Twin Cities (Minnesota)
Curt Sponberg, Chapter Chair, reports that the Twin Cities Chapter will hold its first meeting in July since hosting the 2002 EMC symposium. The featured speaker will be Dan Hoolihan who will be giving a 'warm-up' run of the CISPR EMC standards presentation that he will be giving at the IEEE Boston Symposium in August. EMC

 

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