2023 Symposium
Program/Agenda
We have lined up at least six different speakers with more possible. Our Symposium is being organized into a two-track format. One track will be Doug Smith & Ken Wyatt doing what they do best – demos, sparks, ozone and soft ‘bangs’ teaching tips and tricks along with the basics of EMC & ESD testing. The other track will consist of all our other speakers presenting more ‘traditional’ technical sessions. The two separate tracks are independent of each other but all attendees will be allowed to mix, mingle & migrate between the tracks all day long as they like.
Our Oct 19th Symposium is being held at the Embassy Suites LAX South. Future events are being planned for 2nd & 4th Quarters of 2024. We are looking to hold future events in multiple cities, including San Diego, Denver, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Seattle, Reno, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Irvine and more. We love to hear from our clients regarding their particular interests and suggestions for new locations, new topics, new speakers and new venues. Please do contact us anytime for questions or suggestions.
You should attend if:
- You are new to EMC or Safety compliance, testing or assurance and you’d like better understand some of the issues that concern you.
- You were tagged to be your organization’s in-house resource for EMC/EMI or Safety compliance.
- Your company has experienced failures during compliance testing.
- You are experienced in EMC or Safety but you would like to meet with other professionals or vendors.
- You have been wondering about the impact of Global Harmonization on standards and testing.
SCHEDULE
| 8:00 - 8:30 | Registration & Breakfast | 8:00 - 8:30 | |
| 8:30 - 8:45 | Welcome & Keynote w/ Dr. King | 8:30 - 8:45 | |
| TRACK 1 | TRACK 2 | ||
| 8:45 - 10:15 | Mark Montrose EMC Theory Made Easy |
Ken Wyatt PC Board Design for Low EMI |
8:45 - 9:30 |
| Doug Smith ESD Characterization and Test |
9:30 - 10:15 | ||
| 10:15 - 10:45 | Track 1 Break | Track 2 Break | 10:15 - 10:45 |
| 10:45 - 12:00 | Dr. King Understanding EMC by Field & Transfer Function Visualization |
Ken Wyatt Ten Tips for Reducing Wireless and IoT Self-Generated EMI |
10:45 - 11:15 |
| Doug Smith Real World ESD |
11:15 - 12:00 | ||
| 12:00 - 1:00 | Lunch | 12:00 - 1:00 | |
| 1:00 - 2:00 | Shirish Shah Grounding and Shielding Practices |
Ken Wyatt Benchtop EMC Troubleshooting: Radiated Emissions |
1:00 - 2:00 |
| 2:00 - 3:00 | Dr. Stephan Braun EMI and Wireless Testing with Multi GHz Realtime Bandwidth from DC to THz |
Doug Smith ESD Troubleshooting |
2:00 - 3:00 |
| 3:00 - 3:30 | Track 1 Break | Track 2 Break | 3:00 - 3:30 |
| 3:30 - 4:15 | Adam Linkowski Near-Field Scanning to Troubleshoot EMI Issues |
Ken Wyatt Benchtop EMC Troubleshooting: Radiated Immunity and ESD |
3:30 - 4:15 |
| 4:15 - 5:00 | Eike Suthau Fundamentals and Applications of High-Speed E-Field Probes |
Doug Smith Bonus EMC Measurements |
4:15 - 5:00 |
| 5:00 - 5:30 | Ask The Experts | 5:00 - 5:30 | |
| 5:30 - 7:00 | Dinner & Social Event | 5:30 - 7:00 | |
ABSTRACTS
| TRACK 1 ABSTRACTS | TRACK 2 ABSTRACTS |
| EMC Theory Made Easy | PC Board Design for Low EMI |
| Electromagnetic theory is complex with unbearable math. Maxwell's equations in reality have only a causal, if any, relationship to real-world designs. Electrical engineering involves transmission line theory in the time domain. EMC engineers focus on frequency domain aspects of signal propagation. Any digital transition in the time domain creates a spectral distribution of RF energy. Solving equations or doing simulation using unknown parasitics is futile for most practitioners. What engineers need to know is what does Maxwell tells us, in one sentence without the math, and how to apply theory to real-world designs regardless of application or environment of use. Without understanding simplified field propagation theory within a transmission line, it becomes nearly impossible to easily achieve EMC compliance quickly. Fundamental principles of design aspects using a visual, not mathematical approach, is presented for both printed circuit boards and systems. | No one would ever knowingly add a transmitting antenna into their board design knowing this will ultimately lead to EMI issues for the final product. Despite this understanding, PC boards are often created with unintentional antennas based on their layout. This presentation will cover digital signal processing in PC boards as well as look at the layout from a circuits and fields viewpoint, the importance of shielding and bonding, and other critical considerations for creating circuits with low EMI. |
| Understanding EMC by Field & Transfer Function Visualization | ESD Characterization and Test |
| The Physics of Electromagnetic and Electric Fields was first initiated through inspired "visions" that Michael Faraday experienced and reported in the mid-1800s. Being far ahead of his time he was derided as a sorcerer or magician, tentatively accepted by only a few. Faraday's status remained in place until James Clerk Maxwell examined Faraday's visual concepts and worked to derive (twenty) equations to delineate the physics that all could accept academically. Following Maxwell, Oliver Heaviside compressed Maxwell's equations to the four that are well known today. Dr. W. Michael King, following Faraday's inspired visions while acknowledging that visualizations of Electromagnetic and Electric Fields with proportional currents may be effective for others to understand the propagation and coupling functions of these fields through various impedance transfer functions (Zt), developed an approach for instruction. The approach spans the range starting from differential power and signal currents in circuit boards, to coupling transfer functions, progressing to propagation into antenna structures (e.g. cables) into space as presented today. | Electrostatic Discharge is one of the most common and easy to simulate phenomenon in our industry. It's as simple to create as walking on a carpet with your socks on and can be damaging to electrical circuits if not properly understood and accounted for. This first presentation will include discussion on the roles that relative and absolute humidity play in ESD as well as provide demos of ESD generation of EMI and hand-metal discharges. We will also look at the waveforms and E-field emissions that various ESD simulators/generators create and how choosing a different simulator can allow your product to pass or fail. |
| Grounding and Shielding Practices | Ten Tips for Reducing Wireless and IoT Self-Generated EMI |
| Grounding and shielding of devices is a critical focus when designing new products. In this presentation, we will go over not only personal safety but also EMI mitigation objectives that overcome common ground loop problems and other issues that can arise. This will include various grounding methods including single and multi-point, audio frequency, and digital or RF grounding. We will also investigate grounding according to the noise level, using the ground as a return path, the mutual inductance of the ground path, common mode coupling, and making a ground reference for RF.In turning our attention towards shielding we first start by looking at the causes and impacts of reflections and even multiple reflections. Part of this will include understanding wave and characteristic impedances as well as calculating the absorption loss and reflection loss to determine total shielding effectiveness. | Self-generated EMI on wireless devices can cause reduced receiver sensitivity. Energy sources such as digital bus noise and DC-DC converters are largely to blame. This presentation describes ten ways to help minimize on-board EMI coupling from DC-DC converters. |
| EMI and Wireless Testing with Multi GHz Realtime Bandwidth from DC to THz | Real World ESD |
| Today devices are getting more and more complex and require testing according to EMC and Wireless standards. During the presentation we will show, how today fully digital EMI receivers can speed up the testing for EMC measurements. A fully CISPR/ANSI Compliant 1 GHz Bandwidth allows to perform QP Measurements at all frequencies in real-time. Multi GHz real-time measurements can be used to perform EMI measurements up to 40 GHz with highest speed and accuracy. The combination of real-time measurements and the rotation of turntable and height scan of antenna mast gives more insight of the emission of the DUT and allows to visualize the Emission in 2D and 3D charts. For wireless testing the technology is used to perform spurious emission measurements. In addition, wideband IQ Digitization and demodulation allows us to perform further tests that are mandatory to qualify wireless testing. Using automation, the radiation pattern of the wireless transmitter can be characterized and visualized. Finally, an outlook is given for testing EMC in the presence of ambient noise using ANC and other technologies to separate the emission of the DUT and the ambient noise. | This session will dive into unusual ESD events that are not covered in the standards. While the standards provide testing to common or event worst-case scenarios, this does not include the long-term effects of thousands of small events that slowly causing damage over time nor the impact of larger events creating duty cycle effects in equipment. These real world ESD situations can cause failures and problems in the field despite the product passing certified testing. Demos of these Real World ESD problems are included. |
| Practical Use of Near-Field Scanning to Troubleshoot EMI | Benchtop EMC Troubleshooting: Radiated Emissions |
| When dealing with EMI issues, there are a variety of ways to measure the interferences affecting your device. It is critical to understand these problems, especially in the early stages of development. Without the knowledge early on, modifications later can become very costly. In this presentation, we will go over ways to measure EMI, simple rules to follow, and look at practical examples. This will include live measurements made with an automated EMI scanner showing how easily we can approach learning of these potential interference issues. | The focus of the course will be troubleshooting and performing simple characterization and pre-compliance testing at the work bench level for the number one EMC issue; radiated emissions. In addition, the most common design issues will be covered that lead to radiated emission compliance failures. Enough basic EMC theory and examples will be covered to aid in understanding these common design issues. There will be plenty of time for questions. |
| Fundamentals and Applications of High-Speed E-Field Probes | ESD Troubleshooting |
| Modern high-speed E-field probes offer substantial advantages over traditional designs for EMC applications. The presentation compares the operating principle of today’s latest laser-powered E-field probes to that of more conventional designs. From that, the consequences for important performance characteristics are derived.The presentation will give an overview of applications of high-speed E-field probes in for EMC measurements, such as Radar pulse detection, aneochic chamber characterization using swept frequency measurements, reverberation chamber (RC) calibration, remote radiated power measurements, and E-field statistical analysis. | After providing a strong fundamental understanding of ESD, the next step is to troubleshoot any potential ESD issues. In addition to common hand-metal discharge we will look at unusual sources of ESD such as the power supply. In many cases it is also possible to troubleshoot PC board layout defects. This is done by using a simple ESD pulser to identify issue areas that will likely fail if it experiences a full ESD event. |
| Benchtop EMC Troubleshooting: Radiated Immunity and ESD | |
| In this section, Ken will be discussing the tools and techniques necessary to properly identify areas susceptible to radiated immunity and electrostatic discharge. All too often these issues are only identified at the system level or during full compliance testing. It is possible, however, to recognize these issues at the benchtop level during pre-compliance testing. This presentation will also include live demos of these common immunity issues. | |
| Bonus EMC Measurements | |
| In the final timeslot of the day, Doug will be taking us through results of various experiments along with associated videos. This will serve as an example of what can be seen in a lab and what the results are trying to tell us. Along with these measurements will come engineering design rules of thumb; quick guiding points all engineers should take with them. | |
Social Gathering & Hors d’Oeuvres Walk-About
Round out your EMC tech-focused day with a convivial gathering for all. Dinner, drinks (soft & adult) on us right here at our Embassy Suites Hotel. You will enjoy good food and drinks plus have time to mingle and network in a convivial manner with other engineers and professional colleagues who share your own career foci.
SPONSORS
LUNCH SPONSOR
SOCIAL HOUR/DRINKS SPONSOR
DINNER SPONSOR
EXHIBITORS
PAST & PRESENT
Updates to our list of exhibitors and vendors will happen over the course of the next 1.5 months. Please be sure to check back often.
The EMCmini Symposium is NEW for 2023
It is focused on the subject of testing for proof of compliance to EMC & ESD standards required by US and Global markets. From demonstrations and presentations, you will learn about detecting, localizing and reducing or eliminating unwanted RF energy from your manufactured RF devices.
Join us and get answers to the following:
- What standards and regulations do I have to meet?
- What changes have recently occurred to those standards?
- What are some of the key design principals?
- Why are Global considerations important and relevant to my success?
- Who can provide help?
- What equipment is needed for in house testing?
- How to do I troubleshoot a failing product?
- What is the difference between 'Pre' and 'Full' compliance testing?