Tektronix, a leading worldwide provider of measurement solutions, has introduced EMCVu, a new all-in-one solution for EMI/EMC pre-compliance testing and troubleshooting. In today’s electronic design environment, about 50 percent of products fail electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing the first time*. EMCVu gives engineers an accurate, convenient and cost-effective approach to determine if their product designs will pass EMC emission compliance testing on the first try.
With the arrival of Internet of Things (IoT) and a proliferation of electronic devices that can interfere with each other, designing products to meet EMC emission requirements is critical. For many engineers just starting work on new IoT devices, EMI/EMC testing can be intimidating, and failing compliance testing leads to significant cost overruns and schedule delays. Pre-compliance testing reduces failure rates, but introduces its own challenges including difficult & expensive equipment set up, testing accuracy, painful debugging, and a lack of reporting tools.
“Meeting EMC compliance starts with good design, board layout and component selection, but even in the best of circumstances getting through compliance testing can be a gamble without pre-compliance testing,” said Kenneth Wyatt, principal consultant of Wyatt Technical Services and EMC compliance expert. “I applaud what Tektronix is doing with EMCVu to make pre-compliance testing more accessible to more engineers, even those who lack deep EMC expertise.”
“EMC compliance testing can challenge even the best design team. You pass EMC testing, or you don’t ship your product. It’s that simple,” said Jon Baldwin, vice president and general manager, Wideband Solutions Business Unit at Tektronix. “At Tek, we are focused on how to help our customers accelerate their time to market. We have delivered a solution that transforms EMC compliance testing from a potential roadblock to a check box any engineer can fulfill.”
At the core of the new solution are the Tektronix real-time USB spectrum analyzers, that offer the performance of traditional desktop instruments at a fraction of the cost. Powered through the USB connection, the small size of Tektronix’ real-time USB spectrum analyzers makes it easy to perform EMI/EMC testing outside the lab environment in relatively low-noise environments, such as basements or parking garages.
The instruments are controlled by SignalVu-PC software running on a laptop or tablet. For this application, SignalVu-PC has been enhanced with optional EMCVu software to provide pre-compliance and troubleshooting capability in the same user Interface. EMCVu offers an easy to learn wizard with built in support for standards, such as CISPR (International Special Committee on Radio Interference), and push-button accessory selection and set-up. It also makes debugging a breeze with automated ambient noise capture, multi-failure re-measurement and harmonic markers for in-depth analysis. Users can easily save experiment results with notes and images into a configurable report in PDF or RTF formats.
The spectrum analyzer and software are complemented with a comprehensive set of accessories that have all been carefully selected and thoroughly evaluated to maximize test efficiency. To ensure accurate results and save time for users, the loss or gain of the various accessories has already been captured in the software and is accounted for during measurements.
Source: Tektronix, Inc.
