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Making the Most of 2015: Professional Development Options for Compliance Engineers

1501_F1_coverThe start of a new year is a time when we usually reflect on the progress we’ve made during the past year and set our goals for the year ahead. More often than not, your professional development goals include training or some form of higher education to expand or refresh your technical knowledge. We’ve queried our training contacts and resources from across the compliance industry and compiled in this article a wide range of options to help you meet your own professional development goals in 2015, including both public and custom workshops and seminars, offered in person and online. We invite you to submit your own suggestions for additional listings as we continue to update our events section. Send your comments to us at editor@incompliancemag.com

Electromagnetic Compatibility


D.L.S Electronics Systems, Inc.
offers a two-day applications seminar and one day workshop. For more information, visit www.dlsemc.com/emc-class/emc-seminar.htm.

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Maxwell’s Equations are eloquently simple yet excruciatingly complex. Their first statement by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864 heralded the beginning of the age of radio and, one could argue, the age of modern electronics.

EMC By Your Design: A Practical Applications Seminar and Workshop

Using updates of the latest developments in research, standards, regulations, instrumentation and services, participants will study EMC design techniques and the calculations required to design a product to meet compliance regulations. After two days of intense study of EMC and design principles, students in the workshop will design, from start to finish, an EMC compliant product. The goal of this workshop is to help design engineers and technicians learn to apply the EMC design principles they learn in the seminar to real life products.


ETS-Lindgren
offers hands-on training courses throughout the year. Below is a list of those courses currently scheduled through ETS-U. For more details, visit www.ets-lindgren.com/Learning.

Fundamentals of EMC Testing

A three-day hands-on course designed for engineers or lab technicians who want to expand their knowledge of EMC compliance testing, or are new to the subject and want to “learn-how” quickly. Instruction is divided between class lectures and hands-on lab experience. Students are taught how to perform actual tests in a fully instrumented lab that includes a 3 meter anechoic chamber, GTEM, and a demonstration reverberation chamber. Students receive an illustrated textbook written specifically for the Fundamentals of EMC Testing course, with many of the test setups illustrated.

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MIL-STD 461F Testing

A three-day hands-on course designed for engineers or lab technicians who want to expand their knowledge of Military-Standard 461F testing, or are new to the subject and want to “learn-how” quickly. Instruction is divided between class lectures and hands-on lab experience. Students are taught how to perform actual tests in a fully instrumented lab that includes a semi-anechoic chamber and a conducted susceptibility test station. Students receive an illustrated textbook written specifically for the Fundamentals of EMC Testing course, with many of the test setups illustrated.

Overview of Radiated Immunity/Emissions Test Facilities

A three-day hands-on course designed for engineers or lab technicians who want to expand their knowledge of Radiated Immunity and Emissions test facilities, or are new to the subject and want to “learn-how” quickly. This course will provide a basis for making informed radiated emission/immunity testing decisions. In addition this course will also cover some standards overview, test planning issues, detailed coverage of major test techniques, sources of uncertainty in test results and uncertainty propagation and impact on test results.

Henry Ott Consultants offers a three-day course covering the practical aspects of noise and interference control in electronic systems. More information is available on the Henry Ott Consultants website
(www.hottconsultants.com), both on the public and in-plant EMC courses.

Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering

This course will provide the participants with a working knowledge of electromagnetic compatibility principles. Emphasis is on cost effective EMC design for digital systems. The commercial and industrial aspects of EMC Engineering are emphasized. The amount and complexity of mathematics will be kept to a minimum, and ideas will be illustrated with examples of actual case histories.

Kimmel Gerke Associates offers several public seminars throughout the year. Following are course descriptions and dates and locations of those courses currently scheduled.

Design for EMC & Signal Integrity (2 days). For more information, go to www.emiguru.com.

EMI Troubleshooting (1 day – optional add-on)

This very popular class has been co-hosted by Kimmel Gerke Associates and Tektronix since 1992. The focus is “inside the box” at the electronics level – components, printed circuit boards, power electronics, grounding, and shielding, with over 30 specific fixes. The class is introductory and is regularly updated to reflect the latest EMC design issues.

MET Laboratories Compliance College offers seminars at various locations throughout the year. Visit www.metlabs.com for additional details.

EMC & Wireless Design & Testing Seminar

Hosted by MET Laboratories and Wurth Electronics Midcom, this one day seminar is designed by engineers and technicians, for engineers and technicians, with practical content to give you support for the development and testing of undisturbed electronics and equipment.

Silent Solutions offers a series of courses designed to expand your skills and improve job performance. Following are their course descriptions.

For more information, visit www.silent-solutions.com/education.htm.

Electronic Product Design and Retrofit for EMC

This two-day class gives engineering professionals the ability to successfully recognize, solve and avoid common EMI problems. Demonstrations using working hardware illustrate concepts such as radiated emissions, high frequency antennas, radiated and conducted immunity, and crosstalk in connectors, cables and IC packages.

EMC – Printed Circuit Board Design

This two-day class provides technical training intended for electrical and EMC engineers interested only in PC board design. It is an excellent follow-up class for students who have recently completed our two or three-day EMC class. Course topics include component placement, signal routing and stackup, power bus decoupling, signal theory and signal integrity, “ground” splits, and a critique of bad applications notes from IC vendors.

Circuit-to-Circuit Interference

This one-day class is for electrical design engineers at all levels challenged by electrical noise problems in products containing RF (wireless), analog, switching power supply and digital electronics. Through a unique combination of lecture and hands-on experiments, class participants will master the ability to anticipate, solve and avoid electrical noise problems that can inhibit functionality in new product designs. 

Mechanical Design for EMC

This two-day class provides clear applications, theory and demonstrations for the successful design of mechanical enclosures for good system emissions and immunity performance. Key topics include grounding at the PCB and enclosure, system ground maps, PCB component placement and control drawings, enclosure and cable shielding, PCB device “cans”, resonant slots and enclosures, heat sinks, unintentional antennas, as well as connector, screw, and conductive gasket spacing.

Grounding for EMC, Signal Integrity and Instrumentation

Theory, applications and hardware demonstrations in this one-day class describe effective design and troubleshooting techniques. The real-time demonstrations use a spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope and signal generators to illustrate inductance, common-impedance coupling, and ground loops. Specific examples of single-point, multi-point, “good” and “bad” grounds will be discussed.

Mastering the Spectrum Analyzer for Electrical Noise Measurement

SILENT’s one-day class is packed with practical tips, applications, and demonstrations to help make it easy for you to pick up a spectrum analyzer and start measuring and troubleshooting electrical noise and EMC problems. We will have a minimum of 3 different spectrum analyzers in class to help explain and demonstrate operating techniques that we have honed over the last twenty years.

Doug Smith is offering the following classes in 2015. For additional information, visit www.dsmith.org, or email him at doug@emcesd.com.

Design Troubleshooting, EMC, and ESD

This three day seminar takes the best points from Doug Smith’s seminars and compresses them into three action packed days with lecture, video, and many demonstrations on live circuits. Time is allowed for attendees to operate the experiments if they want. In two days, you will learn how to make accurate measurements in the lab and then apply those techniques to design verification and troubleshooting as well as EMC problems. The techniques and experiments are geared to the development lab and common equipment found there. During an optional third day, ESD/EMI at the system level will be covered as well as applying system level ESD stress to components, such as LEDs, in a test environment.

Dr. Tom Van Doren teaches participants how to diagnose and solve electromagnetic interference and signal integrity problems.

Grounding & Shielding of Electronic Systems

This course treats signals and currents; explains fundamental grounding, shielding, and signal routing principles; clarifies troublesome terminology; and demonstrates many techniques for identifying and fixing electrical interference problems. The principles will be described as concepts rather than theoretical equations. The emphasis on concepts will make the course useful for people with technical experience ranging from beginner to advanced designer. Since many noise emission and susceptibility problems are related to the mechanical design of systems, mechanical engineers and technicians can benefit from attendance. Several interface mechanisms and shielding techniques will be demonstrated. Additional details about the course can be found: dce.mst.edu/noncredit/facetoface/groundingandshieldingstlouis/

Washington Laboratories Academy will be offering a range of training opportunities in 2015, including the very popular and often sold-out MIL-STD-461 training. As always, the engineering community can take advantage of its core training offerings in EMC Design and Mitigation. Other offerings will focus on Wireless Regulatory topics, including International Approvals for RF devices, Simulation, Nuclear EMC, Shielding Design, Environmental Testing and Design and breaking topics in Engineering Reliability and Maintainability. Served up in-house, on the road and on the web and teaming with its slate of expert instructors, WLA delivers the best selection and options for engineering development. In the coming twelve months, the Academy will expand its partner opportunities to support the engineering community with the finest in professional development. Contact Mike Violette (mikev@wll.com)
for more information, or visit the Washington Laboratories Academy at www.wll.com/academy.

Wyatt Technical Services offers several public seminars on EMC design and troubleshooting throughout the year. For more information, go to www.emc-seminars.com.

Product Safety and Environmental Testing 


AEMC Instruments
offers the following public training opportunity:

Understanding Ground Resistance Testing Training Seminar

This one-day training seminar consists of two sessions. The first session consists of classroom presentations and discussions on all aspects of soil resistivity and ground resistance testing. The second session consists of on-site field tests demonstrating the different methods of ground resistance testing discussed during the first half of the day. Participants will have the opportunity for hands-on experience and demonstrations of proper testing procedures including measurement of soil resistivity, correct placement of test rods, using the 3-Point method and proper use of the clamp-on test method. For additional details, visit www.aemc.com/techinfo/seminars/ground_resistance_testers/ground-seminar-listings.html

CST of America offers the following public courses throughout the year. Additional details and a complete course schedule are available at www.cst.com/events/trainings

EMC/EMI Training

The CST STUDIO SUITE® EMC/EMI training course consists of 2 full days. This training class is intended for Engineers involved in Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), Electrostatic Discharge (ESD), Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) and antenna integration.

Signal Integrity & Power Integrity Training

This 2-day hands-on training course is focused on modeling and solver overview and focuses on EDA/SI/PI applications. The CST MWS Signal Integrity training course consists of 2 full days. It is helpful to be familiar with the Getting Started manual. This training course is focused on modeling and solver overview, and concentrates on SI/PI applications.

Training for EDA / Signal Integrity

This CST MWS training course consists of 2 full days. It is helpful to be familiar with the Getting Started manual. This training course is focused on modeling and solver overview, and concentrates on EDA / SI / PI applications.

Microwave & Antenna Training

This 2-day hands-on training course focuses on modeling and solver overview and concentrates on antenna simulation. 

Antenna Placement Training

The training consists of one full day. It is intended for customers that are already familiar with the modeling/ solving part of CST or participated the 2 days training on antennas. This training course is focused on antenna placement simulations.

Multiphysics Training

The MPS training consists of one full day. It is intended for customers that are already familiar with the modeling/ solving part of CST or participated in a beginner training. This training course is focused on various em-thermal and mechanical coupled simulations.

Equipment Reliability Institute offers the following public courses throughout the year. Visit www.equipment-reliability.com for more details about each course and a detailed schedule.

Fundamentals of Random Vibration and Shock Testing, HALT, ESS, HASS Measurements, Analysis and Calibration

Military Standard 810G Testing

Understanding, Planning and Performing Climatic and Dynamic Tests Thermal & Vibration Reliability

O’Brien Compliance Management offers a training course in IEC 60601, the medical electrical equipment standards for basic safety and essential performance. A brief description and dates and locations are below. For further details, please visit www.obcompman.com.

IEC 60601 Series, 3rd Edition Training

This course is an intense 3 day training course. There are presentation slides, frequent references to source standards, and skill implementation work group exercises. Participants are encouraged to ask questions about the safety requirements, and how they apply to products currently under development. Our course continues to evolve to stay up to date with latest standards, interpretations and regulatory guidance.

TÜV Rheinland Step-Ahead Educational Series draws on the expertise and skills of TÜV Rheinland experts, including engineers and scientists from all over the world, Step-Ahead Educational Series continues in 2015 with a comprehensive selection of seminars, webinars, roundtables and lunch & learns. For more information, email TÜV Rheinland at education@tuv.com, or go to http://education.tuv.com/step-up-educational-series.

NFPA 79:2015 – Industrial Machinery 

NFPA has released its latest update to NFPA 79, the electrical standard for Industrial Machinery. Our expert staff will review the changes to the standard and discuss typical pitfalls manufacturers fall into when bringing their equipment and machines into compliance with the standard.

Automated Material Handling and Robotics

TÜV Rheinland experts will review the new requirements effective January 2015 in the US and provide guidance on the application of ISO 13849 – safety-related part of control systems, as related to systems using automated material handling and robotics.

3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing

This course will review the variety of equipment types labeled as 3D printers, identify and define the associated hazards of this equipment and outline conformity assessment procedures, regulations and standards in major global markets that manufacturers are required to comply with when placing equipment into that market.

EVSE – Charging Stations and Components

Electric vehicles (EV) are an emerging product market. New products (chargers, cables, plugs, protection circuits, vehicle telematics, etc.), standards (UL/CSA, IEC/EN) and regulations (jurisdictional) are in effect and under development across the world to support the development of the EV market and the creation of entirely new infrastructures. Secondary uses of EV equipment are also emerging through the charging of the battery storage by distributed energy sources (solar, wind) and/or returning the stored energy to the power grid. This course will review mandatory requirements manufacturers face before being able to place equipment on the market.

Medical Device Cybersecurity Front & Center

With the rise of wireless, Internet and networking technologies employed in medical devices, the need for effective cybersecurity to assure device functionality and patient information security has become essential. Find out how to meet these new market and regulatory demands with TÜV Rheinland experts specializing in cybersecurity.

Risk Management for Medical Devices

“ISO 14971:2007 Medical Devices – Application of Risk Management to Medical Devices” is a standard followed by medical device manufacturers to support their risk management process. This educational series will examine the best ways to document your conformity to both ISO14971 and IEC 60601-1 3rd Edition for electro-medical devices. The changes imposed by EN ISO 14971:2012 will also be discussed.

EMC for Medical Devices

With the 4th Edition of IEC 60601-1-2 published earlier in 2014, medical device manufacturers need to prepare to make design changes in order to fulfill the new standard. The educational series will cover the requirements of the new standard in detail, as we as the FDA guidance document on using RF wireless technology in medical devices.

Wearable Technologies 

Wearable devices contain advanced circuitry, wireless connectivity and, at least, a minimal level of independent processing capability. Wearable technology products are a relatively new product group, and manufacturers need to determine how their innovations fit into existing regulations for fixed, mobile and portable devices. This course will cover product safety, EMC and radio tests applicable to these futuristic gadgets.

International Approvals

Today, companies need more than ever seamless solutions for access to world markets with timely and accurate product certification management. Learn about the current rules and regulations for gaining market access to Argentina, China, Japan, Korea, India, Brazil, and more. The seminar will address several product categories, including medical, Information Technology, wireless, audio/video, household, and machinery.

Environmental Compliance

Manufacturers of medical, consumer monitoring and control equipment, electrical and electronic equipment who export to the EU must comply with the REACH, WEEE Recast and RoHS Recast Directives, or risk losing access to market. Previously exempted medical and consumer monitoring and control equipment have had to comply since July 21, 2014, and industrial monitoring and control equipment will need to comply by July 21, 2017. Learn how to ensure your product’s compliance.

Smart Grid & IoT

As the number of smart grid products and services increases in the market, factors such as interoperability of devices and cyber-security have become increasingly important. TÜV Rheinland is in the forefront of smart grid testing, so join the experts to discuss the success of Smart Grid technology, how Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the consumption of energy, and the value of alliance certifications – from ZigBee to Wi-SUN.

Systems Certification 

The final draft version of ISO 9001:2015 is likely to be approved in June 2015. It will have a big impact on certified organizations and those looking to get certified in the near future. This course will provide an analysis of the changes and what they will mean to your organization and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the upcoming revision.

ITE Safety Compliance

To export to the EU, Information Technology and office equipment manufacturers will need to comply with EN 60950-1, Amendment 2 for their existing and new products from July 2016 on. Manufacturers of audio/video (A/V), information technology (IT) and communication technology products will learn about a new standard IEC/EN 62368-1, which will replace EN 60065 for A/V and EN 60950-1 for IT and communication technology equipment, and which must be applied to new and existing products in Europe after June 2019.

Energy Efficiency 

It is estimated that over 80% of all product-related environmental impacts are determined during the design phase of a product. Join us to learn about the updates in energy efficiency regulations for electronic products for US, Canada and EU and ensure your product’s compliance.

TÜV SÜD Academy public training courses are enhanced by the real life experiences of our auditing and testing teams, offering years of experience in the worldwide international standards arena. This relationship allows us to provide clients with seasoned auditors and engineers as trainers and subject matter experts, transferring their knowledge and expertise directly to you. Visit their website for details, www.tuv-sud-america.com/us-en/resource-center/training.

UL Knowledge Services (ULKS) is UL’s training and advisory services business unit, providing safety and compliance-related knowledge solutions that facilitate product development and create safer working environments for people. ULKS’s comprehensive service offerings are designed to help customers access first-hand, real-time, industry-critical information. In addition to comprehensive coverage of UL standards, ULKS addresses specific topics intended to help customers and constituents design and/or install safer products, increase efficiency and realize improved speed to market. For a full listing of 2015 dates and locations please visit http://lms.ulknowledgeservices.com/home.aspx?LSMID=465473.

Washington Laboratories Academy offers Product Safety Seminars throughout the year. Visit them online at www.wll.com/academy.html for locations and dates.

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD

The ESD Association holds educational opportunities throughout the year both online and at events. For full details, visit the ESD Association’s website at www.esda.org.

Fundamental Handling Practices, Basic ESD Control Program, and Simplified Measurements 

This 2-day tutorial set is specifically focused on providing practical ESD information to small to midsize electronic and related companies who do not have in-house ESD experts but want to ensure themselves that they have good ESD practices and processes in place to protect their products. This series is designed primarily for personnel working in a contract manufacturer, parts distributor, electronic repair facility, and electronic field service organizations.

Private/Custom Seminars

Many experts offer private seminars designed to train select personnel at your location. These seminars offer companies an opportunity to train multiple compliance personnel with a customized approach designed for their needs. Following is a list of experts who offer private seminars.

Best ESD Technical Services (www.bestesd.com)

Classes and seminars can be arranged on different topics – from basic introduction to highly-specialized classes on a particular subject of ESD or EMC/EMI relevant to your applications.

Cherry Clough Consultants (www.cherryclough.com)

Seminars allow for a customized approach to training in basic and advanced EMC design, the EMC Directive and EMC engineering practices for EMC testing techniques and EMC functional safety.

DLS Electronics Systems (http://dlsemc.com/emc-class/emc-seminar.htm)

DLS experts offer practice oriented seminars and workshops on EMC design and regulatory compliance issues.

Kimmel Gerke Associates, Ltd. (www.emiguru.com)

Kimmel Gerke offers seminars on EMC design fundamentals and techniques for ensuring EMC Compliance.

Montrose Compliance Services (www.montrosecompliance.com)

Montrose Compliance Services offers worldwide customized training programs on achieving EMC compliance, EMC design fundamentals and techniques.

Henry Ott Consultants (www.hottconsultants.com)

Henry Ott Consultants offers one to three day EMC seminars (in plant and public) on over 25 different topics, including “Partitioning and Layout of Mixed-Signal PCBs” and EMC Considerations in Switching Power Supply Designs.”

Wyatt Technical Services, LLC (www.emc-seminars.com)

An independent consulting firm that specializes in EMC design, troubleshooting and training services to commercial and industrial manufacturers with global distribution in the consumer, computer, network & telecommunications, industrial and scientific industries.

On-Line Training

If webinars are your preferred style of learning, many companies sponsor on-demand style webinars for viewing at your convenience. Please visit the following sites for specific topics:

Associated Research (www.asresearch.com/events-training/webinars.aspx)

Associate Research’s webinars provide detailed information on many aspects of electrical safety testing.

CST of America (www.cst.com/events/webinars)

CST of America offers webinar programs throughout the year that focus on design challenges across the field of electrical engineering, in microwaves and RF, EMC, EDA and charged particle dynamics.

Intertek Academy (www.intertek.com/training)

Intertek offers educational opportunities in quality, safety and energy efficiency. Intertek’s 2015 line-up of technical seminars, webinars, workshops, training events, conferences and white papers provide in-depth guidance for understanding new standards and specs, innovative techniques and compliance.

Kimmel Gerke Associates (www.emiguru.com)

Kimmel Gerke offers webinars throughout the year.

MET Laboratories (www.metlabs.com/news-and-events/seminars-and-webinars.aspx)

MET Laboratories offers webinars throughout the year and also offers on-demand viewing of past webinars.

SIEMIC 2015 Regulatory Compliance Webinars (www.siemic.com/us/company/webinars_2015.php)

Presented in a series of monthly one-hour presentations, these webinars will present the latest regulation changes, importation requirements, and hot compliance issues for the most important and dynamic market countries.

TÜV SÜD America (www.tuv-sud-america.com/us-en/resource-center/training/webinars)

TÜV SÜD America offers webinars and online seminars in the areas of Safety, EMC, management systems and competency assessments. Webinars are also available for on-demand viewing.

Industry Symposia and Table-Top Programs

These annual symposia are an excellent resource for extensive technical training, and exchange of new ideas and technical concepts. The benefit of attending these events is that attendees can sample a vast array of workshops quickly and efficiently while networking with colleagues and professionals with the same interests.

2015 IEEE Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility & Signal Integrity (EMCSI)

March 15-21, 2015 – Santa Clara, CA

www.emc2015usa.emcss.org

31st International Review of Progress in Applied Computational Electromagnetics (ACES 2015)

March 22-26, 2015 – Williamsburg, VA

www.aces-society.org/conference/2015

EMV 2015

March 24-26, 2015 – Stuttgart, Germany

www.mesago.de/en/EMV/home.htm

Microwaves & RF 2015

April 1-2, 2015 – Paris, France

www.microwave-rf.com

Electrostatics 2015

April 12-16, 2015 – Southampton, UK

http://elec2015.iopconfs.org/home

EuCAP 2015 – The 9th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation

April 12-17, 2015 – Lisbon, Portugal

www.eucap2019.org

2015 China International Exhibition on EMC, Microwave, RF and Safety Tests & Certification (China EMC 2015/China MW 2015)

April 21-23, 2015 – Beijing, China

www.emcchinaexpo.com

9th Annual International Electrostatic Discharge Workshop (IEW)

May 4-6, 2015 – Lake Tahoe, CA

www.esda.org/IEW.htm

2015 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC)

May 11-14, 2015 – Pisa, Italy

http://imtc.ieee-ims.org/

IMS2015 – 2015 International Microwave Symposium

May 17-22, 2015 – Phoenix, AZ

www.ims2015.org

IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering

May 18-20, 2015 – Chicago, IL

www.psessymposium.org

Joint IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility and EMC Europe 2015 

August 16-22, 2015 – Dresden, Germany

www.emc2015.org

European Microwave Week 2015

September 6-11, 2015 – Paris, France

www.eumweek.com

37th Annual Electrical Overstress/Electrostatic Discharge Symposium

September 27 – October 2, 2015 – Reno, NV

www.esda.org/symposiaEOS-ESD.html

37th Annual Symposium of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA)

October 11-16, 2015 – Long Beach, CA

www.amta2015.org

IEEE EMC Society 2015 Regional Events

Dearborn, MI: May 7, 2015

www.emcfest.org

Contact: Scott Lytle, Yazaki North America, scott@emcsociety.org

Bloomington, MN: September 15, 2015

www.mnemcevent.com

Contact: Dan Hoolihan, (651) 213-0966, danhoolihanemc@aol.com

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