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Don MacArthur

Don MacArthur, The Practical Engineer, is a Guest Contributor to In Compliance Magazine. He has over 30 years of experience in product development, EMC, testing, and product safety compliance. He has developed products for military, commercial, and industrial applications.

From This Author

Most Important PCB Layer Stack-up Considerations That Achieve Optimal EMC Performance

There are many books and other reference materials available that describe proper printed circuit...

Signal Integrity Versus EMC

This article addresses two very common questions involving two interrelated and specialized sub-fields within the realm of compliance engineering.

Use of Ferrites in PCB Reference Planes

Should the reference (i.e., ground) plane be split into two separate sections and a ferrite bead installed between them to prevent unwanted radio frequency emissions? Let’s examine why this practice is not a good idea and should be avoided at all costs.

Proper Heatsink Grounding

A common question in new product development is, “How do I properly ground the heatsink?” As a practicing compliance professional, this is an important question to have at least an idea of how to respond.

Post-layout Signal Integrity/Power Integrity Simulation Software Expectations

Discover the most important post-layout elements when selecting a SI/PI software simulation package.
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Proper Oscilloscope Triggering

A common problem experienced by novice oscilloscope users is the inability to effectively capture signals we're trying to measure.

Leadership Best Practices

To learn more about leadership, the author read as many leadership books as he could for one year. He planned to learn what the latest leadership best practices were and become a more effective leader at the end of it all, or at least be set up to become a better leader as time progressed.

How to Select Absorbing Materials for Retrofitting

If you think you’re ever going to need to use flexible RF absorber sheets to help your product pass emissions, even at some later date, it might be a good idea to have already identified and obtained the material and have characterized its insertion-loss performance.

The Calculation of Creepage and Clearance Distances Using a Spacings Calculator

The calculation of creepage and clearance distances (spacings) is one of the most important activities a product safety/compliance engineer or technician performs throughout the product development process.

The Synergy of Filtering and Shielding

This article briefly describes the concept of the synergy of filtering and shielding and why knowing it is important.
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