ken wyatt

While many designers attempt to perform radiated emissions troubleshooting at an outdoor site or in a semi-anechoic chamber using a third-party test lab facility, I've found a much more efficient method is to perform this using a nearby antenna right on your own work bench.

Most engineers are familiar with near-field probes and that they are sensitive to E- or H-fields emanating from circuit boards, cables or enclosure seams. They are really the first order of business when evaluating a circuit board or system.

Let's use the basic tools and spectrum analyzer setup described in the last two months and use them to characterize an actual embedded processor board based on the Arduino design.

Spectrum analyzers are usually the tool of choice for troubleshooting CE or RE. In recent years, the cost of a basic analyzer has dropped markedly. However, the more expensive lab-quality analyzers will have advanced measurement features that may be worth considering.

As a product designer, a major issue you'll face is radiated emissions. This month, we'll outline the basic tools to characterize and mitigate radiated emissions at your workbench. This summarizes the fundamental test equipment to identify sources of harmonic noise and characterize radiated emissions.

“Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Pocket Guide” by Kenneth Wyatt, WA6TTY and Michael Gruber, W1MG This small 88-page...

I’ve often wondered why some harmonic emissions were unrelated to obvious clock oscillators, system...

Radiated emissions (RE) are often the number-one cause of compliance failures for most electronic products. This article describes simple troubleshooting steps and tools to isolate most RE issues.