troubleshooting

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.

Although most modern RF amplifiers have a high voltage device rating against impedance mismatch, special care is needed to prevent impedance mismatch. To avoid impedance mismatch of the power amplifier, often an attenuator is also recommended to be connected between the output of the power amplifier and the flying probe.

An AM radio can be useful for finding both radiated emissions and ESD events. Understanding how radio works is essential for engineers to use this low-cost technology to troubleshoot complex EMI issues.

In this column, the author offers a brief summary of a more systematic approach for using ferrite cores on cables. This summary can serve as a “ferrite core checklist” for design and test engineers.

This article describes three troubleshooting methodologies doctors use to diagnose (troubleshoot) medical problems. These same techniques have proven useful in my own EMC consulting practice.

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.