Dive into the critical aspects of EMI/EMC, focusing on best practices and practical applications. Learn about the fundamental principles and regulations governing emissions and susceptibility. This course provides a comprehensive understanding of system and board layout issues, shielding, grounding, and filtering techniques.

• Electrical engineers, mechanical design engineers, and system engineers who need to understand EMI/EMC principles to ensure their designs meet regulatory standards and function reliably in real-world environments.
• Project engineers and system integrators responsible for managing EMI/EMC requirements throughout the project lifecycle and integrating best practices into complex systems.
• Program managers and technical leaders overseeing EMI/EMC compliance across multiple projects, fostering innovation while maintaining compliance and reliability.

• Master the principles of EMI/EMC and their practical applications.
• Identify and mitigate common noise coupling mechanisms.
• Implement effective shielding, grounding, and filtering strategies.

Introduction – Examples of EMI/EMC Considerations

• Power electronic circuits (inverters and DC/DC converters)
• Hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles
• Appliances and computers

EMI/EMC Background

• Emissions and susceptibility
• Important electromagnetic laws

EMI Specifications and Standards

• Emission regulations (DO 160, FCC, CISPR)
• Susceptibility regulations (DO 160, IEC)

Path of Lowest Impedance

• Examples of high frequency current flow
• Review of current paths

Noise Coupling Mechanisms

• Four types of noise coupling

Common Impedance Coupling

• Circuits sharing electrical connections

Magnetic Coupling

• Meaning of Faraday’s Law
• Understanding magnetic fields
• Equivalent circuit of magnetic coupling

Electric Field Coupling

• Electric and magnetic field comparison
• Equivalent circuit for electric field coupling

System and Board Layout Issues

• Power bus decoupling
• Return (ground) planes
• Board layout priorities and board level concerns
• Common susceptibility problems

Electromagnetic Coupling (Radiation)

• Characteristics of radiation
• Dipole antenna characteristics
• Characteristics of unintentional radiators

Shielding

• H-field shielding and skin depth
• Electric field shielding

Bonding

• Seam bonding and faying surfaces
• Bonding methods

Grounding

• Signal grounds
• Single and multiple point grounds, hybrid grounds
• Signal reference subsystem
• Equipment and facility grounding

Lightning

• Specification
• Test methods
• Indirect and direct effects

Filtering

• Models
• Common mode filtering, differential mode filtering
• Low-pass, high-pass, band-pass filtering
• Signal filter design techniques
• Filter damping

Shielding Practical Considerations

• Cabinet and enclosure design
• Cables and connectors
• EMI gaskets
• Slots and seams

Antennas for EMC

• Antennas for emissions and for susceptibility
• Monopole and biconical antennas for EMI tests

Best Practices to Pass EMI Tests

• Design practices for passing EMI qualification tests
• Conducted and radiated emissions and susceptibility

System Issues Excited by AC Drive CM and DM voltages

• Motor over-voltages
• Bearing damage

Kenneth Wyatt

Kenneth Wyatt is principal consultant of Wyatt Technical Services LLC and served three years as the senior technical editor for Interference Technology magazine from 2016 through 2018. He has worked in the field of EMC engineering for over 30 years with a specialty in EMI troubleshooting and pre-compliance testing.

He is a co-author of the popular EMC Pocket Guide and RFI Radio Frequency Interference Pocket Guide. He also co-authored the book with Patrick Andre, EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers, with forward by Henry Ott. He recently completed and released a three-volume “EMC Troubleshooting Trilogy”, which is now available through Amazon. See his web site for ordering info.

He is widely published and authors a monthly column, “Practical EMC”, for the Signal Integrity Journal, has blogged for EDN.com or many years, has a monthly column, “Benchtop EMC”, for InCompliance Magazine, writes regularly for EEWorld and continues to write for Interference Technology Magazine. Ken is a senior life member of the IEEE and a longtime member of the EMC Society. To contact Ken, or for more information on technical articles, training schedules and links, check out his web site: emc-seminars.com

Todd Hubing

Dr. Todd Hubing is a Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University and President of LearnEMC. Dr. Hubing holds a BSEE degree from MIT, an MSEE degree from Purdue University and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. He was an engineer at IBM for 7 years and a faculty member at the University of Missouri-Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology) for 17 years before joining Clemson University in 2006. As the Michelin Professor of Vehicle Electronics at Clemson, he established the Clemson Vehicular Electronics Laboratory where he supervised research projects and taught classes in vehicle electronics, electromagnetic compatibility, and digital signal integrity. In 2015, he retired from Clemson and moved to Stoughton, Wisconsin. Currently, he provides EMC instruction, consulting and design assistance to engineers working in the electronics industry. He is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society, and a Past-President of the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society.

Karen Burnham

Karen Burnham has worked in the aerospace, defense, and automotive industries since 1996. She has specialized in EMC Engineering since 2011 and started EMC United in 2024. Previous to that she spent time working on project management for EMA in Denver, and doing vehicle testing and troubleshooting for Ford Motor Company, both on traditional gas vehicles and also newer Hybrid Electric vehicles. Earlier she worked as an EMI Test Director at Northrop Grumman's Environmental Test Lab near Baltimore, MD, focusing on MIL-STD-461 testing. Prior to that she was the Lead EMC engineer for the Dream Chaser space vehicle being built by the Sierra Nevada Corporation for crew transport to the International Space Station. She has worked as EMC lead on the NASA side for the European Service Module that will accompany the Orion spacecraft. Her specialty at NASA was in aerospace pyrotechnic systems, and she has conducted extensive research into the RF and lightning susceptibility of NASA Standard Initiators. She is familiar with requirements generation, verification and validation, systems engineering, and test plans. She is an iNARTE certified Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Engineer and IEEE Senior Member. She received a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Houston and a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Northern Arizona University. She was elected to the IEEE EMC Society Board of Directors in 2020 and in 2021 was appointed both the Assistant Vice President of Standards and also a Distinguished Lecturer. She has team leadership experience on programs up to $1.5M and team sizes up to 10, combining leadership and unusually strong communication skills (writing articles and book reviews for various magazines, publishing a book from an academic press) with technical skills revolving around the E3 field. Her experience includes EMC troubleshooting, antennas, testing, requirements development and verification, transmission lines, simulation and modeling. Specialties: Electromagnetic Environmental Effects, EMC noise in electric vehicles, Systems Engineering, Communication with non-specialists, MIL-STD-461 testing, CISPR 12, 16, 25, 36 testing, automotive component-level issues, MIL-STD-461/464 requirements tailoring