Shielding Strategies for EMI Prevention

This course offers a comprehensive guide for implementing shielding in ways that are most effective to prevent different kinds of electromagnetic interference (EM). It is designed for students involved in multiple areas of hardware design, including mechanical as well as electrical. We will cover shielding for both high frequency electric fields as well as lower frequency magnetic fields. Shielding implementation will be discussed at the board, enclosure, cabling, and integrated platform levels.

There is a lot of confusion a lot this particular topic, so lessons are reinforced with live hardware demonstrations that show these principles paying out on real hardware. Students will have the opportunity to do shielding calculations and think deeply about the interactions being demonstrated on the bend. This topic never fails to yield excellent interactive discussions.

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Who Should Attend?

Traditional engineering roles, including electrical & mechanical engineering who are looking to enhance their EMC knowledge base.

What You Will Learn

Identify different electromagnetic threats and potential victims that will need to be addressed via shielding on a given system.
Explain how shielding interacts with electromagnetic fields across a broad frequency range, from audio (kHz) to radio frequencies (GHz).
Identify different levels at which shielding may be appropriate (PCB, cabling, enclosure, and systems).
Identify the weaknesses of any given shield type and develop strategies to mitigate them.
Review shield implementation to identify potential unintended antenna effects.
Evaluate data sheets for different shield types from multiple manufacturers (who may use different measurement standards).
Explain how skin depth dictates the thickness of shielding needed.
Implement appropriate bonding techniques for maximal effective shielding.

Course Details: RA00138-E247

Course Outline

Session 01: Faraday Cages

Review the idealized shielding configuration. All our shielding efforts will attempt to get as close to the faraday cage ideal as possible, while accounting for real-world apertures, seams, and penetrations.

Session 02: SKin Depth

Review how electromagnetic fields (electric and magnetic) interact with conductive materials across frequency, including at least one skin-depth caculation tied to material and thickness choice.

Session 03: Transfer Impledance

Review key shielding performance parameters (e.g., shielding effectiveness, transfer impedance) and work throgh a simple example using vendor data.

Session 04: Antenna effects

Review how configurations of conductors and shields (e.g. pigtails, ground loops, slots) can uintentionally act as antennas and create EMI problems.

Session 05: Shield implementation

Implement shielding at the cable, PCB, enclosure and system levels, with emphasis on shield terminations and bonding/grouding strategies.

Session 06: Evaluation

Demeonstrate practical measurement techniques (e.g., near-field probing, simple fixtures) to evaluate shielding implementations and interpret measurement and data-sheet results.

Course Schedule

Instructor and Program Director

Instructor
Karen Burnham
EMC Subject Matter Expert | Automotive and Aerospace/Defense | Consumer Electronics | President and Chief Engineer at EMC United, Inc. | IEEE EMC VP of Standards
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
Program Director
Erick Oberstar

Total Credits:

CEU .6,

PDH 6,

Course Administration

Fee Information

Fee covers course materials.

Discounts

Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium, College of Engineering, UW-Madison member course fee: $500. We will verify your affiliation.

10% off when three or more sign up from same employer.

Payment Options

If you are planning to attend an Interdisciplinary Professional Programs course, payment is required at the time of registration. Below are the payment options:

Pay by Credit Card

Enroll online and pay by credit card.

Search for the course on the website and then click on the Enroll Now button from the course webpage.
Enter all necessary course attendee information and payment information on the course enrollment page.
You will receive an email to confirm successful enrollment and payment.

Enroll over the phone and pay by credit card.

Call CERC Registrations at 608-262-2451.
Provide the registrations representative with:
- the course name, dates, and/or course number.
- the necessary course attendee information and payment information.
You will receive either a mailed document or an email to confirm successful enrollment payment.

Pay by Check

Mail in a completed registration form and check payable to UW Madison.

Fill out a registration form (found either in the back of the course brochure you received in the mail or here).
Prepare a check, made payable to UW Madison.
Mail the registration form and check to: CERC Registrations 21 N Park St, Ste 7101 Madison, WI 53715
You will receive either a mailed document or an email to confirm successful enrollment and payment.

Pay by Purchase Order

Request Purchase Order information from registration@cerc.wisc.edu
- If a fee quote is needed, contact custserv@interpro.wisc.edu first
You will receive an invoice from UW–Madison Business Services for payment, usually within 3–5 business days

Military

If using SF-182 form, please call our registration number at 608-262-2451 or email registration@cerc.wisc.edu for details and instructions.

Event Cancellation

We reserve the right to cancel a course due to insufficient enrollment or unforeseen events. If we cancel a course, participants will be notified via email or phone and will be given the option for a full refund or to transfer their registration and any fees paid to another course. We are not responsible for non-refundable plane tickets, hotel reservations, and other travel related expenses. For enrollee Course Cancellation, refer to notes on course page.

Cancellation Policy

If you cannot attend, please notify us no later than one week before your course begins, and we will refund your fee. Cancellations received after this date and no-shows are subject to a $150 administrative fee. You may enroll a substitute at any time before the course starts.