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Electromagnetic Compatibility and


Solving Electromagnetic Interference Issues
Frank deAlbuquerque, Consulting Manager, High-Speed System Design Practice
Introduction simulation takes place late in the design cycle, when addressing
Printed Circuit Board (PCB) electromagnetic compatibility EMI issues is expensive and adds to development costs.
(EMC) issues are becoming a bigger problem than ever before.
Electronic products must now comply with more restrictive Federal Radiated EMI can also be measured in anechoic chambers. But
Communications Commission (FCC) and European (CE) standards with most companies, there are often many other departments also
in order to be accepted into the marketplace. Technological trying to schedule valuable time in these expensive chambers, thus
advances have made complex electronics a major part of many putting product schedules at risk. This method adds costs that are
product designs where they didnt previously exist. For example, incurred to fabricate and populate a PCB prototype for testing, and
modern features in automobiles now require more electronics than if the unit fails to meet necessary EMC standards in the anechoic
in the past. This added circuitry can cause internal susceptibility chamber this late in the design cycle, the problem is likely to be
issues between neighboring modules as well as radiated emissions, expensive and time-consuming to fix.
creating greater design challenges to ensure that vehicles meet FCC
emission standards. As another example, aircraft passengers are New Developments in EMC Design and Analysis
required to turn off their cell phones and other radiating devices in EMC specialists agree that early efforts to design and layout a
order to eliminate interference that might create immunity issues printed circuit board for electromagnetic compatibility is probably
with important communications systems in the plane. And classic the most cost-effective measure possible in the quest for EMC
electrical products, such as computers and telecommunications compliance. Expensive and time consuming efforts to address EMI
devices, are experiencing increasing electromagnetic interference issues late in the design phase can kill a project based on the
(EMI) issues because of more restrictive FCC and CE standards decreased return-on-investment brought about by the increased
and faster signal edge rates introduced by advanced component development costs and/or the reduced revenue generated by a late
technologies being incorporated into these products. market launch.

Traditional Methods, Resource Limitations Unable to Keep Due to the complexity of ensuring EMC compliance, many
Pace with Increased Demands companies are turning to expert systems to solve their EMI issues.
To make matters more difficult, very few engineering tools are An expert system, such as the Mentor Graphics QuietTM Expert
available to prevent immunity issues and ensure that products meet tool, can gather PCB data and make value judgments based on
EMC standards, and most of the methods used today are both time- EMC rules. The rules can be made up of both electrical and
consuming and costly. Additionally, some design team members physical constraints. An experienced EMC engineer can design and
may not thoroughly understand how to identify and address EMC create these rules. Then other designers can then take advantage of
issues during their phase of the design cycle. that engineering experience by applying those rules to their designs.
Quiet Expert can detect situations such as IO sources that are
For instance, hardware design engineers may understand EMC coupled to susceptible circuitry or a noise current on a wire that is
issues but may not be familiar with PCB design tools. Conversely, leaving the board. This expert system also includes additional rules
PCB designers may be familiar with advanced routing procedures that utilize proven algorithms based on University of Missouri-
but may not understand how some of these routing techniques can Rolla (UMR) and industry research. These tested and proven
cause EMI. Even in the best of circumstances, many EMC rules algorithms are used to determine capacitor effectiveness,
cannot be entered into typical PCB software tools so it is difficult to power/ground stability and the modes causing radiation.
know if rules communicated by the hardware engineer were Furthermore, expert systems provide detailed reports of discovered
actually followed by the PCB designer. And, it is difficult to errors and can offer advice and instruction to address these
comprehensively and concurrently prevent all possible types, violations.
causes and consequences of EMI on all nets.
Conclusion
Prior to fabrication, many EMC engineers manually review Expert systems can provide fast, thorough and consistent PCB
their PCB designs to look for suspicious areas in the routing that checking to flag potential EMI issues early in the design cycle,
may potentially cause radiation by either inadvertently creating when they are relatively easy and inexpensive to address. Even after
unwanted antennas or adding noise to susceptible IO signals. These fabrication or testing in a chamber, an expert system can also be
PCB reviews require EMC expertise developed over time and,
used as a valuable debugging tool. With tools like Quiet Expert,
oftentimes, the few engineers with these EMC skills cannot provide
adequate support for the whole organization. This time consuming companies can now leverage the expertise of a few EMC specialists
approach is prone to human error as some problem areas may be and ensure that these EMC guidelines have been followed
overlooked or inconsistently evaluated and is further complicated throughout their organization before sending their PCB designs out
when large PCB designs are built with several layers. for fabrication.

Simulation is possible but not very practical. This method


might detect noise at the millivolt level, but in many cases
microvolts are sufficient to cause EMC failures. In addition,
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corporation. All rights reserved.
Quiet is a trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation

This document contains information that is proprietary to Mentor Graphics Corporation. The original recipient
of this document may duplicate in whole or in part for internal business purposes only, provided that this entire
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reasonable effort to prevent the unauthorized use and distribution of the proprietary information.
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