The mode stirred chamber-a cost effective EMC testing alternative

One of the key elemental factors related to product EMC compliance testing is cost. As the European norms advance toward completion and implementation, the need to address both emissions as well as susceptibility testing as part of the product development cycle becomes a factor which can not be ignored. One solution hereby proposed is the mode stirred, or mode tuned, chamber method of testing which provides many advantages. First there is the reduced capital cost of constructing such a facility and secondly, the minimal operational cost associated with the inherently short testing cycle. Other advantages over conventional methods abound which, together with a theoretical and an experimental perspective, form the subject of this paper.