Renewal of the RF Emission and Immunity Test Methods

The most commonly used EMC measurement methodology to assess the radiated RF emission of electric and electronic products is more than 40 years old and shows incompatibilities with newly developed measurement techniques. Instead of trying to compare the new methods with the “old” measurement methodology, an upgrade of the “old” method is proposed. As a result, alternative measurement techniques can be used with limited deviations in measurement results between the “updated” method and any other measurement method that complies with the “new” concept. By splitting the radiated measurements, both for RF emission and immunity up in two conditions, a better correlation between the various radiated measurement techniques can be obtained. By excluding (minimizing) the contribution of the cables to the radiation in the radiated test set-ups, only the EM (ir-) radiation from the enclosure is measured e.g. as defined in the generic standards IEC 61000-6-x. Complementary, conducted RF emission and RF immunity measurements have to be provided to ensure that all RF EMC aspects of the EUT are covered during these tests. By excluding (minimizing or stabilizing) the contribution of the cables connected, the EUT will become an EM equivalent of a (battery powered) cordless device from which only the cabinet or enclosure (ir-) radiation is measured. The radiation pattern of the enclosure may be a simple magnetic or electric dipole character or even a multi-pole structure with different orientations of their origins.