Measurement and Simulation of Electrostatic Discharge in The Automotive Industry

Application of electromagnetic (EM) simulation to solving practical electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues has gain attention lately, motivated by its potential to constitute a cost-effective alternative to experiments in pre-compliance testing. A case study of full-wave electromagnetic simulation used for solving electrostatic discharge (ESD) issues, in the case of an Automotive airbag control unit, is reported in this paper. The work involved finding an appropriate model for the testing tool, modeling the equipment under test (EUT) and extracting results from the interaction between the two. Several design modifications have been proposed and assessed by simulation. Results have been validated by comparison against measurements performed in laboratory.