A description of the implementation of an automated conducted emissions chamber for automotive testing

This paper describes the implementation of a test method that automates the pin by pin measurement of conducted RF emissions at the I/O lines of automotive electronic modules. Previous approaches required the test technician to place the RF probe on each I/O pin for each measurement individually. For low pin count modules, this is not a problem. For a module with an I/O pin count between 100-200 pins, the traditional procedure can be time consuming and physically tiring on the test personnel. Additionally, the technician will be moving the probe and its cable for each measurement, introducing an orientation variance with each measurement. These two facets of the measurement can lead to measurement repeatability issues. The automated method described herein reduces test time by 400%, and increases repeatability substantially.