Assembly‐Level EMC Testing of Space Components/Subsystems

This chapter discusses the testing of spacecraft components and subsystems. It includes requirements and clarification, derived requirements, testing approaches and types, potential component to system impacts and vice versa. There are four basic must types of testing performed at the subsystems level: conducted emissions, conducted susceptibility, radiated emissions, and radiated susceptibility. The chapter describes the most commonly used tests and explain their rationale. A test plan consists of the requirements as agreed upon by the contracting bodies. A list of the tests and how they are to be performed is given in the documents. The subsystem/component ground configuration must be reflective of the grounding configuration on the spacecraft. The cabling used during the subsystem testing should reflect the cabling used, in the spacecraft interface, as closely as practicable, to include shields, twists, length, and so on for data as well as power cables.