AustriaOn June 12, the EMC Chapter in Aus-tria, the Institute for Electronics (TU-Graz) and the Seibersdorf EMC TestLaboratory (Company AustrianResearch Centers - ARC) organized awell-attended “EMC Meeting 2007” atthe University of Technology in Graz.The following topics where presentedand discussed:

• Radiation from Bus Cables (AustrianResearch Center - ARC)

• Working relationship of System- andChip-Designers (Austria Microsys-tems)

• Design of filters for EMC (WürthElektronik)

• Improvements in EMC measurement(Rohde & Schwarz)

• Electromagnetic Emission of integrat-

ed Circuits (Uni-Linz)• Design of filters using LT-Spice • Circuit- and PCB-Design with regard

to EMC (Infineon, TU-Graz)During the lunch break and after thepresentations, the audience enjoyedthe opportunity to discuss the presen-tations, visit with colleagues andenjoy the small, but high qualityexhibition.

10

Not Very Funny at the Time . . .I still haven’t decided if time has really made this story funnyor not. I get more chills than chuckles when I imagine myselfin Dave’s shoes. In any case, this must have been an excellentopportunity for Dave to update his resume. As usual and cus-tomary, our story is told by the teller, with very minor editingto enhance the text flow (believability) by the editing staff.

“Well, there was the time back in the mid 1970’s when Iwas performing an Electrostatic Discharge demonstration forthe Dallas Chapter with a home made discharge probe. MyESD probe was about 30 inches long and had a banana jackreceptacle located at the hand held end of the probe. Thereceptacle was used for a ground strap or a loop of wire (to gen-erate a magnetic field), which formed the return path of thegenerator.

I placed the Unit Under Test (UUT) on the top of a tableand proceeded to turn the UUT power on. This particularUUT was a word processing system, which included a largefloor standing tower. It literally took two people to lift andplace the UUT on the table top for my demo. The side coverfor the card cage area, containing all the circuit boards, hadbeen previously removed and I forgot to replace the side cover

for my presentation. Once the UUT was in place, I proceededto “fire-up” the ESD gun, which did not have a trigger as thehigh voltage was on the tip all the time.

So, the UUT was sitting on top of the table with the sidecover off. Everyone in the room was seated and watching as Iexplained what I was about to do. The ESD gun had about 25KV on the tip. Then, I dropped my paper with my notes tothe floor. As I bent down to pick up my notes, I accidentallytouched the card cage area of the UUT with the ESD probe tip.There was a large discharge noise and then I realized what Idone. I had just damaged numerous circuit boards and blownmany ICs. This incident was not really funny, but then againit was. The UUT I borrowed was the only prototype myemployer had on this particular project. Yes, I had borrowedthe UUT from my employer for this ESD demonstration.When my error became known, you could have heard my man-ager screaming from two blocks away.

There are several lessons I learned at the time: 1) don’t bor-row the only prototype of a project from anyone, and 2) whena person is talking they are not really paying attention to whatthey are doing, and finally 3) be really careful when dealingwith a high voltage device.”

Chapter Chatter

Todd Robinson, Associate Editor

Over 50 people participated in the one-day EMC eventorganized by the Austria EMC Chapter.

Exhibitors showcased the latest in EMC products and services inthe exhibition area at Austria’s EMC Meeting 2007.

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Austria EMC Chapter Members and speakers shown left toright, forward to back: Winkler (TU-Graz), Deutschmann(Infineon), Maier (Austria Microsystems), Stecher (Rohde& Schwarz), Ostermann (Uni-Linz), Lamedschwandner(ARC, Campus Seibersdorf), Klein (Würth).

Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Erping Li visited the BeneluxEMC Chapter in Amsterdam and gave a presentation onhigh-speed electronics and related EMC problems.

BeneluxOn Friday September 21, Dr. Erping Liwas gave a lecture at the AmsterdamSchool of Technology. This lecture wasorganized by the IEEE Benelux EMCChapter and was well attended by 32people. They really enjoyed the detailedlecture titled “Electromagnetic Com-patibility of High Speed ElectronicPackaging and its Simulation.” Dr. Liintroduced the fundamental EMC andsignal integrity issues of high-frequencyelectronic circuits and its packaging.The key EMC problems arising fromhigh-speed ICs and their packagingwere discussed. The current modellingand simulation methods used for ICpackages related to EMC problems wereidentified and discussed. After the lec-ture, questions and discussions started,which were continued during the “afterlecture borrel”, as a drink is called inour region. Later on, Dr. Li was given atour of Amsterdam, including somefamous areas of the town. The BeneluxEMC Chapter expresses its gratitude tothe EMC Society Distinguished Lectur-

er program, that they could host Dr. Lifor this interesting and well-attendedmeeting.

Central TexasThe Central Texas Chapter held a meet-ing at Professional Testing in Austinover the summer. The purpose of themeeting was to discuss planning for the2009 IEEE International Symposium onEMC to be held August 17-21, 2009 inAustin, Texas. Chapter Chair MichaelRoyer of Professional Testing welcomedeveryone and provided a deli sandwichbuffet. At the meeting, held inside thelab’s ten-meter chamber, Dave Staggsprovided an overview of the administra-tive functions of the EMC 2007 sympo-sium steering committee. Dave was onthe committee for this year’s symposiumas the Special Sessions and KeynoteSpeaker Chair. That experience willserve him well as chair of the EMC 2009symposium steering committee. Severalchapter members attended, many of whohad previous experience with EMC 1997

in Austin. That promises a great sympo-sium will take place in two years!

Oregon-SW WashingtonAfter a summer shutdown, the Oregon-SW Washington Chapter opened itsSeptember meeting with a talk byBrent DeWitt of HP titled “Changes inthe Medical EMC Standard.” Mr.DeWitt has 30 years experience inEMC, and has served 8 years on the IECcommittee developing the EMC compo-nent of IEC Medical Standard 60601-1-2. The IEC Medical Devices Directivelays out the fundamental requirementsfor medical devices. Under this is60601-1-1,1st edition, which coverspatient safety with specific EMCrequirements, but it does not coverEMC affecting correct performance.The second edition added EMC require-ments addressing performance but someelements depended upon the other stan-dards, which were delayed, and thiscaused numerous problems and ques-tions. To rectify the situation, Amend-

Central Texas Chapter members including (from left) TimStevens of Dell, Chair Mike Royer of Professional Testing,and Dr. Robert Blake of the University of Texas enjoyed adeli sandwich buffet prior to the start of the meeting.

Dave Staggs (standing rear) presents an overview of EMC2009 committee functions to the Central Texas Chapter. In2009, the annual IEEE EMC symposium will take place inAustin, Texas.

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ment 1 was added. There was muchcontroversy concerning the addition ofEMI related performance specificationsto a standard on patient safety. So thethird edition returned the EMC compo-nent of 60601-1-2 to its original func-tion of patient safety, and correct per-formance in an EMC environment weretargeted for a new 60XXX standard.This standard is still under develop-ment. The present situation is thatmedical devices will not harm a patientin an EMI environment, but there are

no requirements for them to performcorrectly in an EMI environment.

Rocky MountainMeeting in Westminster (a northernsuburb of Denver), the Rocky Moun-tain Chapter of the EMC Society(RMCEMC) continues to have astrong program on a wide variety ofEMC related topics. On May 15, Mr.Peter Biocca (Kester) spoke to theChapter about “Lead-free Soldering

Materials and Processes.” On June12, Dr. Joan Mitchell (IBM) present-ed “Career Development” using theprinciples she wrote about in herrecently published book, StraightTalk About Taking Charge of YourCareer. As an extra feature of thismeeting, the Chapter brought inSenior Members and Fellows to inter-view well-deserving qualified engi-neers and sponsor them in the processof upgrading their IEEE membershipto Senior Member status. As a result,

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Brent DeWitt of HP discussing new EMC requirements formedical equipment at the Oregon and SW WashingtonChapter meeting.

Mr. William Kimmel (right) fields some questions during hispresentation to the Rocky Mountain Chapter last summer.

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the Chapter has five new IEEE SeniorMembers. Then on September 17,Mr. William Kimmel (Kimmel &Gerke Associates) presented “EMCSystems Engineering.” In his talk,Mr. Kimmel emphasized the aspectsof Electromagnetic Compatibilitythat go far beyond mere achieving thelegal standards and move into therealm of improving the quality ofproduct design. The Chapter will bethe first to try out the Webinar tech-

nology for an EMC technical presenta-tion. On October 9, we will have EMCSociety Distinguished Lecturer Dr. JunFan (University of Missouri Rolla)speak to the Chapter on “Power Distri-bution Network Design for High-Speed Printed Circuit Boards” viaWebinar. Our membership will pro-vide the EMC Society with the firstsurveys evaluating Webinar technologyfor future EMC Society DistinguishedLecturer technical presentations.

SE MichiganSome 100 SE Michigan EMC Chaptermembers and friends gathered on Sep-tember 25 at the Fairlane Center onthe University of Michigan - Dearborncampus to hear several speakers intown as part of the second annual“Tech Tour.” Sponsored by Rohde &Schwarz, SILENT, Conformity andETS-Lindgren, three speakers spentone afternoon covering importantEMC topics. After a warm welcome

Riad Ghabra of Lear (left) questions speaker VinceRodriguez following his presentation on full vehicle EMCtesting.

Scott Scherbaty (left) of Yazaki North America stops by thetabletop display promoting the 2008 IEEE InternationalSymposium on EMC in Detroit and visits with Bob Neff.

Mr. Kimmel’s Rocky Mountain presentation in progress …all eyes on him.

Speaker Lee Hill (left) of SILENT chats with SE MichiganChapter Chair Scott Lytle of Yazaki North America prior tothe start of the Tech Tour seminar.

Dr. Vince Rodriguez of ETS-Lindgren speaks to a crowdof some 100 Chapter members in SE Michigan.

Tony Seccia of Rohde & Schwarz (left) and Robert Bratschi ofEM Test show off new EMC test equipment during the SEMichigan’s September Tech Tour.

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Larry Banansky (left) of GM caught up with Keith Fra-zier of Ford during the SE Michigan Tech Tour.

Jim Teune of Gentex enjoyed relaxing with Michele Hobbs ofToyota during the reception following the three presentations.

Chad Blueher, Brian Hoff, Larry Sheridan of Delta Tech-nology Solutions in Dayton, and Bill Imbierowicz, (fromleft) drove several hours to Dearborn to hear the greatTech Tour presentations. Chad, Brian and Bill are withDelphi in Kokomo, Indiana.

Kevin Baldwin of ETS-Lindgren, Rob Kado of Chrysler, PhilDew of Delta Technology Solutions and Vic Hudson of Rohde& Schwarz (from left) talked EMC during the reception.

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Concluding the Tech Tour, Dr. Shridhar (left) of the Univer-sity of Michigan – Dearborn drew the winning raffle ticketfor Andrew Krochmal of Visteon as Tammy Hojat of ETS-Lindgren looks on.

SE Michigan Chapter members Terry North, formerly ofChrysler, Bill Sperber, formerly of GM, and Jim Muccioliof X2Y Attenuators (from left) gather in the lobby of thehistoric Dearborn Inn. Astute readers will recognize Bill(and his car!) in the chamber photo shown in the EMC2008 Symposium brochure.

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Jason Smith of AR Worldwide opening his presentation to theTwin Cities Chapter.

Joel Peltier of Medtronic (Twin Cities EMC Chapter Chairseated left) listening closely to Jason Smith’s presentation.

from Dr. Shridhar, Associate Provostat the University of Michigan - Dear-born, and remarks from Scott Lytle ofYazaki, SE Michigan Chapter Chair,Robert Bratschi of EM Test presented“Automotive Pulse Testing Stan-dards.” Lee Hill of SILENT presented“Characterize EMI Lab RF Cables,Connectors and Accessories Using E-Bay and a Test Receiver” and VinceRodriguez of ETS-Lindgren presented“Full Vehicle Testing: Making CISPR25 and ISO 11451 Measurements in aSingle Chamber.” During the breaksand at the reception following the pre-sentations, Chapter members net-worked and caught up on the latestEMC activity in the area, or spenttime one-on-one questioning thespeakers following their respectivepresentations. Bob Neff of the 2008IEEE International Symposium onEMC coming this August 18-22 in

Detroit set up a tabletop display topromote the symposium and cheerful-ly handed out brochures. After a sum-mer break and time off from Chaptermeetings, everyone enjoyed reconnect-ing at the Chapter’s kick off event inSeptember. Many Chapter membersare also members of the EMC 2008Symposium steering committee andare getting ready for this summer’sSymposium. This will be a very busyyear for them!

Twin CitiesThe EMC Chapter of the Twin CitesSection has had three meetings so farin 2007. The first meeting was heldon May 10 at Nonin Incorporated inPlymouth, Minnesota. It was hostedby Brodie Pedersen and attended byabout 25 people. Harold Rudnickspoke about transient immunity test-

ing and the updates that have occurredto the 61000-4-x series this past year.The meeting included a tour ofNonin’s EMC lab. The second meet-ing was a lunch meeting held onAugust 14 at the Mermaid Entertain-ment and Event Center in MoundsView, Minnesota. The featured speakerwas Jason Smith from AmplifierResearch who spoke on “IEC 61000-4-3: 2006 - Edition 3 - Standard Updateand How to Select the Correct Ampli-fier.” 16 people attended this meeting;twelve of who were IEEE members.The third meeting of the year was a“technical download” session held inthe Wigwam room of the RamadaMall of America (formerly the Thun-derbird Hotel) in Bloomington, Min-nesota. It was held on September14th, immediately after the 2007Minnesota EMC Event. About 12 peo-ple, ten of who were IEEE members,

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The audience at the Twin Cities meeting listened intently to Jason Smith. Pictured at the first table, from left to right, BobSchlentz (EMC consultant), Terrence Brown (Lockheed Martin), and Wes Clement (Medtronic). At the rear table, from left to right,Dave Zimmerman (TUV SUD America), Robert Behringer (TUV SUD America), and David Schaefer (TUV SUD America).

attended the “technical download”session. The topics covered in the“technical download” session included

MIL-STD-461E, broadband powerline communications, RTCA DO-160E and 160F, immunity testing for

commercial electronics, EMC for pace-makers and ICDs, and the new EUEMC directive. EMC

EMC Chapters Recognized at the 2007 IEEE EMCAnnual Awards Luncheon

Kye Yak See (left) accepts the “Most Improved ChapterAward” on behalf of the Singapore Chapter.

The Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter receivedthe “Chapter of the Year Award”. Derick Skouby (left)gladly accepted the award on behalf of his Chapter.

Peter Leung (left) accepts the “Chapter Founder Award” onbehalf of the new Hong Kong Chapter from EMC Society Pres-ident Andy Drozd.

Franz Schlagenhaufer (left) accepts the “Chapter FounderAward” on behalf of the new Australia Chapter from Mr.Drozd.

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