Publications
Check out my Amazon Author Page for more information and ordering:
Create Your Own EMC Troubleshooting Kit (Vol 1)
Available from Amazon in US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. Published 2022, 173 pages.
Why Read This Book? – Completely updated and now in full color! With all the many pressures you have as a product designer, does electromagnetic compliance (EMC) always seems like a stumbling block to delaying product sales? Is your product exhibiting one of the top three failures; radiated emissions, electrostatic discharge or radiated immunity? Are you continually cycling between design/fixing - running to the compliance test lab - failing again - and back to applying more fixes? Wondering how to attack these issues earlier in the design cycle? Would you like to learn how to characterize and troubleshoot simple design issues right on your workbench? Then this is the book for you! The purpose of this guide is to help you to duplicate and customize your own EMC troubleshooting kit. This should prove useful whether you are an "internal EMC consultant" in a larger corporation, an engineer who “wears many hats” and occasionally is forced to deal with EMC compliance or if you're consulting in the field of EMC for other companies. Most of the content is a collection of past blog articles from EDN.com and Interference Technology Magazine. My hope is that the information within this guide will help you become more efficient and offer a more professional appearance to your managers or clients, as the case may be. Future volumes in the series will include simple ways of using these tools to perform your own in-house emissions and immunity troubleshooting and pre-compliance testing. Published October 2022. Total pages 173.
CONTENTS
- Chapter 1 – Creating your own EMC troubleshooting kit
- Chapter 2 - Spectrum analyzers
- Chapter 3 - Near field probes
- Chapter 4 - Current probes
- Chapter 5 – Antennas
- Chapter 6 - Broadband preamplifiers
- Chapter 7 - Conducted emissions
- Chapter 8 - Electrostatic discharge (ESD)
- Chapter 9 - Radiated immunity
- Chapter 10 – Oscilloscopes
- Chapter 11 - Harmonic comb generators
- Chapter 12 - Miscellaneous components and equipment
- Chapter 13 – Summary and references
Workbench Troubleshooting EMC Emissions (Vol 2)
Available from Amazon in US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. Published 2021, 223 pages.
Why Read This Book? – With all the many pressures you have as a product designer, does radiated or conducted emissions always seems like a stumbling block to delaying product sales? Are you continually cycling between design/fixing - running to the compliance test lab - failing again - and back to applying more fixes? Wondering how to attack these issues earlier in the design cycle? Then this is the book for you! Save time and cost by learning how to characterize and troubleshoot simple design issues right on your workbench! This is Volume 2 of a series of three affordable books on EMC troubleshooting. Volume 1 included examples of recommended measurement tools and probes useful for troubleshooting a myriad of EMC issues on your workbench or in-house. Volume 3 will include a deeper look at the top EMC immunity issues like ESD, radiated immunity and EFT. This volume will show you simple tests using the tools and accessories described in Volume 1 to characterize and perform workbench-level pre-compliance tests for radiated and conducted emissions. Lower your risk of compliance test failures by identifying issues early! Published June 2021. Total pages 223.
- Chapter 1 - Introduction to Emissions
- Chapter 2 - Basic EMC Concepts
- Chapter 3 - Troubleshooting Conducted Emissions
- Chapter 4 - Troubleshooting Radiated Emissions
- Chapter 5 - Pre-Compliance Testing for RE and CE
- Chapter 6 - Other EMC Measurements
- Chapter 7 - Troubleshooting Wireless Self-Interference
- Chapter 8 - Case Studies
- Chapter 9 - Summary and References
- Appendix A - Standard Test Setups
- Appendix B - DIY Vertical Rod Antenna
- Appendix C - Near Versus Far Field Measurements
- Appendix D - Using LTspice to Evaluate Filters
Workbench Troubleshooting EMC Immunity (Vol 3)
Available from Amazon in US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. Published 2021, 240 pages.
Why Read This Book? – With all the many pressures you have as a product designer, does radiated immunity, ESD or other product immunity issues always seems like a stumbling block to delaying product sales? Are you continually cycling between design/fixing - running to the compliance test lab - failing again - and back to applying more fixes? Wondering how to attack these issues earlier in the design cycle? Then this is the book for you! Save time and cost by learning how to characterize and troubleshoot simple design issues right on your workbench! This is volume 3 of a series of three affordable books on EMC troubleshooting. Volume 1 included examples of recommended measurement tools and probes useful for troubleshooting a myriad of EMC issues on your workbench or in-house. Volume 2 discusses troubleshooting techniques for radiated and conducted emissions. Volume 3 will include a deeper look at the top EMC immunity issues like electrostatic discharge, radiated immunity and fast transient/burst. This volume will show you simple tests using the tools described in Volume 1 to characterize and perform workbench-level pre-compliance tests to lower your risk of compliance test failures by identifying issues early! Published August 2021. Total pages 123.
- Chapter 1 - Introduction to Immunity
- Chapter 2 - Basic EMC Concepts
- Chapter 3 - Troubleshooting Conducted Immunity
- Chapter 4 - Troubleshooting Radiated Immunity
- Chapter 5 - Troubleshooting ESD
- Chapter 6 - Troubleshooting EFT
- Chapter 7 - Troubleshooting Surge
- Chapter 8 - Case Studies
- Chapter 9 - Summary and References
EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers!
Available from Amazon, and The IET (Europe). Published 2014, 234 pages.
Description: This hands-on trouble-shooting style book offers step-by-step ‘recipes’ to assist those who are trying to solve EMI problems, by detailing exactly what to do and how to do it. EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers identifies why products fail to meet EMI/EMC regulatory standards and outlines techniques for tracking the noise source, and discovering the coupling mechanism, that is causing the undesired effects. Using methods that require only a basic understanding of electromagnetic theory and a minimal background in EMI/EMC, this book offers a range of simple, easily-implemented examples of inexpensive troubleshooting tools that can be built by the engineer or technician.
For a brief discussion, see our YouTube video and my video interview here.
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Pocket Guide!
Available from Amazon, and The IET (Europe). Published 2013, 64 pages.
Note that this guide may be customized with your company’s logo and web site and is also available in quantity discounts.
Description: Every electric product designed and manufactured worldwide must meet electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) regulations. If you are a working engineer or technician, the Electromagnetic Compatibility Pocket Guide: Key EMC Facts, Equation and Data is your fastest and easiest path to the answers you need to achieve compliance in your designs. This practical reference guide allows you to find the key reasoning behind electromagnetic interference and help you propose a solution without losing time delving into the larger references that contain more theory than practical information. After a quick overview of the fundamentals of EMI/EMC, it dives immediately in to issues such as oscilloscope settings, cable terminations, connector bonding, shielding, common PC board issues, troubleshooting with current probes and antennas, and much more. The Electromagnetic Compatibility Pocket Guide is the first place to look while designing for EMC and your guide to thwarting electromagnetic interference.
Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Pocket Guide!
Available from Amazon, or The IET (Europe). Published 2015, 86 pages.
Description: This handy pocket guide to essential radio frequency interference (RFI) is a valuable, pocket-sized reference for radio amateurs and others in the radio communication fields. Designed as a practical, quick reference, the Radio Frequency Interference Pocket Guide collates all the key facts and useful reference materials in one handy place to help the reader to understand basic EM theory, along with specific remediation steps in reducing or eliminating sources of radio interference. Topics covered include; EMC/RFI Fundamentals, EMC design, FCC rules, locating and resolving RFI issues.