Emission and Immunity Testing: Test Object Electrical Size and its Implication

Published

August 9, 2004

Author(s)

Perry F. Wilson

Abstract

As the electrical size of a test object increases so does the complexity of its antenna pattern. The antenna pattern complexity affects the number of orientations necessary to determine minimum immunity and maximum emission. This has implications for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards. If the true minimum immunity or maximum emission is to be found, then a sufficient number of samples (test object orientations) over the test object antenna pattern need to be taken. If fewer samples are used in an immunity or emission test (e.g., the four orientations presently recommended by International Electrotechncial Commission (IEC) standard 61000-4-3 [1]), then the difference between the estimate based on the low sample number and desired true value needs to be recognized and, if possible, quantified. Examples here suggest that for modest sized test objects (an example of a test object 50 cm in major dimension is considered) maximum coupling may be underestimated by up to 4 dB for present immunity test methods (e.g., IEC 61000-4-3 with an upper frequency limit of 1 GHz). The underestimation increases to 6 dB if the upper frequency were extended to 5 GHz. This result suggests that present immunity and emission standards should consider including the effect of test object size on pass/fail limits.

Proceedings Title

2004 IEEE International Symposium on EMC

Conference Dates

August 9-13, 2004

Conference Location

Santa Clara, CA

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

antenna pattern, electrical size, emission test, immunity test, pattern sampling

Citation

Wilson, P. (2004), Emission and Immunity Testing: Test Object Electrical Size and its Implication, 2004 IEEE International Symposium on EMC, Santa Clara, CA (Accessed April 25, 2026)

Additional citation formats