Effects of Using an Unshielded Cable as a Reference Standard in Cable Shielding Measurements, or, Do You Really Want to Base Your Results on a Naked Cable?

Published

August 1, 2006

Author(s)

Jason B. Coder, John M. Ladbury

Abstract

We examine the effects of using an unshielded cable as a reference standard for the evaluation of the high-frequency shielding effectiveness of cables. We placed an unshielded cable (wire) in five different configurations in our reverberation chamber. In each configuration, we measured the coupling between the cable and a source antenna. We observed large variations (up to 20 dB) in the results which we traced to impedance mismatches associated with the various configurations. We used post-processing to correct for these mismatches, and the results were much more consistent from configuration to configuration, and were also consistent with a well-matched horn antenna. However, two configurations still showed anomalies, illustrating some of the problems associated with using bare wires as reference standards.

Proceedings Title

IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Symp.

Conference Dates

August 14-18, 2006

Conference Location

Portland, OR

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

cable shielding, reverberation chamber, shielding effectivness, shielding measurments

Citation

Coder, J. and Ladbury, J. (2006), Effects of Using an Unshielded Cable as a Reference Standard in Cable Shielding Measurements, or, Do You Really Want to Base Your Results on a Naked Cable?, IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Symp., Portland, OR (Accessed April 16, 2024)