RF Emission Testing - Effect, Standard and Methodology
Introduction to RF Emission
Radio frequency emissions tests are one of the basic requirements for electromagnetic compatibility
compliance of most electronic and electrical products. The purpose of these
tests is to ensure that other users are protected from the emissions generated when the product is used in
their neighbourhood. All commercial products will be tested against the standards
which are mostly based on CISPR tests.
IEC CISPR publication 16-1: October 1999, “Specification for radio disturbance
and immunity measuring apparatus and methods”, specifies the characteristics
and performance of equipment for measuring electromagnetic immunity in the frequency range of 9kHz
to 18GHz. It includes specifications for
a) The quasi-peak, peak, average and rms measuring receivers
b) Artificial mains networks
c) Current and voltage probes
d) Absorbing clamps
e) Antennas and test sites
There are basically 2 tests for RF Emissions. They are conducted and radiated emission tests.
Conducted RF Emission Test
Conducted emissions tests use an artificial mains network which is also known
as a Line Impedance Stabilising Network(LISN) as a transducer between the
mains port of the Equipment Under Test and the measuring receiver. It has 3 functions
as described below.
a) Provides a stable, defined RF impedance equivalent to 50 Ohm in parallel
with 50µH (or 50 Ohm/5µH for high-current units) between the point of
measurement and the ground reference plane.
b) Couples the RF interference from each of the supply phase lines to the
receiver, while blocking the LF mains voltage.
c) Attenuates external interference already present on the incoming mains
supply.
The internal circuit of the standard 50 Ohm/50µH LISN is shown below.
Although the LISN will reduce both the noise on
the mains supply and variations in the supply impedance, it does not do this
perfectly and a permanently installed RF filter at the mains supply to the test
environment is advisable. Ambient radiated signals should also be attenuated
and it is usual to perform the measurements inside a screened room, with the
walls and floor of the room forming the ground reference plane.
A typical setup for conducted emission is shown in the figure below.
Radiated RF Emission Test
The radiated RF measurement according to CISPR 22 and CISPR 11 is usually
performed on an open area test site (OATS). An OATS setup is shown in
figure below.
Any open area test site is likely to suffer from ambient signals
which are generated in the neighbourhood and received on the site, but not
emitted from the EUT. These signals can easily exceed both the EUT's
emissions and the limit values at many frequencies. An emissions plot which
contains ambients is hard to interpret and, more importantly, ambients which
mask EUT emissions make it impossible to measure the EUT at these
frequencies.
Ambient signals can be classified into continuous narrowband, transient narrowband,
continuous broadband and transient broadband.
Continuous narrowband signals such as broadcast transmissions can be
tabulated for a given site and their frequencies avoided.
A transient narrowband ambient allows a measurement to be made but the test
engineer needs to know when the ambient signal is present. The same is true
with a transient broadband signal.
Continuous broadband interference such as pulsed noise from, say, an arc
welder is more difficult to deal with but a narrowband EUT emission can be
extracted by using the average detector with a narrow measuring bandwidth.
One way to avoid ambients altogether is to use a screened room for the
radiated measurements.
The types of antennas used for the measurement and their frequencies is as below.
The above tests are typically conducted by test labs which have the facilities to
conduct the conducted and radiated emissions. These tests are usually costly to setup
and the choice of whether to invest in these facilities will depend on the need and
frequency of testing the products. Usually they are used for research and development
purposes.
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