Stellenbosch University

Department of Electrical &

Electronic Engineering
Post-graduate Course on

Electromagnetic Compatibility & Metrology

Week 1 Task – EMC Definitions and Standards

1. General
Contact sessions will be informal. Practical task requirements will be discussed, as
well as previous task results. For each task, please work in groups of 2 or 3. Each group
member needs to complete an individual task report.

2. Task Objectives
The main objective of the task is to get familiar with the topic of EMC through a
thorough literature study of available standards bodies, books and library resources.

3. Background Reading
Before the task is attempted, you will need to read through the following material,
which will provided:

1. Tim Williams – EMC for Product Designers – Chapters 1 to 5

2. Henry Ott – EMC Engineering – Chapter 1
3. International Electrotechnical Commission Website - http://www.iec.ch/emc/
4. Wikipedia EMC – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_compatibility
5. Wikipedia List of common EMC Standards –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_EMC_test_standards
6. NASA Reference Publication 1374 – Electronic Systems Failures and Anomalies
Attributed to Electromagnetic Interference -
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19960009442.pdf
7. Library standards resources on CD in the Engineering Library

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4. Methodology
For this task, all the questions pertain to the prescribed reading material. It is
therefore essential to read through the material. Please answer the following questions
in your task report as detailed in section 5. Please reference your source and page
number of your answer clearly with each answer.

1. Write down (do not copy paste) the definitions for the following:
a. Electromagnetic compatibility
b. EMC Directive
c. R&TTE Directive
d. CISPR
e. CENELEC
f. Electromagnetic noise
g. Radiated noise
h. Conducted noise
i. Electromagnetic interference
j. Radio frequency interference
k. Emmissions testing
l. Immunity testing
m. Susceptibility
2. Which standards bodies govern commercial EMC standards in which geographic
areas? To which EMC standards does South Africa generally conform? Add a
diagram with the different standards bodies and their responsible committees.
3. Which International Guidelines govern electromagnetic field exposure to humans?
4. What does the CE mark show?
5. What is the difference between basic, generic and product EMC standards?
6. In EMC Design, what is the difference between the crisis approach and the systems
approach?
7. What is the difference between a class A and a class B device?
8. If I want to test a home PC to comply with EMC standards in the USA, which test
standards must be used (names and numbers, e.g. USA9001 – USA Testing of
computers)?
9. If I want to do the same in a European Union country, which test standards must I
use (names and numbers)?
10. Which test standards would apply for the same in South Africa (names and
numbers)?
11. What are the radiated emission limits of class B devices in dBuv/m as measured at
10m distance between 30 MHz and 1 GHz?
12. Which standards apply to aircraft equipment?
13. What was the peak level of pulsed radiated field tests between 4-6 GHz for aircraft
on previous standards? What type of testing replaced this?

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14. Which standards/guidelines apply to the London Underground?
15. Which EMC standards are available in the Engineering Library?
16. What was the cause of broadband interference on a NASA Saturn vehicle on their
range safety systems pre-flight?
17. What was the lesson learned with NASA Spacelab interference from COTS
(commercial-of-the-shelf) equipment?
18. On which vessel did an interference problem cause the death of 134 sailors?
19. Describe the problems early Mercedes Benz ABS systems encountered on the
German Autobahn.
20. List the passenger carry-on electronic devices that caused interference to passenger
aircraft navigation systems.
21. What change to an ambulance caused the death of a 93-year-old heart attack victim
through RFI?

5. Task Report Requirements

This report must be completed in full and handed in within one week’s time. The
report can take any form, but needs to include the following as the minimum:

1. Author details: Name, student number, date, subject name and task name
2. Full task description (as you understand it) as part of an introduction section,
explaining the methodology and steps
3. All details as required from the task. For this task answers to the relevant questions,
as well as a detailed reference list is essential.
4. The very important section is the Conclusions section where you need to summarise
interpret what you have learned.

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