Steps f r the Proper Development o of an EMC Control Plan

Ray Perez
Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology

Abstract
The development of a major electronic product in a company is usuallypreceded by the writing of an EMC Control Plan. The EMC Control Plan is wri!ten by the senior electromagnetic compatibility engineer and eventually reviewed and approved by management. A product being developed will adhere !o the EMC Control Plan. The quality o the EMC Control Plans vary. f depending on who writes i!, how important i s EMC i the culture of the company, fhe n importance of the product itselfto the future profitability of the company, and how innovative is the product to be developed. Nevertheless. the proper writing of an EMC Control Plan is crucial to the development of aproduct that is well designed with EMC in mind. In thi.9 work we outlined all the aspects of a well written EMC Control Plan. A well written EMC Control Plan outlines not only testing bur design, development, and manufacturing issues. It i intended that s present andfuture EMC engineers could use this EMC Control Plan as a baseline for their companies.
1.0 introduction The writing of a quality EMC Control Plan is in this authors opinion the most important document that an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) engineer could write in product development. The EMC Control Plan is written by the senior electromagnetic Compatibility engineer and eventually reviewed and approved by management. This document must guide designers of the electronic product on how to design power, analog, digital, and mixed signal electronics such that minimum electromagnetic interference can be achieve. The document must guide development and manufachlrer engineers in the proper layout of the electronics such that optimum performance can be obtained even in strenuous interference environments. Finally, this document must provide the guidelines for which EMC tests are appropriate for this

product. A well written EMC Control Plan can avoid a lot of the headaches that usually arrive later, conceming EMI, during the performance, qualification, and compliance phases of the product cycle. In this paper the basics aspects of a well written EMC control plan are outlined. A proper methodology is presented for having the EMC Control Plan involved in the design, development, manufacturing ,and testing phases of an electronic product. Following is an outline of the major topics that need to be discussed in an EMC Control Plan and to be discussed in the paper:
2.0 Background

In this world of fast turn around products to markets, many products design, development, and manufacture are put on a fast track. Fast track also means cutting down on development costs. For EMC engineers a directive to cut down developments cost means to simplify the EMC portion of the design cycle and cutting down testing costs. How can an EMC engineer assure himself that in tough times the product being develop can still pass EMC scrutiny (i.e minimization of EM1 problems and passing all EMC prescribed standard tests) ? and he himself look good to his superiors ? The answer lies in the development of a well written EMC control plan. The time invested by the EMC engineer in the development and writing of an EMC control plan is well worth it. In the process of writing an EMC control plan, the EMC engineer is forced to think of the best ways to apply EMC principals to the design of the product, and in the process, assess what is important and what is not that important for a successful product in the market with minimum EM1 problems. The EMC control plans allows the EMC engineer to stay focus and think through about all the details of the project. The EMC control plans forces EMC o engineers t get involved with design engineers early in the product developments. It allows other types of engineers in the company to appreciate the work of EMC engineers as they

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add value to the whole engineering development process. The EMC control plan allows technical and management personnel in the company to get a better understanding of EMC and how EMC fits in the overall product design and development. You cant go wrong with the development of a EMC control plan. However, you must be willing to invest some time, usually several weeks of hard thinking. In the following pages an illustration is made of what are the minimum requirements that an EMC control plan must have. Explanations and examples are given.
3.0 Applicable Documents,

4.0 EMC Program Organization and

Responsibilities, This section should outline how the EMC engineering organization is going to perform its duties. It describes the specific functions of the engineers such as who is preparing test plans or procedures ? Who is conducting tests, scheduling of tests, and monitoring the tests (for such cases where tests are performed by outside organizations). What are the agreed sign-off specs ? Who is in charge of providing the product drawings to assure EMC implementation in the design ? who can coordinate the product compatibility advisory board, interface with design and development engineering ?
5.0 Bonding Design

The EMC control plans must outline all the reference information used by the author in the development of the EMC control plan. Some of reference information needed are: a) EMC Standards and Specifications (Military or Commercial).-Which standards are applicable for this product ? Is the market military or commercial, or possibly both ? b) Company Documents and Handbooks (company documents which have served as references for the writing o f this control plan. It may include product requirements documents, performance specifications, schematics, drawings, analyses) c) Customer Documents (if applicable).---In many cases the product is to he developed for a customer who has paid (or is paying) for the product developments. The customer may have developed its own documents describing pertinent design or development issues.

How is the product design going to affect the bonding of the products surfaces so as to obtain a good ground ? Is the product an stand alone or part o f a subsystems in which the product will be bonded to a particular surface ? What are the bonding requirements ? EMC engineers must become acquainted with the over all grounding layout of the product in order to assess the correct bonding desing.
6.0 Grounding Design

The EMC Control Plan must outline the different grounding options available for this product. The plan must outline the grounding design for power, analog, digital, and mixed signal circuits. The EMC Control Plan must also specify the grounding design at the subsystem level , The EMC Control Plan must be helpful in implementing a ground scheme that minimizes ground loops, common mode currents, and structural voltages upsets. An example of a grounding concept used for two interconnecting transmitterheceiver electronic assemblies, which can be described in the EMC Control Plan, is shown in Figure I .

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Figure 1. Example of Grounding Concept for a Transmitter to Receiver Interface that must be properly described in the EMC Control Plan
An example of a subsystem grounding outline that could be described in an EMC Control Plan is shown un Figure 2.

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Figure 2. General Electronics Grounding at the Subsystem Level so that similar signal types can be routed together in the same bamess and connector, which will simplify shielding and reduce cable crosstalk. An example of wire grouping that could be described in an EMC Control Plan is as

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7.0 Cable Harness Design

The interconnecting wires should be categorized into groups according to their intended function

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follows: Group 1 is for Power/Control, Group 2 is for High Level signals, Group 3 is for Low level Signals, and Group 4 is for High Frequency Signals-The EMC Control Plan must describe the signals in the particular electronic product that fall under these groups. This section of the EMC Control Plan must define in details the whole wiring diagram of the electronic product(s).

minimizing apertures and the proper design of apertures for this particular products. It must also address where gasket material will be used. It must be understood that this section must address specifically the product being developed and not generalized shielding theory.

9.0 PCB Design and Layout

A significant impact on EM1 reduction can be made if the printed circuit board design is carefully conducted. The use of a multilayer design should make proper use of EMI reduction techniques. The EMC Control Plan must outline the design of the PCB to be use for this specific product. For example the individual PCBs can advise designers to follow the board layout sequence in Figure 3.
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8.0 Shielding Design

In this section of the FMC Control Plan the documents provides guidelines for shielding susceptible components in the electronics assembly and the shielding design of possible enclosures which may cover certain printed circuit boards. It also outlines steps for

Figure 3. Printed Circuit Board Layout The EMC Control Plan must specify the layout of analog, control, power, digital and mixed signal circuits in a PCB. The EMC Control Plan

for example can outline clock circuits at very high frequencies to he laid out as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. General PCB Layout

10.0 Power Design

The EMC Control Plan must also outline the intricacies in the design of the power distribution system, including the relationship

between grounding and power distribution. All efforts must be made to prevent primary DC power currents from retuning to the source voltage through structures and non-dedicated power paths. The power distribution system

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should be designed to provide low impedance to the various subsystems. This will ensure that EM1 generated by any particular types of circuits will not effectively couple through the common

impedances to other circuits. An example of a power distribution system that could be defines and explained in the EMC Control Plan is shown in Figure 5

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luhs stem 1 The EMC Control Plan must also address the power bus impedance (ohms vs frequency) and the general approach to power conditioning. An example of power conditioning that could be outlined in an EMC Control Plan is shown in Figure 6. The EMC Control Plan must address how to specifically condition power for a given CM Filter Transient Protection
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Figure 5. General DC Power Distribution System Diagram

product design. An important consideration that must also be covered in the EMC control plan is the design of the PCB grounding of the power converter boards; which is where most of the EM1 will come from ! (see Figure 7 for a sample of power grounding suggested).

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Figure 6. Example of a General DC Power Conditioner Diagram

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11.0 Analog, Digital, Mixed Signal, RF, and Power Signals Analysis

12.0 EMC Testing Limits

The EMC testing methodology is dependent on the applicable EMC standard . The testing limits (conducted, radiated, transients) outlined in the EMC Control Plan can also he dependent on the applicable EMC standard. However, in some cases tailored version of established limits kom standards can be applicable. For example (see Table I), if applying MIL-STD, the following EMC tests limits can be applicable

The EMC Control Plan must develop a comprehensive outline of all the signals invoh.ed in the product design. This must include interface signal and internal signals. The EMC Control Plan must recommend the proper shielding, grounding approach, routing, and terminating impedance for each of the signals involved in this particular hardware.

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461D CE101-1 Conducted Emissions, 30 Hz-10 MHz, Basic Curve CE102-1 Conducted Emissions, 10 KHz-IO MHz, Basic Curve CS101-1 Conducted Susceptibility, 30 Hz-I50 KHz CS103 Conducted Susceptibility, Intermodulation, RF Systems CS104 Conducted Susceptibility, rejection of undesired signals, RF subsystems CS105 Conducted Susceptibility, cross modulation, RF subsystems (3114-1 Conducted Susceptibility, 10 KHz-200 MHz, Curve 3 CS116-2 Conducted Susceptibility, 10 KHz-IOOMHz, Imax = 5 amps RE102 Radiated Emissions, 10 KHz-I8 GHz, Lower curve (tailored) RS103 Radiated Susceptibility RS103 Survival, 10 K H z 4 0 GHz RS103 Operating, 10 K H z 4 0 GHz

Figure 7. Example of a board layout for a PCB containing de-de converters

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