Printed Circuit Board EMC Expert SystemsWork on a set of printed circuit board EMC expert system algorithms began back in 1995 with the formation of the "EMC Expert System Consortium" at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Today there is a fairly extensive set of algorithms that review circuit board designs searching for the sources, coupling paths and antennas that are capable of generating excessive radiated emissions or enabling significant EM susceptibility problems. The development of the algorithms has been a fruitful exercise, because fueled a significant amount of research into the basic mechanisms responsible for most EMC problems and forced researchers to quantify and compare possible source mechanisms. It has also resulted in the development of at least one commercial software tool for evaluating printed circuit board designs. Validation of the expert system algorithms has also been an enlightening experience. Each time the expert system failed to identify a significant problem in an existing board design, a new research project was born with the goal of identifying the unknown source mechanism. As a result, we have learned a great deal about the components, structures and coupling mechanisms capable of producing EMC problems in the "real world". This web site introduces the printed circuit board EMC expert system algorithms. Hyperlinked flow charts provide algorithms details, while short summaries are available to give a quick overview of each algorithms function. References are provided with information on the development and validation of each algorithm. |