The RF emissions testing required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under 47 CFR Part 15 became mandatory in 1981. Following the United States, other individual country requirements were instigated around the world. With the formation of the European Union and the EMC Directive, which became effective as of 1995, the scope of testing was expanded from conducted and radiated emissions to include a full set of immunity requirements.
The immunity requirements and test procedures are covered by the following IEC standards.
- IEC/EN 61000-4-2 – Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)
- IEC/EN 61000-4-3 – Radiated RF Immunity
- IEC/EN 61000-4-4 – Electrical Fast Transient (EFT)
- IEC/EN 61000-4-5 – Surge
- IEC/EN 61000-4-6 – Conducted RF Immunity
- IEC/EN 61000-4-8 – Magnetic Immunity
- IEC/EN 61000-4-11 – Voltage Dips and Dropouts
- IEC 61000-4-12 – Ringwave Immunity Test
- IEC 61000-4-13 – Harmonics and Interharmonics
- IEC 61000-4-16 – Immunity to Conducted, common mode disturbances
- IEC 61000-4-17 – Ripple on d.c. Input Power Port
- IEC 61000-4-21 – Reverberation Test Chamber Methods
Knowing that you are going to meet the radiated emissions criteria early in your design process saves time to market and money. Professional Testing has implemented a 3-meter Semi-Anechoic chamber at its Round Rock facility for just this purpose. Use of this chamber is available to customers in three flexible capacities: for their own use; use with Professional Testing technical staff performing the measurements; or available with an experienced EMC engineer that can interrupt the results and suggest design changes.
Commercial-radiated emission testing was originally performed on Open Area Test Sites (OATS). Professional Testing originally used three OATS located in the Texas Hill Country outside of Marble Falls, Texas. The testing performed on these sites has been replaced by Professional Testing, acquiring a 10-meter Anechoic Chamber located in north Austin. This state-of-the-art 10-meter chamber originally designed for IBM incorporates a 12 ft diameter turntable capable of supporting over 1,000 lbs and power sources capable single or 3-phase Ac voltages of up to 200 amps or DC voltages up to1000 amps.