EMC consultancy

At the moment we see a sharp rise in the number of electrical appliances. This leads to a steady increase in the number of problems with electromagnetic compatibility and product safety. 

In the ideal situation problems are prevented with a good design. DARE!! Instruments can assist you with this right from the design stage. If the product or prototype is already finished and not found to meet the prescribed standards, our experienced engineers can advise you on how the product can be improved. Problems that occur when a device is already in use, it can be resolved on location.

The experienced engineers of DARE!! Instruments can solve EMC problems, anywhere in the world. This can be performed based on 'time and material' or 'no-cure-no-pay'.

In case of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), mobile phones, frequency inverters and other sources of strong electromagnetic fields, have their impact on computers and devices with embedded controllers and other analog circuits. In daily life this often results in unacceptable compatibility problems.

Prevention of EMC problems

The best and often the cheapest way is to prevent problems occurring. This can be achieved by performing a full compliant measurement when your prototype is ready. Even better is when EMC is a part of the design stage. If a product is finished its the best to have it tested to see how the product behaves. If it appears that it does not comply with the applicable standards, engineers of DARE!! Instruments can advise you how to improve or even redesign the product.

Advice during the design

Our experienced engineers can advise you during the design of both the EMC characteristics of the device or system that you want to develop as well as the requirements for specific applications and environments where the device should work. With this information, the lot sizes and allowable costs, our engineers can provide an optimal approach for a good product to comply with the EMC standards. Single layer versus multi-layered printing, component placement and PCB routing and selection are discussed. The practice shows that the investment that is done in this phase, is well spent. Our customers are very enthusiastic about this approach.

Advice in the pre-production stage

When a product is ready, a full compliant test is performed. If at this stage shows that the product does not comply with the standard, the experienced engineers of DARE!! Instruments can advise you how to improve your product. Depending on the outcome we can help you decide whether to improve the product (in case of small series) or perform a redesign. In special cases DARE!! Instruments even does the redesign for you.

Troubleshooting 'in the field'

Besides testing and consulting in the areas of EMC, DARE!! Instruments is also able to solve problems on location. When the products are shipped and problems arise, it is usually wise to solve the problem on site. The mentioned problems can be solved in two ways:

1. Passive method

When using the passive method, several measurements are performed to locate the source of disturbance. Once this is established, a plan is made to solve the problem. During a 'site survey' a mains analysis is performed as well as high and low frequency field measurements (E and H field). Besides these measurements also static electricity is given a close look by means of static charge equipment. If the interference is only sporadic, the passive method is rather time consuming. However in contradiction to the active method there is no risk of any harm to the equipment under test due to the research.

  
     

2. Active Method

During the active method, different EMC disturbances are generated to simlutate disruption of the test device. This results in a rapid identification of the cause of the malfunction. The disadvantage of this method is that it deliberately affects the equipment. At an full continuous operation this is almost never desirable. 
  
Site Survey's

During a site survey, the electromagnetic radiation in the area is mapped. Depending on the purpose of this measurement it is performed in a given frequency band.

Magnetic Radiation can be measured in a band of 30 MHz. This includes the 50 Hz radiation which is caused by transformers but also power supplies and frequency inverters.

Electrical Radiation can be measured by DARE!! from DC to 40 GHz. In that circle are nearly all applications of GSM, UMTS, WiFi, microwave and radar applications.

The purpose of the measurement can be to determine whether legal standards are not exceeded and that some equipment failure is caused by the environment. It is also possible to determine whether a particular activity can be started in a given area without problems. This includes for example computer centers near airports or transmitting towers. Also the field strength of GSM, UMTS and Tetra masts can be determined. On this basis we can determine whether public health is at stake.

For WiFi, WLAN on a 2,4-2,5 or 5,1-5,3 GHz it is important to carry out a baseline measurement in order to make a fundamental choise of frequency. This way you will not be easily surprised by conflicting frequencies, while you're implementing your wireless network.