IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY, VOL. 50, NO.
2, MAY 2008
especially for electrically short lines. We have shown that the method
leads to potentially simple practical solutions for both unilateral and
bilateral crosstalk-free or crosstalk-reduced transmission.
REFERENCES
[1] C. R. Paul, Analysis of Multiconductor Transmission Lines. New York:
Wiley, 1994.
[2] Scott, “Propagation over multiple parallel transmission lines via modes,”
IMB Tech. Disclosure Bull., vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 1–6, Apr. 1990.
[3] F. Broyde and E. Clavelier, “Method and device for transmission without
crosstalk,” International Patent WO 2004/082168 A1, Sep. 23, 2004.
[4] F. Broydé and E. Clavelier, “A new method for the reduction of crosstalk
and echo in multiconductor interconnections,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst.,
vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 405–416, Feb. 2005.
[5] F. Broydé and E. Clavelier, “A modal transmission technique providing
a large reduction of crosstalk and echo,” in Proc. 16th Int. Zurich Symp.
Electromagn. Comp., 13–18 Feb. 2005, pp. 341–346.
[6] T. Ciamulski and W. K. Gwarek, “On eliminating crosstalk within mul-
ticonductor transmission lines,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett.,
vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 298–300, Jun. 2004.
[7] T. Ciamulski and W. K. Gwarek, “A study of feeding options aimed at
canceling crosstalk in multiconductor transmission lines,” presented at the
Int. Microw. Symp., Fort Worth, TX, Jun. 2004.
[8] T. Ciamulski and W. K. Gwarek, “Extended concept of crosstalk elimina-
tion in multiconductor transmission lines,” in Proc Asia-Pacific Microw.
Conf., (APMC’2005), vol. 5, pp. 3093–3096.
[9] Quick Wave FDTD Electromagnetic Simulator, v5.0 QWED 1997–2006
[Online]. Available: http://www.qwed.eu
[10] E. A. Guillemin, The Mathematics of Circuits Analysis. New York:
Wiley, 1956.
[11] OrCAD, Inc. (1999). PSpice Student Ver. 9.1 [Online]. Available: http://
www.orcad.com.
[12] A. R. Djordjewić, M. B. Bazdar, T. K. Sarkar, and R. F. Harrington,
Linpar-Software and User’s Manual. Norwood, MA: Artech House,
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[13] A. R. Djordjewić, D. D. Cvetković, G. M. Ćujić, T. K. Sarkar, and
M. B. Bazdar, Multlin-Software and User’s Manual. Norwood, MA:
Artech House, 1996.
0018-9375/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
441
EMI/EMC Measurements and Simulations for Cables
and PCBs Enclosed Within Metallic Structures
Zulfiqar A. Khan, Student Member, IEEE,
Yakup Bayram, Member, IEEE, and John L. Volakis, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—This paper presents a series of measurements to study various
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)/electromagnetic interference (EMI)
coupling scenarios, frequently encountered in electronic systems. Specifi-
cally, field penetration through apertures and coupling of penetrating wires
onto the printed circuit boards (PCBs) enclosed by resonant structures are
considered. In contrast to other measurements, we focus on multi-cavity
enclosures in the presence of cables and PCBs. The purpose of this ex-
perimental study is to provide accurate reference data for possible future
validation of various computational tools and to test their accuracy and effi-
ciency on realistic platforms. In particular, we validate a recently proposed
hybrid scheme based on S-parameters for concurrent EMI/EMC analysis
of large structures with enclosed linear/nonlinear circuit devices in active
operating mode.
Index Terms—Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), electromagnetic
interference (EMI), measurements, S-parameters.
I. INTRODUCTION
Efficient and accurate analysis of electronic systems subject to elec-
tromagnetic interference (EMI) is quite challenging due to their geo-
metrical and electronic complexity. Resonant enclosures, strongly cou-
pled wires in cable bundles, and the presence of linear and nonlinear
devices in printed circuit boards (PCBs) increase the computational
burden, thereby making system-level signal integrity investigations a
complex task. However, there are many available tools that can effi-
ciently address a relatively simple EMI/electromagnetic compatibility
(EMC) problem. For example, computational tools have been devel-
oped to calculate the EMI coupling to cable bundles [1], [2], metal-
lic enclosures with apertures [3]–[12], and PCBs [13]. Moreover, for
complex EMI/EMC problems, these methods may be combined and
employed in an integrated manner for a more tractable and computa-
tionally efficient analysis of large electronic systems.
To this end, a hybrid scheme, based on S-parameters, was re-
cently proposed to handle electromagnetic (EM) structures and lin-
ear/nonlinear devices in an integrated fashion [14]. In the context of
this S-matrix based approach, full wave simulations are employed to
calculate the EMI-induced voltages on PCB/cable ports (left open) in
the presence of surrounding structures, cables, and PCB interconnect
layouts. These induced voltages are then incorporated into the S-matrix
by introducing an additional hybrid port to serve as an EMI input. The
resulting matrix is referred to as the hybrid S-matrix and fully charac-
terizes the system network (cavities, cables, and PCB Interconnects)
subject to the given EMI illuminations. The hybrid S-matrix is then
transported to a circuit solver where linear/nonlinear devices may be in-
troduced at the ports to evaluate their performance subject to EMI. This
integrated scheme avoids possible computational challenges associated
with full wave modeling of devices and structures, fully exploiting the
strengths of both EM and circuit computational tools.
Manuscript received May 4, 2007; revised August 23, 2007.
Z. A. Khan is with Johnson Controls, Inc., Holland, MI 49423-9307 USA
(e-mail: zulfiqar.khan@jci.com).
Y. Bayram is with the ElectroScience Laboratory, The Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH 43213 USA (e-mail: bayramy@ece.osu.edu).
J. L. Volakis is with The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43213 USA
(e-mail: volakis@ece.osu.edu).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEMC.2008.921030
442 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY, VOL. 50, NO. 2, MAY 2008

Fig. 1. Illustration of the cavities and the PCB used for the reported mea-
surements. (a) Two-section rectangular cavity of size 0.8 × 0.6 × 0.5 m.
All apertures are 0.1 × 0.1 m. (b) Small rectangular cavity of size
0.2 × 0.12 × 0.2 m with aperture of size 0.08 × 0.05 m. (c) Small cylindrical
cavity with height 0.2 m high and 0.12 m in diameter. The circular aperture has
diameter of 0.05 m. (d) Dimensions of the PCB used in measurements. L =
length and W = width of the strip.
Fig. 2. Photographs of the measurement setup and actual fabricated Cavities
and PCBs. (a) Photograph of the cavities. (b) Arrangement of smaller cavities
In this paper, we present an experimental validation of the hybrid placed inside large enclosure for multi-cavity measurements. (c) Photograph of
the PCB with attached wire. (d) Measurement setup inside the compact range.
S-matrix approach. The presented measurement setups were designed
to employ complex geometrical configurations for cavities, cables, and
PCBs, allowing for two or more subcomponent interactions such as: 1)
cables with a cavity; 2) PCB with cables in a single cavity; and 3) cables
with PCBs within a multiaperture and multi-cavity configuration. These
measurements are presented in the following sections. Section II gives
a description of the measured components, and Section III discusses the
measurements for field penetration via apertures. Finally, Section IV
presents experimental validation of the hybrid S-matrix approach for a
multi-cavity structure enclosing a PCB with cables.

II. MEASUREMENT SETUP: DESCRIPTION OF CAVITIES AND THE PCB

Fig. 1 shows two small cavities and one large multisection enclo-
sure to be used in measurements. The smaller cavities in Fig. 1(b) and
(c) can be placed inside the large enclosure, shown in Fig. 1(a), for
multi-cavity arrangements. The aperture at the center plate dividing the
large enclosure ensures cross coupling between the two sections. We
also note the discontinuities in the PCB trace, as shown in Fig. 1(d).
The reason for choosing this particular trace was to confirm that, de-
spite small discontinuities along the line, the modal voltage terms, as
discussed in Section IV, can still be extracted and employed in the
hybrid S-matrix approach. We remark that all dimensions shown in
Fig. 1 are for the interior cavity sizes that are in meters. Also, the PCB
substrate thickness is 2 mm.
Photographs of the actual cavities and the PCB are shown in Fig. 2.
These cavities were constructed using aluminum sheets of thickness
3.175 mm except for the middle plate that was 6.35 mm thick. This
was necessary since the metal sheets were joined together using fine
metal screws, i.e., no welding was done (right-angled flanges were used
for joining the outer perimeter of the cavity with the screws). For the
cylindrical cavity, the top plates were attached to the hollow cylinder
(formed by a 6.35-mm-thick aluminum sheet) using metal screws. The
PCB was attached to the bottom plate of the small rectangular cavity
using a conductive glue. As shown in Fig. 2(d), all measurements were
made inside an anechoic chamber.
Fig. 3. Balanced dipole probe used for field measurements.
III. FIELD PENETRATION THROUGH APERTURES INTO
THE EMPTY MULTISECTION ENCLOSURE
As a first step, we evaluated field penetration through apertures
into the large cascaded enclosure [Fig. 1(a)]. This was done to ensure
that the apertures allow for significant field coupling to the enclosure
interior. This was important, since we will later introduce penetrating
wires through the apertures, aimed to capture both cable and aperture
coupling effects on the enclosed PCB.
For the sake of measurements, the enclosure was illuminated by
a plane wave, and the interior fields were measured at the center of
either section of the cascaded enclosure using the probe illustrated in
Fig. 3. The probe was constructed by joining (via soldering) the outer
ground conductors of the two semi-rigid coaxial cables. One end of the
probe was then tapered to achieve impedance matching to free space.
As illustrated, the inner conductors of both coaxial cables are extended
to form a 0.05-m-long balanced dipole. The other end of the probe
connects to a network analyzer through a 3 dB, 180◦ hybrid. Therefore,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY, VOL. 50, NO. 2, MAY 2008 443

To account for Vmodal , we introduce an additional port representing

the external illuminating field. This implies that (1) is now modified as

{b} = {S}{a} + {HS}aN + 1 (3)

where {HS} are the hybrid S-parameters and aN + 1 is the normalized

amplitude of the incident wave.
To calculate {HS}, we leave the system ports open and employ full
wave simulations to calculate the total induced voltage on the ports.
From these induced voltages, we extract the modal and forced voltage
terms using the generalized pencil of functions (GPOF) method [15].
The {HS} terms are then calculated using the expression [14]

ZrefN + 1  
¯ =
HS {[Z]( [Zref ])−1 + [Zref ]}−1 {V̄modal } (4)
|E0 |

where |E0 | is the magnitude of the incident wave and {HS}T =

Fig. 4. Field magnitude at the center (of either section) of the empty cavity
illustrated in Fig. 1(a). To cancel the probe and cable effects, the measured {HS 1 · · · HSN }T . Also
data were normalized by subtracting the received signal with and without the  
presence of the cavity. Z1 , 1 ... Z1 , N
[Z] =  .. ..
.
..  (5)
. .
the return currents in both coaxial cables, flowing in opposite directions, ZN , 1 ... ZN , N
cancel each other, suppressing reradiation. This probe was inserted √ 
Zref1

[Zref ] =  .
into the enclosure via a small hole at the bottom plate and was oriented ..
.
along x-axis. For calibration purposes, fields were also measured in the √
absence of the enclosure. This latter set of measurements was subtracted ZrefN
from the first to suppress cable and probe effects. Fields were also Using (3) and (4), we obtain the hybrid S-matrix (for a system subject
calculated using an Ansoft high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS) to EMI) as
at the center of either section of the empty enclosure (i.e., probe effects  
were ignored). Fig. 4 plots the magnitude of the x-component of the S1 , 1 ... S1 , N HS1 , N + 1
electric field. As seen, the measurements show a strongly resonant  .. .. .. .. 
 . . . . 
enclosure with field magnitudes exceeding 10 dB.  . (6)
 SN , 1 ... SN , N HSN , N + 1 
IV. VALIDATION OF THE SCATTERING MATRIX APPROACH SN + 1 , 1 ... SN + 1 , N HSN + 1 , N + 1
FOR EMI/EMC ANALYSIS OF PCBS ENCLOSED BY
The entire network (subject to EMI) can now be characterized by the
MULTI-CAVITY STRUCTURES
hybrid S-matrix given in (6) and the forced voltage sources Vforced . The
Having obtained confidence with the aforementioned simple struc- hybrid S-matrix in (6) can be subsequently ported in a circuit solver
ture, we now proceed with a more complex experiment. Our goal with with the (N + 1)th-port representing the external EMI excitation. The
this experiment is to validate the proposed hybrid S-matrix approach details for this process can be found in [14].
for concurrent EMI/EMC analysis of circuit devices and EM structures.
We begin by briefly discussing this hybrid approach, and then proceed B. EMI Coupling to PCB Traces Enclosed by Multi-cavity Structures
to compare with the measurements.
Consider the setup described in Fig. 5, where a PCB is placed inside
a small rectangular cavity. A penetrating wire through the slot was
A. Hybrid S-Matrix Approach for Calculating EMI Effects on Linear/
directly connected to the microstrip circuit on the PCB (see Fig. 1 for
Nonlinear Devices in Electronic Systems
dimensions). One end of the PCB interconnect is open while the other is
The behavior of a microwave network can be characterized by its connected to the network analyzer (port 2) via a subminiature version
S-matrix defined as A (SMA) connector. The setup was measured in a compact range
{b} = {S}{a} (1) (plane wave illumination), and S2 1 measurements were recorded. For
where {S} is an N × N matrix for an N -port system, {a} refers to calibration purposes, another set of S2 1 measurements was made for
excitations, and {b} refers to reflections at ports. the PCB connected with the wire in the absence of the rectangular
An external field impinging upon a PCB will induce voltages and cavity and subtracted (in decibels) from the actual measurements.
currents at various system ports. To account for the external fields, we We remark that a plane wave excitation was assumed in all simula-
modify (1) by expressing the total induced voltage on the ports as a tions. From the calculated induced voltages on the PCB trace, Vmodal
sum of modal and forced terms as was extracted using the GPOF, and (4) was employed to calculate the
hybrid S-parameters. From Fig. 6, we observe good agreement between
Vtotal = Vmodal + Vforced (2) measurements and simulations over the entire frequency range.
A more complex measurement setup is illustrated in Fig. 7, where
where Vforced is the component of the Vtotal that depends on the illumi- the large two-section enclosure contains the setup of Fig. 5 to the left
nating wave, but is independent of the port conditions. However, Vmodal , and the cylindrical cavity [Fig. 1(c)] with an enclosed cable to the
once induced, travels on the transmission line with a wavenumber that right. Again, plane wave illumination was assumed and the coupling
depends on the line characteristics as well as port conditions. results are shown in Fig. 8. The comparison between measurements
444 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY, VOL. 50, NO. 2, MAY 2008
Fig. 5. Measurement setup for a penetrating wire connected to a PCB inside
small rectangular cavity (see Fig. 1 for dimensions).
Fig. 6. S 2 1 (in decibels) measurements on the PCB for the setup given in
Fig. 5.
Fig. 7. Measurement setup with a penetrating wire connected to a PCB in the
inner cavity of a multi-cavity structure (all dimension are in meters; see Fig. 1).
Fig. 8. S 2 1 (in decibels) measurements and simulations on the PCB for the
setup given in Fig. 7.
and calculations is truly remarkable, given the cavity complexity. More
importantly, the hybrid S-matrix approach picks up all resonance spikes
over the entire bandwidth. It is interesting to point out that a comparison
between the data in Figs. 6 and 8 shows more resonances due to cavity
complexity. However, the level of EMI coupling remained about the
same, meaning no overall improvement due to multi-cavity shielding.
This was expected, since the major source of coupling is the penetrating
wire, directly connected to the PCB trace.
V. CONCLUSION
A series of measurements were presented to investigate the EMI
coupling onto PCBs enclosed by multi-cavity structures with cable
penetrations. This experimental study was carried out to gather ref-
erence data for validating EMI/EMC computational tools of realistic
multi-cavity enclosures. The collected data were particularly employed
to validate a recently proposed hybrid S-matrix approach for EMI/EMC
analysis.
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380.
[4] D. M. Hockanson, J. L. Drewniak, T. H. Hubing, and T. P. VanDoren,
“Application of the finite-difference time-domain method to radiation
from shielded enclosures,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. EMC’96, New York,
Aug. 22–26, vol. 1, pp. 375–380.
[5] R. Attari, K. Barkeshli, F. Ndagijimana, and J. Dansou, “Application of
the transmission line matrix method to the calculation of the shielding
effectiveness for metallic enclosures,” in Proc. IEEE Antennas Propag.
Soc., Jun. 2002, vol. 3, pp. 302–305.
[6] E. S. Siah, K. Sertel, J. L. Volakis, V. V. Liepa, and R. Wiese, “Cou-
pling studies and shielding techniques for electromagnetic penetra-
tion through apertures on complex cavities and vehicular platforms,”
IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 245–257, May
2003.
[7] B. Audone and M. Balma, “Shielding effectiveness of apertures in rect-
angular cavities,” IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. 31, no. 1,
pp. 102–106, Feb. 1989.
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[8] G. Cerri, R. D. Leo, and V. M. Primiani, “Theoretical and experimental
evaluation of the electromagnetic radiation from apertures in shielded
enclosures,” IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 423–
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[9] M. P. Robinson, T. Benson, C. Christopoulos, J. F. Dawson, M. D.
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[10] R. Azaro, S. Caorsi, M. Donelli, and G. L. Gragnani, “A circuital approach
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Measurement and Modeling of the Magnetic Near
Field Radiated by a Buck Chopper
Ouafae Aouine, Cécile Labarre, and François Costa, Member, IEEE
Abstract—Static converters are used with increasingly high switching
frequencies. Consequently, they impose increasingly severe electromagnetic
interference (EMI) constraints in their environment. In order to study
and to quantify the radiated perturbations, we have used a test bench for
measuring the magnetic field radiated in the near zone. In this paper, we
present measurements of the magnetic field radiated by the switching cell of
a Buck chopper in the near field at high and low frequencies. By comparing
the mappings of the magnetic field over the switching cell with the ones of
a circular loop, we have deduced that the switching cell can be effectively
modeled by a loop. The loop’s geometric characteristics and its equivalent
current flowing in have been determined from near magnetic field data.
The model has been validated at high and low frequencies.
Index Terms—Magnetic field measurement, near field, power
electronics.
I. INTRODUCTION
Power electronics are used for energy conversion in many applica-
tions such as automotive, aeronautics, or household appliances. The
Manuscript received August 28, 2007; revised November 16, 2007.
O. Aouine is with the Department of Informatique and Automatique (IA),
Ecole des Mines de Douai, 59508 Douai, France, and also with Schneider
Electric Company, 38050 Grenoble, France (e-mail: aouine@ensm-douai.fr).
C. Labarre is with the Department of Informatique and Automatique (IA),
Ecole des Mines de Douai, 59508 Douai, France (e-mail: labarre@ensm-
douai.fr).
F. Costa is with the SATIE (UMR 8029), ENS de Cachan PRES UniverSud,
94230 Cachan, France, and also with the IUFM de Créteil, Université Paris 12,
93000 Saint Denis, France (e-mail: francois.costa@satie.ens-cachan.fr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEMC.2008.922794
0018-9375/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
445
magnetic fields they generate may disturb nearby circuits. Moreover,
the variations of currents and voltages in converters are very fast and
their amplitudes are great, which causes very high electromagnetic dis-
turbances over a large range of frequencies. The aim of this research
is to measure the magnetic near field radiated by a typical converter,
using a test bench that achieves a mapping of the radiated near field, in
order to locate and to model the near-zone radiating sources.
Section II will depict the test bench for mapping [1]. The near-field
scanner measures the magnitude of the magnetic field over a ground
plane at a specific height above the power converter. Thanks to this
equipment, it is possible to locate the switching cell in the converter,
usually constituted by the circuit delimited by the decoupling input ca-
pacitor, a diode and a power switch. Actually, in this circuit, the current
and voltage exhibit high-level transients (dVD S /dt, dID S /dt); outside
of it, these quantities are quite constant, showing a low-level ripple.
This will be described in Section II (see representation in Fig. 1). In
Section III, we will present the measurement results of the near-field
scanning. A previous study has shown that the switching cell could be
modeled by a circular loop, whose geometrical and electrical charac-
teristics can be deduced from the near-field mapping [2]. Section IV
will recall these aspects.
We have adopted the following methodology. At first, a spectral
analysis of the magnetic near field radiated locally over the converter
is conducted. The maximal amplitude peak frequencies are identified.
Next, a near-field mapping is done for each of these frequencies at
a defined height above the converter. Thanks to this, the equivalent
sources are identified.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
A. Test Bench
The test bench consists of a near-field magnetic probe, a ground plane
(60 cm × 50 cm), a 2-D displacement table, and an electromagnetic
interference (EMI) receiver (9 kHz to 2.9 GHz): the probe is connected
to the EMI receiver and is mounted on a two-axis displacement table.
A computer monitors the probe displacement (along X and Y ) over
the converter and records data provided by the EMI receiver [3]–[5].
The displacements along the X- and Y -axes have been chosen to be
close to 50 cm.
The heat sink (usually large) cooling a power converter acts as a
ground plane for electronics. This is the reason why we have chosen
to insert a copper ground plane on the displacement table in order
to take into account this characteristic of power electronics. All the
displacement devices (motors, electronic drivers), which are likely to
induce electromagnetic perturbations, are located under the ground
plane. All the structural parts, which stand above this area, are made of
unreflecting materials (plexiglas, nylon).
We used magnetic probes with a negligible radius (5 mm) as com-
pared to the wavelength of the interfering signal. These probes average
the magnetic field strength in the loop area of the probe head. Their
frequency range is 10 kHz to 50 MHz or 30 MHz to 3 GHz. They have
been calibrated with a TEM cell in order to determine their antenna
factor. Results are presented in the form of mappings of the magnetic
near field radiated, the EMI receiver giving rms values, expressed in
decibels per microampere per meter (dB·µA/m).
B. Converter Under Test
Fig. 1 shows a picture of the studied converter. The buck chopper
is fed by a 50-V voltage source E; its switching frequency is fs =
20 kHz. It provides a 2-A current Io in the output resistive load when
the duty cycle is 0.5. The control signal is transmitted to the MOSFET,