Designed to pass, rather than hoping to.

The expensive way to find out

A product is designed, built, and booked into a test house. It fails on radiated emissions. The fix requires a layout change, which means a new board, new assembly and a new test slot weeks later. Meanwhile the launch date moves.

This is common, and it is largely avoidable. Most emissions and immunity problems originate in decisions taken during schematic and layout: how returns are routed, where switching converters sit, how cables enter, how the enclosure is bonded. Those decisions cost nothing extra when taken early and a great deal when revisited.

What EMC-aware design looks like in practice

• Return paths. Uninterrupted reference planes, because a split under a fast signal is one of the most reliable ways to create an antenna.
• Switching supplies. Loop area minimised, components placed tightly, and input filtering designed rather than populated hopefully.
• Clocks and fast edges. Kept short and away from anything that leaves the board, with edge rates no faster than required.
• Cable interfaces. Usually the dominant emissions and susceptibility path, so filtering and common-mode control at the connector.
• Enclosure and grounding. Shielding, apertures, bonding and how the board relates to chassis.
• Immunity and protection. ESD, surge and fast transients at every interface a person or the outside world can reach.

Pre-compliance before the formal test

Pre-compliance measurement does not replace accredited testing and its results are not a substitute for it. What it does is find the obvious problems while they are still cheap to fix, and give a reasonable indication of margin before a formal slot is booked. Near-field probing to locate a source, conducted emissions checks, and basic radiated screening catch a useful share of failures early.

How we help

• Design review. Schematic and layout reviewed against EMC practice, before fabrication where possible, or on an existing design that is failing.
• Design work. Filtering, protection, grounding strategy, layout and enclosure interaction as part of the hardware design. See hardware and PCB design.
• Pre-compliance investigation. Locating sources and evaluating candidate fixes on the bench rather than in an expensive chamber.
• Documentation. Preparing the technical file material a test house and an assessor will ask for.
• Test support. Attending testing where useful, diagnosing failures on the day, and evaluating fixes.
• Change assessment. Determining what retesting a later modification triggers, which matters for cost reduction work.

Being clear about what we are

We are an engineering partner, not a test laboratory or a certification body. We do not issue certificates, declarations or approval numbers, and we cannot declare your product compliant. Compliance is established through testing by appropriately accredited laboratories against the standards that apply to your product and your markets, and the declaration is made by you as the manufacturer. Which standards apply depends on your product, its function and where it is sold, and should be established early because it shapes the design.

What you receive

A review report with prioritised findings, design changes implemented where that is the scope, pre-compliance measurement results with their limitations stated, technical documentation prepared for submission, and support through the formal test process.

Related

Hardware and PCB design, industrial product development, prototype to production.