EMC Certificate Course
This two-day hands-on course presents the fundamental principles of electromagnetic compatibility and signal integrity.
Numerous measurements and demonstrations reinforce the course topics.
The course is intended for both the practicing professionals and the new engineers entering the field.
If the course is cancelled due to a low enrollment or unexpected circumstances, the attendees will be notified as soon as feasible and a full refund or credit towards the next course will be given. Travel expenses will not be reimbursed.
Course Dates/Times: April & October (Thursday and Friday, 8:30 am – 4:30 p.m.)
Next Course Offering: October 5-6, 2023
Course Location: GVSU EMC Center, 227 Winter Ave NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Course Fee: $1,200. Payment required prior to course. Course notes included.
Course Presenter: Dr. Bogdan Adamczyk
Course Content Overview - Registration for October 2023
Frequency Spectra of Digital Signals
Frequency content of digital signals, effect of the rise time on spectral content, spectral bounds, and bandwidth of digital signals.
Measurement - frequency content of clock signals.
Electromagnetic Wave Propagation
Electrical length and wavelength, skin depth and high-frequency currents, and skin depth and shielding.
Measurement - Skin depth and shielding
Transmission Lines, Voltage and Current Waves
Wire-type and PCB-type transmission lines,transmission line effects, and voltage and current waves along the transmission line.
Measurement – Transmission line effects
Transmission Line Reflections at a Resistive Load and at a Discontinuity
Reflections at a resistive load and at a discontinuity, ringing on transmission lines, and matching schemes to reduce reflections.
Measurement - Reflections at a resistive load and at a discontinuity
Transmission Line Reflections at a Capacitive Load
Reflections at a pure capacitive load, and reflections at an RC load.
Measurement - Reflections at a capacitive load
Transmission Line Reflections at an Inductive Load
Reflections at a pure inductive load, and reflections at an RL load.
Measurement - Reflections at an inductive load
Crosstalk and Inductive Coupling
Inductive coupling between circuits, impact of the signal parameters, circuit topology and a guard trace, inductive coupling and crosstalk reduction.
Measurement – Inductive coupling and crosstalk between PCB traces
Crosstalk and Capacitive Coupling
Capacitive coupling between circuits, impact of the signal parameters, circuit topology and a guard trace, capacitive coupling and crosstalk reduction.
Measurement – Capacitive coupling and crosstalk between PCB traces
Common-impedance coupling between circuits, impact of the return path impedance and the return current level, and common-impedance coupling reduction.
Measurement – Impact of return path impedance and current levels on audio and video circuitry
Non-Ideal Behavior of Resistors
Ideal vs. non-ideal model of a resistor, impedance curves, effect of the parasitics, self-resonant frequency, and effect of the connecting trace length on impedance.
Measurement – Resistor impedance and PCB trace impact
Non-Ideal Behavior of Capacitors
Ideal vs. non-ideal model of a capacitor, impedance curves, effect of the parasitics, self-resonant frequency, and effect of the connecting trace length on impedance.
Measurement – Capacitor impedance and PCB trace impact
Non-Ideal Behavior of Inductors and PCB Traces
Ideal vs. non-ideal model of an inductor and a PCB trace, impedance curves, effect of the parasitics, self-resonant frequency, and effect of the connecting trace length on impedance.
Measurement – Inductor impedance and PCB trace impedance
Loop inductance, ground bounce and power rail collapse, decoupling capacitor impact on power integrity and emissions, value, placement and use of multiple capacitors
Measurement - Decoupling capacitor impact on power distribution network (PDN)
Embedded capacitance between adjacent power and ground planes, and impact of the power-ground plane spacing on impedance.
Measurement – Power-ground plane spacing impact on impedance
Decoupling Capacitors and Embedded Capacitance
Impact of both decoupling capacitors and embedded capacitance on PDN impedance, and impact of capacitor spacing and power-ground planes spacing.
Measurement - Decoupling capacitors and planes impact on impedance
Insertion loss of a filter, single and multistage EMC filters, and filter characterization with a 50 Ω source and 50 Ω load impedance.
Measurement - Insertion loss of LC and CL filters
Impact of the source and load impedance on the filter effectiveness, filter configurations for a low source and high load impedance, and filter configurations for a high source and low load impedance.
Measurement - Insertion loss of T and Pi filters
Alternative paths of the low-frequency and high-frequency return currents, return path discontinuities and radiation, split power/ground planes, and slots in power/ground planes.
Measurement –Return current and impact of discontinuities
Half-wave dipole and quarter-wave monopole antennas, biconical and log-periodic antennas, antenna impedance and VSWR.
Measurement - Bicon and log-periodic antennas impedance and VSWR
Differential-Mode and Common-Mode Currents
Differential-mode currents vs common-mode currents, common-mode creation, common-mode choke, controlling differential- and common-mode emissions.
Measurement - Differential and common-mode currents emitted by a SMPS
Shielding to Prevent Radiation
Near-field shielding against electric and magnetic fields, far-field shielding and shielding effectiveness, reflection loss, absorption loss, and effect of apertures
Measurement - Shielding effectiveness of various shields over a SMPS
Radiated and Conducted Emission Regulations and Testing
Semi-anechoic chamber and OATS radiated emissions measurement methods, voltage method and current probe method of conducted emissions measurements.
EMC lab tour and measurement - Radiated and conducted emissions
Radiated and Conducted Immunity Regulations and Testing
Semi-anechoic chamber and reverberation chamber radiated immunity methods, and Bulk Current Injection (BCI) conducted immunity methods.
EMC lab tour and measurement - Radiated and conducted immunity
Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Immunity Regulations and Testing
ESD gun and RC networks, contact and air discharge methods, direct and indirect application of the discharge.
EMC lab tour measurement – ESD immunity

For additional information contact Prof. Adamczyk at [email protected], (616) 331 - 7286

Dr. Bogdan Adamczyk is professor and director of the EMC Center at Grand Valley State University where he develops EMC educational material and teaches EMC certificate courses for industry. He is an iNARTE certified EMC Master Design Engineer. Prof. Adamczyk is the author of the textbook “Foundations of Electromagnetic Compatibility with Practical Applications” (Wiley, 2017) and the upcoming textbook “Principles of Electromagnetic Compatibility with Laboratory Exercises” (Wiley, 2023). He has taught numerous EMC courses for industry and has authored over 70 publications on EMC education, measurement and testing, and presented hardware demonstrations at several IEEE EMC Symposia. He writes a monthly column “EMC Concepts Explained” for In Compliance Magazine.
Testimonials
"Excellent material, great cadence of the topics, best class on EMC that I have attended"
"Helped reinforce my understanding of EMC"
"Pace was just right. Definitely helped support better understanding of EMC"
"Design engineers would highly benefit from these courses"
"This course will greatly help me in designing trouble-free EMC robust electronic modules"
"Instructor has excellent subject knowledge"
"Prof. Adamczyk’s presentation style was excellent. I would have loved to have him as a teacher in college"
"Very refreshing and motivating way to teach EMC applications"