Small EMC Facility

This facility consists of three contiguous, electromagnetically shielded enclosures and is designed for either small satellite or sub-assembly EMI testing from 10 kHz to 40 GHz.

These individually shielded enclosures include the semi-anechoic Test Room, the EMC Control Room, and a Ground Support Equipment (GSE) Room.

A 2.5m long, 1m wide, copper-clad test item mounting bench and cable access panel are located on the wall separating the Test Room from the GSE Room.

Mode of Operation

Small test articles are installed in the Test Room and bonded to either the copper workbench or to the test article holding fixture and the metallic floor.

Interconnecting cables between the test article and its ground support equipment are connected through feed-through connectors mounted on the penetration plate to reduce common mode emissions from the GSE racks.

Anechoic Characteristics

The Test Room walls and ceiling are covered with ferrite tiles and TDK IP-045 closed cell Styrofoam absorbers, which provide a minimum of 20 dB absorption, above 500 MHz, of normally-incident electromagnetic waves.

Field measurement accuracy is thereby enhanced compared to shield room facilities that lack the anechoic material, and radiated susceptibility test signals are controlled with improved signal-to-noise ratios.

Physical Characteristics

GSE Room
4m (L) x 2m (W) x 3m (H)

Personnel Door
1m (W) x 1.7m (H)

Test Area Room
5.5m (L) x 5m (W) x 3m (H)

Equipment Door
2m (W) x 2.2m (H)

Large EMC Facility

The large EMC Facility is designed for testing relatively large satellites requiring a high level of contamination protection.

This facility consists of three contiguous, electromagnetically shielded enclosures: the class 10k Test Enclosure, the EMC Control Room, and a Ground Support Equipment (GSE) Room.

A 2m square fiberglass table with a copper ground plane is available for box/subsystem level testing when required.

Mode of Operation

The test article is installed inside the class 10k Test Enclosure and bonded to the chamber using a copper strap maintaining a 6:1 (L:W) ratio, which is bonded to a dedicated chemical ground rod to isolate the EMI lab from any unwanted electrical noise generated in the I&T complex.

Ground support equipment connections are made through an access panel between the GSE Room and the Test Enclosure either by using a waveguide-below-cutoff cable duct, project-specified panel-mounted connectors, or a set of connectors that duplicate the thermal-vacuum chamber connections (to allow commonality of cable harnesses).

The EMC instruments are also connected through an access panel connecting between the Control Room and the Test Enclosure.

Anechoic Characteristics

The Test Area enclosure is maintained to a class 10k cleanliness level which is lined with ferrite-tiles and Panashield HYB-NF-12 RF absorber which provide a minimum of 20 dB absorption, above 300 MHz, of normally-incident electromagnetic waves.

In addition, we have 4x portable walls lined with TDK IS-015 RF absorber with better RF absorption characteristics and a Cummings Microwave C-RAM absorber for use with high power transmitters.