Low-cost Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) cell design for radiated emission measurement

Abstract

The increasing use of electronic and electrical equipment that continuously emits radiated emissions in the industrial, military, communications, household, and medical fields has increased dramatically over the past few decades. Radiated emission can interfere performance of other electronic devices around it. There is a demand for electric devices to comply with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards before being marketed, requiring manufacturers to carry out EMC testing before devices enter the market. Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) cells are usually used by designers to ensure that electronic devices comply with EMC standards. TEM cells for radiated emission measurement are widely used because they are cheap and time-saving before full compliance testing is carried out, which expensive for one-time screening. The main problems of commercial open TEM cells are relatively high price, weight, handling problems and portability. In this study, low-cost TEM cells were designed that could be used to test radiated emission generated by electronic devices. The fabricated TEM cells can operate up to 960 MHz and it can be used to test radiated emission generated from small electronic devices. It has better performance and more sensitive than branded TEM cells in the radiated emission test of a mobile phone.