Assessing the Immunity of Digital Equipment using the Emission Spectrum

The immunity of digital hardware to radio frequency interference is not adequately assessed by current EMC immunity test methods. A technique for quantifying the immunity of digital equipment using the characteristics of the re-emission spectrum is proposed which addresses some of these inadequacies. The technique is demonstrated experimentally using a simple circuit and a personal computer. The results demonstrate how a susceptibility profile for digital equipment can be constructed from the re-emission spectrum and how this may be related to equipment failure.