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Electromagnetic interference
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents
1 Types
2 Susceptibilities of different radio
technologies
3 Interference to consumer devices
4 History
5 Standards
6 EMI in integrated circuits
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Types
Narrowband EMI or RFI interference typically emanates from intended transmissions, such as
radio and TV stations or cell phones.
Broadband EMI or RFI interference is unintentional radiation from sources such as electric power
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transmission lines.[3][4][5]
Conducted electromagnetic interference is caused by the physical contact of the conductors as opposed
to radiated EMI, which is caused by induction (without physical contact of the conductors).
Electromagnetic disturbances in the EM field of a conductor will no longer be confined to the surface of
the conductor and will radiate away from it. This persists in all conductors and mutual inductance
between two radiated electromagnetic fields will result in EMI.
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Most countries have legal requirements that mandate electromagnetic compatibility: electronic and
electrical hardware must still work correctly when subjected to certain amounts of EMI, and should not
emit EMI, which could interfere with other equipment (such as radios).
Radio frequency signal quality has declined throughout the 21st Century by roughly one decibel per year
as the spectrum becomes increasingly crowded. This has inflicted a Red Queen's race on the mobile
phone industry as companies have been forced to put up more cellular towers (at new frequencies) that
then cause more interference thereby requiring more investment by the providers and frequent upgrades
of mobile phones to match.[10]
History
Since the earliest days of radio communications, the negative effects of interference from both
intentional and unintentional transmissions have been felt and the need to manage the radio frequency
spectrum became apparent.
In 1933, a meeting of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in Paris recommended the
International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) be set up to deal with the emerging
problem of EMI. CISPR subsequently produced technical publications covering measurement and test
techniques and recommended emission and immunity limits. These have evolved over the decades and
form the basis of much of the world's EMC regulations today.
In 1979, legal limits were imposed on electromagnetic emissions from all digital equipment by the FCC
in the USA in response to the increased number of digital systems that were interfering with wired and
radio communications. Test methods and limits were based on CISPR publications, although similar
limits were already enforced in parts of Europe.
In the mid 1980s, the European Union member states adopted a number of "new approach" directives
with the intention of standardizing technical requirements for products so that they do not become a
barrier to trade within the EC. One of these was the EMC Directive (89/336/EC)[11] and it applies to all
equipment placed on the market or taken into service. Its scope covers all apparatus "liable to cause
electromagnetic disturbance or the performance of which is liable to be affected by such disturbance".
This was the first time there was a legal requirement on immunity as well as emissions on apparatus
intended for the general population. And although there may be additional costs involved for some
products to give them a known level of immunity, it increases their perceived quality as they are able to
co-exist with apparatus in the active EM environment of modern times and with fewer problems.
Many countries now have similar requirements for products to meet some level of EMC regulation.
Standards
The International Special Committee for Radio Interference or CISPR (French acronym for "Comit
International Spcial des Perturbations Radiolectriques"), which is a committee of the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) sets international standards for radiated and conducted
electromagnetic interference. These are civilian standards for domestic, commercial, Industrial and
Automotive sectors. These standards form the basis of other regional and national standards most
notably the European Norms (EN) written by CENELEC (European committee for electrotechnical
standardisation).
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astronomical signal of interest, RFI is a major concern for performing radio astronomy. Natural sources
of interference, such as lightning and the sun, are also often referred to as RFI.
Some of the frequency bands that are very important for radio astronomy, such as the 21-cm HI line at
1420 MHz, are protected by regulation due to spectrum management. However, modern radioastronomical observatories such as VLA, LOFAR and ALMA have a very large bandwidth over which
they can observe. Because of the limited spectral space at radio frequencies, these frequency bands can
not be completely allocated to radio astronomy. Therefore, observatories need to deal with RFI in their
observations.
Techniques to deal with RFI range from filters in hardware to advanced algorithms in software. One way
to deal with strong transmitters is to filter out the frequency of the source completely. This is for
example the case for the LOFAR observatory, which filters out the FM radio stations between 90110 MHz. It is important to remove such strong sources of interference as soon as possible, because they
might "saturate" the highly sensitive receivers (amplifiers and analog-to-digital converters), which
means that the received signal is stronger than the receiver can handle. However, filtering out a
frequency band implies that these frequencies can never be observed with the instrument.
A common technique to deal with RFI within the observed frequency bandwidth, is to employ RFI
detection in software. Such software can find samples in time, frequency or time-frequence space that
are contaminated by an interfering source. These samples are subsequently ignored in further analysis of
the observed data. This process is often referred to as 'data flagging'. Because most transmitters have a
small bandwidth and are not continuously present (such as lightning or citizens' band (CB) radio
devices), most of the data remains available for the astronomical analysis. However, data flagging can
not solve issues with continuous broad-band transmitters, such as windmills, digital video or digital
audio transmitters.
See also
Electromagnetic radiation
Faraday cage
Radio receiver
Signal noise
Twisted pair
Interference (communication)
References
1. ^ Based on the "interference" entry of The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition, online
2. ^ Sue, M.K. "Radio frequency interference at the geostationary orbit"
(http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19810018807). NASA. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
3. ^ "Radio Frequency Interference - And What to Do About It" (http://www.radiosky.com/journal0901.html).
Radio-Sky Journal (4). Radio-Sky Publishing. March 2001. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
4. ^ Radio frequency interference / editors, Charles L. Hutchinson, Michael B. Kaczynski ; contributors, Doug
DeMaw ... [et al.]. 4th ed. Newington, CT American Radio Relay League c1987.
5. ^ Radio frequency interference handbook. Compiled and edited by Ralph E. Taylor. Washington Scientific
and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; [was for sale by the
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External links
ARRL, RFI (http://www.arrl.org/radio-frequency-interference-rfi)
Interference Handbook (http://www.kyes.com/antenna/interference/tvibook.html)
EMC Design Fundamentals (http://www.ieee.li/pdf/viewgraphs/emc_design_fundamentals.pdf)
Clemson's EMC Page (http://www.cvel.clemson.edu/emc/) (EMI Tools and Information)
EMC Tutorials (http://www.learnemc.com/EMC-Tutorials.html)
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Categories: Electromagnetic compatibility Television terminology
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