Computer-based design tools for EMC

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) is difficult to ensure in modern electronic equipment. Pressures to design for EMC as early as possible are increasing with strict standards due in 1996, increased logic speeds and density of electronic circuits, and a reducing time-to-market. A project has been funded by British Aerospace Dynamics Limited (BADL) to identify what computer-based design tools are available for ensuring EMC. The emphasis of the work is on assessing what tools are commercially available at present but, since design tools for EMC are far from mature, attention is also given to new developments. The eventual goal of concurrent, front-end tools, presents an ideal against which to benchmark the tools. This paper reviews the methods available for use in computer-based EMC tools, considers the limitations in these methods, and finally lists commercial EMC tools. The emphasis of the paper is not on providing a detailed explanation of the methods, but rather assessing how they can practically be applied to EMC problems