Less than four weeks to go now

Countdown Timer: 3 weeks 6 days

I was told by Brian EI7GVB, or should I say warned, that I would not be able to study every day for the exam, and that there would be times when I would have to take a break from it and clear the head. Well, the past week has been that time for me. I have not touched a book, looked at a question, or updated the blog in over a week now. Probably a bad idea!

Anyhow, I'm hoping to get back into the swing of it this week. I need to do Mosfet and Jugfet transistors, and also diodes. And then I want to move onto EMC - otherwise known as Electromagnetic Compatibility. Sounds daunting, doesn't it? Indeed, such things as chirp and frequency drift come into play. I will, of course, properly define what EMC is. But for the moment, I will just quote from the exam syllabus if you wish to Bing or Google some of the search terms and do a bit of homework.

Or I would, if I could find it on the syllabus!! Indeed, I have checked both revision 3 and revision 4 of the exam notes and sample paper, and it does not seem to be there!

OK, for now, we'll just have to do with a basic definition of EMC from Wikipedia:

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the branch of electrical sciences which studies the unintentional generation, propagation and reception of electromagnetic energy with reference to the unwanted effects (Electromagnetic interference, or EMI) that such energy may induce. The goal of EMC is the correct operation, in the same electromagnetic environment, of different equipment which use electromagnetic phenomena, and the avoidance of any interference effects.

In order to achieve this, EMC pursues two different kinds of issues. Emission issues are related to the unwanted generation of electromagnetic energy by some source, and to the countermeasures which should be taken in order to reduce such generation and to avoid the escape of any remaining energies into the external environment. Susceptibility or immunity issues, in contrast, refer to the correct operation of electrical equipment, referred to as the victim, in the presence of unplanned electromagnetic disturbances.

Interference, or noise, mitigation and hence electromagnetic compatibility is achieved primarily by addressing both emission and susceptibility issues, i.e., quieting the sources of interference and hardening the potential victims. The coupling path between source and victim may also be separately addressed to increase its attenuation.