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MILITARY Testing at MET Labs: Frequently Asked Questions
Table of
Contents:
How
do I see in advance what the inside of the test chamber will look
like to predict any test setup obstacle that may be of concern for
MIL-STD requirements?
As always,
feel free to contact our technical staff for information pertaining
to product/cable layout, product positioning, typical environmental/ambient
conditions, and chamber ventilation so you, the customer, are comfortable
with meeting the test setup requirements specified in MIL-STD.
For additional
information and illustrations click
here. |
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Where
will the support test equipment be positioned so I am able to continuously
monitor my products performance throughout the testing?
In most
cases, all support test equipment will be positioned outside the test
chamber adjacent to the test chamber bulkhead panel. Our MIL Chamber
bulkhead panel is able to accommodate various types of cable terminations;
including, having special bulkhead sub-panels fabricated by our in-house
machinist for unique cabling interfacing needs.
When necessary, MET Labs can use our mobile Faraday cabinets
to electrically shield unwanted RF ambient signals outside the test
chamber. These undesirable
ambient signals can causes interference with the test results by means
of cable conduction into the test chamber bulkhead panel.
For
additional information and illustrations click here
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Why
does the MET Laboratories Test Engineer insist on cutting my products cabling
for MIL-STD testing?
In most cases, MIL-STD testing requires the test engineer to couple RF stimulus
into the products ports by means of capacitive and inductive coupling methods
to determine the products ability to withstand adverse conditions.
While MET Labs is interested in maintaining the products original design,
sometimes the MIL spec requires the test engineer to splice in coupling
transformers or coupling capacitors onto the shield of the cable for injection
purposes. MET Laboratories recommends to all of our MIL-STD customers
to be able supply duplicate cabling, when needed, with one set to be typical
installation lengths and the other cabling set of cabling to be used for
slicing.
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Who can I speak with regarding test scheduling?
Requests for a MIL test schedule or rescheduling requests can be made directly
to the MET Laboratories Project Coordinator. The MET Laboratories
Project Coordinator main responsibility is to be the liaison between the
customer and the appropriate internal test lab to insure that the entire
project goes smooth from the beginning to the end. In most cases,
the Project Coordinator must team-up with the MIL Group Coordinator to validate
the test labs resources availability in the requested test time-frame.
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What are MET Laboratories radiated immunity test
capabilities, and how do you insure a safe test environment from high radiating
electromagnetic fields? 
Currently, MET Laboratories radiated immunity test capabilities are over
200 V/m (166 dBµV/m) from 2 MHz to 18 GHz. Additionally, MET
Laboratories can offer the MIL-STD “optional” test frequency range
between 18 -40 GHz if desired. The 200 V/m radiated immunity test
service covers EMI requirements from the Military, Commercial Aircraft,
and Automotive industries.
To insure a safe test environment for our customers and test engineers,
MET Laboratories installed an RF interlock safety circuit design to inhibit
transmission while the test chamber door(s) are ajar. This safety
feature prevents inadvertent exposure to these high power electric fields,
and provides a “visual” indication to when the test is in progress.
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When
MIL-STD emission measurements are performed, how do you insure an
ambient free condition exist before measurements are recorded?
With our
new MIL-STD test chamber, MET Laboratories is able to provide over
100 dB of isolation to outside ambient signals from interfering with
our measurements. In other words, before we can perform emission
measurements, we are required to isolate unwanted signals from the
data by insuring our test chamber satisfies IEEE-299 attenuation requirements.
In combination with our new MIL test chamber and very sensitive measurement
receivers, MET
Laboratories is able to detect and quantify even the slightest “whisper”
from electronic products.
In addition to our ambient-free MIL test chamber, MET Laboratories
can accommodate almost all types of AC/DC power your product may require
from Delta/Wye AC 3 phase 480VAC to high voltage DC input power too. All
AC/DC input power the product receives is heavily filtered to provide
clean electrical power to the EUT, as to not misinterpret ambient
noise from the products real emissions. While testing, our test
engineers can even switch various AC/DC power inputs to the EUT remotely
through our custom designed power relay network bank to reduce the
time for manual removal of power.
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| Click
here
to view additional illustrations that detail the power input before
the test chamber. |
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Back to Military Page.
Last revised: February 16, 2006
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