Important EMC News:
The European Union (EU) has recently made changes to their EMC standards. As of February 1, 2009 all manufacturers who have had their products tested to EN 61326: 1997, Amendment A3:2003 will have to have their products retested to a new standard, EN 61326-1:2006.  Contact MET Labs today for more information or to request a quote.
		Important information to review before starting your next project. Click here.

MET is an A2LA accredited and a FCC designated Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB), fully authorized to test and certify to all applicable FCC regulations, including Part 15, Subpart C. 15.247. As a TCB, we can issue an FCC Grant of Certification in less than one week. We also provide a single point of contact from testing though certification.

Additionally, MET has developed numerous international MRAs, and MET's EMC test reports are accepted by many countries outside of the USA and Canada. To learn more about MET's international acceptance click here.

We continue to expand our EMC services, with the acquisition of new facilities and new accreditations. Our extensive experience with global standards assures expert, efficient, and cost effective testing for EMC compliance.

MET Labs is an independent laboratory whose primary function is the testing and evaluation of your products according to a broad range of domestic, foreign, commercial, and military EMC/EMI specifications. Find out more about our EMC capabilities by visiting our EMC Accreditations and EMC Services pages. You can also contact us at 1.800.638.6057 or by e-mailing info@metlabs.com

EMC Facilities
Dedicated ESD labs, Modification/Design labs, 10-meter chambers, and over 10,000 square feet of air conditioned lab space are just some of the factors that allow us to simultaneously address the needs of a wide range of products. We are committed to using the finest test and data analysis equipment available. A balanced combination of automated and conventional detection systems assures every test is performed correctly the first time.

All 3 facilities use Rohde & Schwarz ESIB EMI Test Receivers, enhancing MET's capabilities for making broadband conducted emissions testing for NEBS issue 3 and greatly speeds up the measurement process for Radiated Emissions and some MIL-STD testing and provides excellent reporting options.

Two engineering facilities house eight fully equipped shielded enclosures, including 2 double door semi-anechoic chambers for calibrated radiated emissions, (one 5-meter and one 3-meter chamber), two anechoic 3-meter chambers for radiated immunity testing.

Comprehensive upgrades to MET's 10-meter ambient-free chamber in Santa Clara now provide state-of-the-art 3-meter and 10-meter EMC testing in the heart of Silicon Valley. This chamber is capable of testing large systems on its 6-meter, 10+ ton turntable.

TOP

MET staffs its EMC Lab with experienced EMC engineers with particular expertise in hardware design, filtering applications, signal analysis, standards interpretation, and data acquisition. Every EMC project at MET has a designated lead EMC engineer who is responsible for the entire project, from initial set-up to delivery of the final report.

The EMC management team has a strong working knowledge of test techniques and standards. Our daily "hands-on" involvement consistently yields technically superior results.

MET also makes sure that customers who choose to witness their testing have full professional support during their lab stay. Engineering offices and conference areas provide private workspace.

Located less than an hour from Washington, DC, our Baltimore facility provides quick, easy access to Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), Reagan National Airport, Dulles International Airport, many important government contractors, the Pentagon, and the FCC. Our Santa Clara and Union City facilities are within easy reach of Silicon Valley and the San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland airports.

Shielding Effectiveness (SE)
Shielding Effectiveness (SE) testing uses standard test methods for quantifying shielding material(s) for the purpose of evaluating the electro-magnetic shielding properties over broad range(s) of radio frequencies.
 
MET Laboratories can easily develop sound engineering measurement techniques to quantify the SE of your product. Our process involves creating detailed SE Test Plans used to insure accurate and repeatable test results.  MET Laboratories has years of experience to assure our customer’s that the evaluation reflects the electrical attenuation performance of the material. Often times, our test report becomes supporting documentation for our customer’s end-user contractual requirement, where Independent Test Laboratory results verify the electrical performance of the material being tested.
 
MET Laboratories can use standardized SE test methods, or use standards such as IEEE-299 or MIL-STD-285 as procedural guides to the evaluation.

TOP

DO leave adequate space on your PCB for EMI suppression devices. With good EMI design practices, your circuit board may be very quiet. But to be on the safe side, leave extra space on the board for the addition of filters and chokes. It is also a good idea to add extra pads to the board in case a shunt capacitor is needed here or there. DO NOT assume that "second sourced" parts will have the same spectral characteristics as the original. This is especially important for active components such as DC-DC converters. The fit, form, and function may be the same, but the EMI noise could be significant. Before investing in a large stock of these extra parts, plug one into your design and take it for a test drive. DO use ground and power planes when designing printed circuit boards. And where possible, use multiple ground planes. Not only are they useful in containing high frequency traces, they also help reduce the loop areas of signal and power traces, which are a major contributor of EMI emissions. In general, when it comes to ground traces, the more copper the better. DO use wiring harnesses and wire ties when routing cables inside a box. EMI pickup on I/O cables is a major contributor to overall radiated noise. Route cables along the sides of the box and away from high frequency components and switching power supplies. DO NOT have painted seams on a chassis or box. This is especially important if one of your EMI strategies is containment. Rivets and screws often do not provide adequate electrical conductance between chassis parts. Have the mating pieces masked before painting or powder coating. For added suppression, have each mating piece meet with a flange. TOP