A Hierarchical Model for Prescribing EMC Design Targets to the Components of a System

Components of a system (i.e., Units, Shelves, or Modules) cannot meaningfully be tested for system-level emissions compliance by themselves. The lack of EMC Design objectives for emissions at the sub-system level makes it ambiguous for component designers to decide whether a given component design is EMC-sufficient. This paper introduces and discusses a qualitative methodology for defining practical EMC design targets for the components of a System for production purposes. This is a preliminary step in attempting to address this need, using a combination of common-sense, stand-alone component- level emissions testing strategy and periodic design reviews of components during their design cycle.