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The Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) celebrated its 50^th Anniversary as a Society in 2007. As part of that celebration, the EMC Society created a committee (the 50th Anniversary Committee) in 2000 which actively planned the Anniversary festivities. The years of planning culminated in a one-day extravaganza as part of the 2007 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Hawaii the week of July 7 -13. The last day of that week, Friday, July 13^th, was a combination island tour, holiday luncheon, and awards program for the guest attendees.

This article reviews the origins of the EMC Society and some of its major accomplishments over the past half-century, with some special highlights from the 50^th Anniversary Year.

2007 – Fifty Years of EMC Technical Progress
The EMC Society of the IEEE enjoyed its fiftieth year of organized history in 2007. A number of significant events happened in the celebratory year, including a historical booklet, a CD on the history of EMC, a 50^th-memento flown on a NASA shuttle, a DVD on Founders, a historical museum at the 2007 IEEE International Symposium on EMC, numerous special articles in the EMCS Newsletter, and the creation of a historical display at the IEEE Operations Center.

With the help of the IEEE History Center and the IEEE Creative Services Group, a 28 page historical booklet was put together and distributed to all EMCS members. It was entitled “50 Years of Electromagnetic Compatibility – The IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society and its Technologies – 1957 – 2007.”

Jerry Ramie, an IEEE and EMCS member and volunteer, developed a CD on the history of EMC which contains a PowerPoint presentation and many historical pictures of the Society’s five decades of technology adventures. The CD was developed to be easy to use, and was distributed to all chapters of the EMC Society for use at local meetings.

A lapel pin was developed through the efforts of Dave Staggs, Vice-President of Member Services of the EMC Society, and the IEEE Creative Services group. This pin was distributed to the members of the EMCS. With the help of Bob Scully, a NASA engineer and member of the EMCS Board of Directors, one of the lapel pins was flown on the STS-118 space shuttle in August 2007. This pin was then placed on a specially-developed plaque which was subsequently donated to the President of the IEEE and now is on display in the lobby of the IEEE Operations Center in Piscataway, New Jersey.

As part of the 2007 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Hawaii, a historical museum was setup in the exhibitor’s area. This museum contained antique pieces of EMC test equipment, pictures of past Presidents of the EMCS, past officers of the EMCS, and past Symposium chairs. Ken Javor operated some of the antique EMI test equipment and explained its importance for product compliance to EMC standards. Six Founders of the EMC society were present on Thursday, July 12^th, in the museum and each gave talks on their experiences in the EMC Technology world. These talks were recorded by Jerry Ramie and were distributed to EMC Chapters around the world in the form of a CD. The talks have also been transcribed and are being published in the IEEE EMC Society’s newsletter on a quarterly basis.

On Friday, July 13, 2007, a special banquet was held at the north end of Oahu Island. About 600 attendees and guests of the 2007 IEEE International Symposium on EMC were treated to a partial tour of the island, a libation or two before lunch, and a wonderful Hawaiian meal. At the conclusion of the noon-meal, a series of special awards were given out, including the first EMCS Hall of Fame Awards to the six Founders in attendance.

The IEEE History Center assisted the EMC Society in its celebration of 50 years. Frederik (Rik) Nebeker of the History Center was instrumental in organizing about ten oral histories of EMC persons who contributed greatly to the growth of the Society. These oral histories are now available through the IEEE web site. Rik also put together a display case that contains two antique EMC receivers and other associated EMC Society historical photos, which is presently being exhibited at the IEEE Operations Center in Piscataway, New Jersey.

The EMCS Newsletter, with the editorial assistance of Janet O’Neil, published many excellent articles on Founders of the EMCS, past events of the EMC Society, and famous papers of the EMCS Transactions.

The 50^th Anniversary Committee worked long and hard on the Anniversary Celebration, and the results were well worth the effort.

In The Beginning
The EMC Society originated in the mid 1950s when some United States electrical engineers specializing in radio frequency interference (RFI) began to discuss a more formal organization for their loose-knit technical activities. These discussions resulted as a corollary reaction to informal meetings at Conferences on Radio Interference Reduction. The first one of these formal Conferences was held at the Armour Research Foundation in December 1954 under Tri-Service (United States Army, Navy, and Air Force) sponsorship. This conference highlighted the magnitude and diversity of interference experienced by commercial and military electronic equipment and stressed techniques for reducing its severity. The first “Armour Conference” was a success, and lead to a series of “Armour Conferences” held in the Chicago area.

In early 1956, a group of RFI engineers in the Los Angeles area founded an informal organization of interference experts. A steering committee was formed to develop the aims and intent of the group. The steering committee consisted of Prentice Tinney (North American Aviation), Joe Tobin (AiResearch), A.T. Parker (Stoddart Aircraft Radio), Charles W. Ketteman, Jr. (California Electronic Services Company), and Fred Nichols (Sprague). They became known as the Radio Interference Technical Committee, and operated for almost two years as that Committee.

At the same time that the Los Angeles group was getting organized, a separate group of engineers from the New York City area was organizing. At the third Armour Conference in Chicago in February 1957, an announcement was made of an organizational meeting to be held in New York City in April 1957. At the New York meeting, the decision was made to petition the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) for formation of a Professional Group on RFI. This petition was circulated around the country and a total of 326 individuals signed the petition, which was formally submitted to the IRE on July 3, 1957.

The petition read as follows:

The undersigned do hereby petition for the formation of an IRE Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference in the field of interest of electronics. The scope of this group, if approved, would encompass the following:

Radio Frequency Interference, including:

(1) Methods of measurement and control.
(2) Systems considerations such as: Susceptibility, Vulnerability, Compatibility, Spectrum Utilization, Related Propagation Effects, and Subjective Effects.
(3) Studies of the origins of interference, both man-made and natural, and their classification.
(4) Cooperation with other Professional Groups, committees and other organizations through joint meetings and activities; and by other appropriate means.

The scope will also include scientific, technical, industrial, or other areas that contribute to the field of interest, or utilize the techniques or products of this field where necessary to advance the art and science in this field, subject, as the art develops, to additions, subtractions, or other modifications directed or approved by the IRE Committee on Professional Groups.

The proposed Group is a new Group.

The following differentiates the field of interest of the proposed group from those of prior groups about which misunderstanding might occur. The new Group will bring together all those concerned with Radio Frequency Interference problems; and provide means which do not now exist of disseminating related technical information.

The undersigned and other members of the IRE interested in forming this group arrived at their decision to petition for the formation of the group through the following discussions or meetings:

Meeting at Willkie Memorial Building, New York City, April 10, 1957
Meeting at IRE Headquarters, May 2, 1957

The undersigned have named the following as desirable members of the Administrative Committee and asked that they be named as those officers for the year indicated.

1-Year Term – R. Fairweather, L. Milton, B. Schenker, and H. Schwenk
2-Year Term – S. Burruano, J. McNaul, A. Kall, W. Pakala
3-Year Term – W. Crichlow, Z. Grobowski, M. Kant, R. Showers

On October 10, 1957, the IRE approved the formal petition, and the new Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference (PGRFI) was officially born.

Founders of the IRE Professional Group on RFI
The original 326 petitioners to the IRE are known as the Founders of the EMC Society. In 1982, at the 25^th anniversary of the founding of the IRE Professional Group on RFI, 40 of the original 326 petitioners were still active members of the organization. (Unfortunately, the original list of Founders has never been located, and the other 286 Founders are unknown).

The Founders still alive today, that we know of, are Samuel J. Burruano, Milton Kant, Warren Kesselman, Vincent J. Mancino, Douglas W. Robertson, Harold R. Schwenk, Ralph M. Showers, and Anthony Zimbalatti.

First Administrative Committee
The first meeting of the Administrative Committee of the PGRFI was held November 20, 1957 at the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel in Asbury Park in New Jersey. Harold Schwenk was elected as the first Chairman, Leonard Milton as the first Vice-Chairman, Albert R. Kall as the first Secretary, and Lieutenant James. P. McNaul as the first Treasurer. The first official term of office ran from July 1, 1958 to June 30, 1959

In 1963, the IEEE was formed from the combination of the IRE and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and the IRE Professional Group on RFI became the IEEE Professional Technical Group on RFI. In 1964, the name was changed to the IEEE EMC Group. Then, in 1978, the EMC Group became the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Society of the IEEE, its current name.

In 1965, the terms of office were changed to run concurrently with the calendar year, so A. H. Sullivan, Jr. served as Chairman from July 1, 1965 until December 31, 1967 (a total of two and one-half years, the longest term served by any chairman).

In 1972, the offices of Chairman and Vice-Chairman were renamed President and Vice-President in a title change that has remained constant ever since. The Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer had no specific terms, and were often held for long periods of time by the same persons. However, traditionally the President served a two-year term beginning in 1974 – 1975 with W. E. “Gene” Cory. The traditional two-year term of the President of the Society was formalized in 1997 with a motion at the Board level.

A complete list of all Past Chairmen and Presidents is shown in Table 1.

1959-1959    Harold R. Schwenk
1960-1960    James P. McNaul
1961-1961    Ralph M. Showers
1962-1962    Harold E. Dinger
1963-1963    Herman Garlan
1964-1964    Donald R.J. White
1964-1965    Zigmund V. Grobowski
1965-1967    A. H. Sullivan, Jr.
1968            Richard B. Schulz
1969          Fred J. Nichols
1970-1971    Heinz M. Schlicke
1972          John J. O’Neil
1973    Joseph F. Fischer, Jr.
1974-1975    William E. “Gene” Cory
1976-1977    James C. Toler
1978-1979    Jackie R. Janoski
1980-1981    Donald N. Heirman
1982-1983    William G. Duff
1984-1985    Eugene D. Knowles
1986-1987    B. Leonard “Len” Carlson
1988-1989    Donald E. Clark
1990-1991    Edwin L. Bronaugh
1992-1993    H. R. “Bob” Hofmann
1994-1995    Warren A. Kesselman
1996-1997    William Gjertson
1998-1999    Daniel D. Hoolihan
2000-2001    Joseph Butler
2002-2003    Todd R. Hubing
2004-2005    Kimball Williams
2006-2007    Andrew Drozd
2007-2008    Elya Joffe

Table 1: Presidents of the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society

Some officers of the Board have served in their positions for an extended period of time. For example, L.W. (Leonard) Thomas, Sr. served as Secretary from 1966-1983 (17 years) and Warren Kesselman has been Treasurer from 1972-1983 and again from 1998 until the present (for a total of 21 years). And, Janet O’Neil has been Secretary from April 1988 until the present time (a total of 20 years.)

Symposiums
Conferences and Symposiums have been an important part of the EMC Society from its beginnings, and indeed even before the time of its organization. The first Conference on Radio Interference Reduction was held in December 1954 at the Armour Research Foundation of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. It was followed by the Second Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago on March 6-7, 1956. A total of 10 Armour Conferences were held. The last one took place at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois from November 17-19, 1964. It was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force, and was organized by the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute in cooperation with the IEEE EMC Group.

The first PGRFI symposium was held in New York City on June 15-16, 1959 with 250 people attending. The second one was held in 1960 in Washington, DC, and was attended by over 400 people.

During the years of the first EMC symposiums, the proceedings were termed digests and contained abstracts and summaries of the papers presented. In 1965, the EMC Symposia records began to include some full papers, and within two years (1967) all the symposia records included full papers.

The symposium was first called a National Symposium until about 1970, when the IEEE became interested in ensuring that all countries in the world were represented by its membership, and renamed it the International Symposium. The first IEEE International Symposium on EMC which was sponsored by the EMCS and held outside the United States was held in Tokyo, Japan in 1984. Since then, two additional IEEE International Symposiums on EMC have been held outside the U.S., one in Montreal in 2001, and a second in Turkey (sponsored by the Israel Chapter) in 2003.

Of course, the EMC Society has cooperated with other EMC symposiums around the world. These include the Zurich Symposiums and the Wroclaw Symposiums. Additional EMC Symposiums from all over the world have asked for technical cooperation from the EMC Society over the years and, typically, the EMC Society has agreed.

Transactions
An important element of the EMC Society has always been its technical publications, especially the Transactions. The Transactions were initiated in 1959, and were first called the IRE Transactions on Radio Frequency Interference. In 1963, their name was changed to the IEEE Transactions on Radio Frequency Interference, and in 1964 the name was changed to IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility (the current name).

The IEEE Transactions on EMC publishes high-quality scientific peer-reviewed papers. The papers have contributed significantly to the advance of EMC technology over the past 50 years.

Early editions were published under the guidance of a Publications Committee and a Technical Papers Committee. The acting editors in this early timeframe were Ralph Showers (1959), O.P. Schreiber (1960), A.R. Kall (1961-1962), and A.H. Sullivan, Jr. (1962-1964). In 1964, an official editor was selected for the first time and, as the publication grew, associate editors were added. The first formal editor was A. H. Sullivan, Jr. (1964-1968), and the second was R.B. “Dick” Schulz (1969-1987). This excellent beginning was followed by the appointment of Moto Kanda (1988-2000), Marcello D’Amore (2000-2003), Flavio G. Canavero (2004-2006) and the current Transactions Editor-in-Chief, Perry F. Wilson.

In addition to the editors, the authors, reviewers, and the IEEE editorial staff have contributed significantly to the success and the high quality of the EMC Transactions. Normally, the EMC Transactions are published four times a year, but sometimes special issues are produced which results in a fifth publication in a given year.

Newsletter
Before the Professional Group on RFI had a newsletter, there was an informal newsletter “Quasies and Peaks” which was originated by Rexford Daniels in 1954 in order to coordinate happenings in the technical area of Interference. It should be noted, however, that the first newsletter published directly by the PGRFI was actually written and edited by Milton Kant, one of the founders of the EMC Society. It was published on January 2, 1958.

But the second and subsequent Newsletters of the Professional Group on RFI was edited by Rex Daniels, and he continued as the editor until 1968 (Issues #2 -53). In 1968, Robert Goldblum became the editor and remained in that position until 1997 (Issues #54 - 173). Since then, Janet O’Neil has edited the Newsletter (Issues #174 - 215).

The newsletter’s name has changed a number of times. It was originally called “The Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference Newsletter” (Issues #1 and #2). Then, it became the “IRE Professional group on Radio Frequency Interference Newsletter” (Issues #3 - 24 – August 1958 – December 1962). Issues Number 25 and 26 were entitled “IEEE Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference Newsletter.” Then, Issue # 27 in April 1963 was entitled “IEEE Professional Technical Group on Radio Frequency Interference Newsletter,” and this title was immediately changed to “IEEE Professional Technical Group on Electromagnetic Compatibility Newsletter” for Issue # 28 in July 1963. It continued this way until Issue #34 in August 1964, when the title switched to “IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Group Newsletter.”

The title then remained constant until Issue #98 (in the summer of 1978) when it changed to “IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society Newsletter.” The final change, to its present title of “IEEE EMC Society Newsletter,” occurred at Issue # 147 (Fall issue of 1990).

The Newsletter has also changed in content and length over the years. It started in the early years with four pages. It grew to an average size of 24 pages under Bob Goldblum and more recently has grown again, under Janet O’Neil, to more than 50 pages. The newsletter has associate editors who support the chief editor in her duties.

EMC Abstracts
One of the areas of the EMC Society Newsletter that has been popular over the years has been the EMC Abstracts. These are short summaries of magazine articles and other pertinent articles on EMC that have been reviewed by EMC technical experts. The Abstracts highlight the main gist of the articles and describe the location of the article for the reader who wants more information.

Technical Services
The EMCS has a Vice-President of Technical Services who supervises a number of technical activities in the Society. His area of responsibility includes the Technical Committees TC-1 through TC-10. Their areas of interest are:

TC-1 EMC Management
TC-2 EMC Measurements
TC-3 Electromagnetic Environment
TC-4 Electromagnetic Interference Control
TC-5 High Power Electromagnetics
TC-6 Spectrum Management
TC-7 Nonsinusoidal Fields
TC-8 Electromagnetic Product Safety
TC-9 Computational EMC
TC-10 Signal Integrity

EMC Standards
The EMCS also has a Vice-President of Standards and the EMC Society has developed a number of standards over the years. The EMCS has had an interest in developing standards in the area of EMC almost from its origin as a Society. Current EMC Society standards include approximately 15 standards.

International Membership Growth
During its first 25 years of growth, the EMC Society was oriented towards the United States. The symposia were called National Symposiums, and most members were from the United States. Of the 21 active EMCS chapters in 1982 when the EMCS was 25 years old, 20 were located in the U.S., and the sole chapter outside the U.S. was located in Tokyo, Japan.

Contrast that to the 2008 list of EMCS Chapters. There are 67 EMCS Chapters and 34 of them are outside the U.S. The membership of the EMC Society has also shown international growth. The current composition of its 4000 members is 60% from the U.S. and 40% from outside the U.S.

Future
As technology is constantly changing, so too has EMC technology changed to address the new issues that arise. Faster clock rates and smaller chips, coupled with a continually declining cost of computer memory, are driving products to be smaller and yet more portable and powerful. This includes computers, hand-held communications devices, including cell phones and personal data assistants, mobile GPS systems for cars and other similar transportation devices, digital cameras, and medical devices.

Both emission and immunity issues will continue in the future with the development of these technologies. Fiber optics and fiber optic computers may arrive in a wave of innovation. However, there will be a fiber optic/electronic interface for many years to come which will have EMC aspects to it.

Spectrum allocation issues are multiplying as rapidly as wireless devices (cell phones and similar hand-held wireless electronic units) are proliferating. We want access to signals, yet we don’t want to be interfered with when we attempt to communicate with our portable electronic devices. Laptops have multiple radios in them for communications, but the radio signals and circuitry sometimes interfere with the operating circuits of the host laptop, giving a whole-new perspective to the age-old term “radio frequency interference!”

Conclusion
The EMC Society has grown from a few hundred members in 1957 to its current size of over 4000 members. The number of chapters has grown to match the growth in membership. The Society now includes members and chapters from all over the world.

The EMC Society has a history of high-quality EMC Transactions, comprehensive and educational International EMC Symposiums, excellent EMC Standards, and outstanding Technical Committees.

Even as the Society looks back in satisfaction at its 50^th Anniversary celebration, it is also preparing for another 50 years of progress in its unique niche of electrical engineering. n

Daniel D. Hoolihan is an independent consultant, who served as president of the IEEE EMC Society from 1998-1999. He can be reached at d.hoolihan@ieee.org.

References

Thomas, Sr.; Leonard W. and Hill, James S.; “A Brief Review of the Origin and Growth Statistics of the IEEE EMC Society;” IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Vol. EMC-25, No. 3. August – 1983; Pages 138-153.
Kesselman, Warren; private communications with the author, 2007.
Showers, Dr. Ralph; private communications with the author, 2008.