From EMC See this article in our Digital Edition (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 In 1982, at the 25th anniversary of the founding of the IRE Professional Group on RFI; forty of the original 326 petitioners were still active members of the organization and these individuals were known as the Founders of the EMC Society. These Founders were Stuart Bailey, Saul Bernstein, Samuel J. Burruano, Edward W. Chapin, John F. Chappell, James J. Crenca, Rexford Daniels, Alfred Eckersley, Herman Garlan, Simon Goldman, Frank M. Greene, Joseph S. Grevious, Zigmund Grobowski, Fred Haber, J. M. Harley, Albert R. Kall, Milton Kant, E. V. Kavanaugh, Edwin S. Kesney, Warren Kesselman, Robert A. Kulinyi, Merrill N. Lustgarten, Vincent J. Mancino, Leonard Milton, Joseph Naresky, Stuart Nellis, John J. O’Neil, William A. Pakala, John J. Renner, James S. Rice, Douglas W. Robertson, Joseph L. Ryerson, Harold R. Schwenk, Neal H. Shepherd, Bryce Showalter, Ralph M. Showers, Samuel Skolnick, Leonard W. Thomas, Sr., 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 J. P. McNaul as the first Treasurer. The first official term of office ran from July 1, 1958 to June 30, 1959. The second chairman of the PGRFI was J. P. McNaul, and the third was Ralph Showers. 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, a name we have maintained for 29 years. In 1965, the terms of office were changed to run concurrently with the calendar year so A. H. Sullivan, Jr. served as Chairman from 1 July 1965 until 31 December 1967 (a total of two and one-half years). This is 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 (Chairman, in the past) 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.
Table 1: Presidents of the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society Some officers 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 20 years). And, Janet O’Neil has been Secretary from April of 1988 until the present time (a total of 19 years.) Symposiums As mentioned earlier in this article, 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 of 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. The Third Armour Conference was held in February of 1957 and was instrumental as the meeting place for the organizers of the EMC Society. 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. Due to that success, the third Symposium was held in Washington, DC again. During the years of the first EMC symposiums, the proceedings were termed digests and contained abstracts and summaries of the papers presented. In 1965, with the dissolution of the Armour conferences, 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 assuring all countries in the world were represented by its membership, and renamed it the International Symposium. The first IEEE International Symposium on EMC held outside the United States was in 1984 in Tokyo, Japan. (That year another EMC symposium was held in San Antonio, Texas which was also sponsored by the EMC Society.) Since then, two additional IEEE International Symposiums on EMC have been held outside the U.S.; one was held 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 (held in odd-numbered years) and the Wroclaw Symposiums (usually held in even-numbered years). It should be noted that the “Zurich” symposiums were actually held in Montreux (1975 and 1977) and Rotterdam (1979). Other 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, their 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 time-frame 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. Examples of articles in recent Issues include the following:
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 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 - #212). 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 of 1963 was entitled “IEEE Professional Technical Group on Radio Frequency Interference Newsletter” and this title changed immediately to “IEEE Professional Technical Group on Electromagnetic Compatibility Newsletter” for Issue # 28 in July of 1963. It continued this way until Issue #34 in August of 1964 when the title switched to “IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Group Newsletter.” (It was obvious from the rapid switch in Newsletter titles that there was a lot of changes going on around 1963 with the formation of the IEEE!) 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 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 about 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. Examples of recent EMC Abstracts include the following:
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 Advisory Committee (which has been a part of the EMCS for over twenty-five years), whose subcommittees include TC-1 through TC-10. Their areas of interest are:
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:
International 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, 20 were located in the U.S., and the sole chapter outside the U.S. was located in Tokyo, Japan. Contrast that to the 2007 list of EMCS Chapters. There are 61 EMCS Chapters and 30 of them are outside the United States. The chapters outside the U.S. include Australia (Victoria Section), Austria, Beijing (China), Benelux, Brazil (South Brazil), Croatia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy (Central and South Italy), Japan, Malaysia, Montreal (Canada), Nanjing (China), Ottawa (Canada), Poland, Romania, Russia (Northwest), Russia (Siberia), Sendai (Japan), Seoul (Korea), Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei/Taiwan, Toronto (Canada), Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom/Republic of Ireland. The membership of the EMC Society has also shown international growth. The current composition of its 4000 members is 60 % from the U.S., 40% international. Future As technology is constantly changing, so, also EMC technology is changing 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, to name a few major categories. 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 the future 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 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; 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, high-quality International EMC Symposiums, excellent EMC Standards, and outstanding Technical Committees. Even as the Society prepares to celebrate its 50th Anniversary, it is also preparing for another 50 years of progress in its electrical engineering technical niche of electromagnetic compatibility 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
© Copyright 2007 Conformity |