What are EMC scanners? 

EMC scanners are powerful and cost-effective EMI diagnostic tools, designed for pre-compliance testing to measure and analyze Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) emissions (optionally also immunity) from a PCB in real time. These tools can detect EMC problems before the official EMC testing lab does, helping to save time and money by avoiding revisits. EMC-Scanners are desktop tools that diagnose real-time EMI emission from a device under test (DUT) down to 25 μm steps on your lab bench.   

EMC scanners help the PCB design engineers during the PCB development process to find, characterize, and address unintended radiators or RF leakage on any part/component of the PCB. This allows the design engineers to pre-test and resolve EMC and EMI issues early on, thus avoiding unexpected test results in EMC compliance testing.  These tools also allow the design engineer to visualize the root causes of potential EMI and EMC issues. The scanners provide reliable and repeatable results that accurately pinpoint the root cause of design failure within a second.  After diagnosing the root causes of the problem, the engineer can implement a design change and retest to determine whether the modification resolves the issues. 

The scanners come with EMViewer visualization software and user-friendly scanner control. The software can support hundreds of Spectrum Analyzer models and provide great visualization of emission and immunity hotspots across any frequency. Some examples of EMC scanners include EMProbe EMC Scanner and EM scanner. 

EMProbe EMC scanner system:  

The EMProbe EMC scanner can scan DUT in 2D, 3D, or 4D (3D plus rotation) dimensions, providing more information on EMI noise sources. This scanner comes with a probe set kit containing E-field and H-field probes with frequencies ranging from MHz to GHz.    

EMscanner system:

EMScanner system consists of a patented scanner and an adaptor, and a user-supplied spectrum analyzer and PC with EMViewer software. The PCB is placed on the patented scanner (a self-contained very near-field scanning device) for EMC scanning. The patented scanner scans the PCB and detects electromagnetic emissions. The adaptor connects the scanner to the PC and spectrum analyzer. The spectrum analyzer performs frequency analysis, and the PC EMViewer software processes the information, visualizes, and reports the measured data. 

Figure: EMscanner system 

Benefits of EMC scanners:     

• Detects EMC issues before full compliance testing, saving time and money by avoiding additional revisions. 
• Allows easy comparison of design alternatives with consistent, repeatable measurements. 

• Enhances design quality. 

• Visualizes emission and immunity hotspots at any frequency for accurate detection.

Applications:

EMC scanners provide quick solutions for a variety of applications, including EMI emission measurement, immunity testing, EMI shielding, filtering, broadband noise, and common mode testing. These scanners are user-friendly, cost-effective, and available in various sizes to accommodate different test objects. 

Key specification details:

Frequency: Represents the operating frequency range of the EMC scanner, typically in the kHz to GHz range. 

Scan Area: Indicates the scan area of the scanner, usually expressed in L mm x W mm. 

Scan Speed: Indicates the scan speed of the scanning system, typically measured in seconds or minutes.  

Step Size: Refers to the minimum step size that can be scanned by the EMProbe EMC scanner system, usually in μm or mm. 

Interface: Represents the type of interface supported by the EMC scanner (e.g., USB Type B, USB 2.0).