Henry Ott EMC & signal integrity class in Longmont Colorado

Not that I want to make it Henry Ott week after Tuesday’s post, I just ran across a flyer Henry mailed to me a couple months ago about an electromagnetic compatibility seminar he will be giving September 23-25 in Longmont Colorado. All you Colorado Agilent folks and those cool dudes at Cadeka/Comlinear would do well to sign up for Henry’s class, he usually gives them in Silicon Valley or the East Coast. The cost for the three-day course is $1395. Now of course you should buy Henry’s new book and get him to sign it at the seminar, but also realize that by taking the class you get three days of peace and quiet away from your desk so you can actually learn the book instead of just having it sit on your shelf waiting for you to get to it “one day”. [Update, Henry tells me he will give out a copy of his new book to each seminar attendee.]

Thirty years at Bell Labs in the Long-Lines division taught Henry Ott more than just dressing sharp. The course content from Ott’s webpage is:

Cabling

Electric and magnetic field coupling, crosstalk. Cable types: coax, twisted pair and ribbon cables. Cable shielding. Cable terminations.

Grounding principles

Why do we ground? Ground systems: single point, multipoint, hybrid. Ground loops. Return current paths, split planes.  EMC (electro-magnetic compatibility) grounding philosophy. AC power grounds.

Digital layout and grounding

Noise Sources, PCB layout, power distribution, ground grids, characteristics of ground planes. Decoupling capacitors; value, placement, resonance and limitations.

High-speed digital decoupling

Alternative decoupling methods, use of distributed decoupling capacitance, power supply isolation, effect of paralleling capacitors. Embedded PCB capacitance.

D-M ( differential-mode) emission modeling

Radiated emission mechanisms. Fourier spectrum. Differential-mode emission modeling. Methods of controlling differential-mode emission. Clock dithering. Cancellation techniques.

Common-mode filtering

Basic C-M filter theory. Filter source and load impedances. Single-stage filters. Multi-stage filters. Ferrite chokes versus shunt capacitors. Effectiveness of different C-M filter configurations. C-M filter mounting and layout

Transmission lines

Transmission line effects, transmission line radiation, and matching. How current flows on transmission lines.

Mixed-signal PCBs (printed circuit boards)

Defining the Problem. A/D (analog-digital) converter requirements, return current paths, split ground planes. PCB partitioning, bridges and moats, routing discipline.

RF (radio frequency) & transient immunity

RF immunity; circuits affected, PCB layout, audio rectification, RFI (radio-frequency interference) filters. Transient immunity; circuits affected, the three-prong approach, keeping transient energy out, protecting the sensitive devices, designing software/firmware for transient immunity.

Conducted emission

AC power line conducted emission models, switching power supplies, parasitic capacitance, layout. Common-mode and differential-mode conducted emission, common-mode chokes, saturation. Power line filters.

Shielding

Absorption and reflection loss. Seams, joints, gaskets, slot antennas, and multiple apertures. Waveguides below cutoff, conductive coatings. Cabinet and enclosure design.

After seeing Henry at the AES convention a few years ago, I can assure you he has the best teaching method possible. He does not throw a lot of math at you saying that it explains anything. He contends that he doesn’t even like math that much. He knows that math describes instead of explains and Henry wants to teach us the principles of noise and signal integrity. Let field solvers do the math, that’s what computers are for. Meanwhile get over to Longmont and check out this great seminar.