Henry Ott EMC seminar near San Francisco April 28-30, 2010

Apparently I am not the only person that admires signal integrity guru Henry Ott. His great book, Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering just won the 2009 Publishers Association Award for Engineering and Technology for Excellence in Publishing. Henry will be giving a class in San Francisco near the airport on April 28-30 2010. The cost is $1395, or $1245 if you register by 2-26-2010. There is a $100 cancellation fee. The course fee includes course notes, continental breakfast, lunch, morning and afternoon beverage breaks, and a copy of the 872-page book. A summary of the course:

• 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 grounding philosophy. AC power grounds.
• DIGITAL LAYOUT & 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 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 Defining the Problem. A/D converter requirements, return current paths, split ground planes. PCB partitioning, bridges and moats, routing discipline.
• RF & TRANSIENT IMMUNITY RF immunity; circuits affected, PCB layout, audio rectification, RFI 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.

Be sure to attend if you are going to be in the area, the Embedded Systems Conference is down in San Jose the same week and maybe you can wangle a trip for both from your boss. Oh, and the seminar is not in the dirty little city of San Francisco proper, it is near the airport, so it is much easier to get to and much easier to park. The Hilton has a block of rooms reserved.