ALTER TECHNOLOGY (TV NORD Group) Expands EMC Test Capabilities in Spain

ETS-Lindgren's Unique 5-Meter Chamber Accommodates Large Products


CEDAR PARK, Texas October 8, 2020 ALTER TECHNOLOGY (TV NORD Group) and ETS-Lindgren announced the completion of a FACT (Free-space Anechoic Chamber Test-site) 5-meter EMC Test Chamber with auxiliary combined Amplifier and Control Rooms.  FACT 5 Chambers offer the semi-anechoic radiated emissions (RE) and fully anechoic radiated immunity (RI) compliance test capability for most international EMC compliance regulations.  For ALTER's specific requirements, ETS-Lindgren designed and installed the 5-meter EMC Test Chamber with nominal internal shield-to-shield dimensions of 11.6 m L x 7.3 m W x 5.6 m H (38 ft L x 24 ft W x 18 ft H) prior to absorber installation.  The chamber solution is unique due to extensive use of ETS-Lindgren chamber modeling tools (numerical simulations to predict RF performance) along with Building Information Modeling (BIM) used during the design phase.  The resulting design optimized the chamber configuration not only to fit perfectly into the limited available space, but also to maximize the chamber performance beyond the specified requirements.  ALTER's EMC Test Chamber provides NSA and sVSWR performance exceeding basic expectations at 4.0 dB NSA from 30 MHz to 1 GHz and sVSWR 6.0 dB from 1 GHz to 18 GHz.  (The test report by an independent third party lab is available upon request.)  The outsized FACT 5 Chamber also allows for testing large products, providing greater flexibility for ALTER's customers.   

 

"ALTER definitely presented us with a challenge due to their fixed space limitations for housing the chamber, their desire for performance exceeding industry standards, and their request for a maximum test volume to accommodate the larger products manufactured by their customers," said Ammar Sarwar, Regional Sales Manager with ETS-Lindgren.  "Fortunately, with our in house certified BIM team and RF chamber experts, we could collaborate with ALTER's experts to arrive at the optimal chamber design to meet and exceed their requirements."  Jordi Accensi with Wavecontrol, ETS-Lindgren's local distributor in Spain added, "I'm proud of our ETS-Lindgren and ALTER teams for working together to create a state-of-the-art 5-meter EMC Test Chamber."

 

"We are excited to have this unique, state-of-the-art 5-meter EMC Test Chamber in Spain.  With the larger size, we can provide a wide variety of test services to our commercial and automotive customers globally," said Rafael RODRGUEZ MUOZ, EC Director, with ALTER TECHNOLOGY.  "Working with ETS-Lindgren and Wavecontrol was a great collaborative process that resulted in the ultimate chamber given our space limitations and performance demands.  We appreciate their willingness to listen to our needs and their creativity in addressing them.  With their expertise and integrity, we were confident we made a wise investment to expand test services to our valued customers."

 

Recognizing the considerable investment required to purchase large EMC Test Chambers, ETS-Lindgren has honed its skills in anechoic chamber design and modeling over the years.  To verify the projected performance of chamber modeling, ETS-Lindgren has performed considerable research in chamber validation measurement methodology.  The result of this research and development is available in many papers published by ETS-Lindgren that are available on the IEEE Xplore digital library.

 

Further, Zhong Chen, ETS-Lindgren's Director of RF Engineering, and chair of ANSI C63 Subcommittee 1 on Techniques and Measurements, was a principal contributor to the recently published ANSI C63.25.1 standard "Validation Methods for Radiated Emission Test Sites, 1 GHz to 18 GHz."  Mr. Chen and Anoop Adhyapak, RF Engineer with ETS-Lindgren, contributed a demonstration on the time domain measurement technique specified in ANSI C63.25.1 at the 2020 IEEE International Symposium on EMC+SIPI.  Using time domain measurements, ETS-Lindgren can quickly and precisely validate the performance projected by its chamber simulation models.  This expertise assured ALTER that the FACT 5 EMC Test Chamber would meet or exceed contracted performance specifications.

 

The FACT 5 RF Shielding System contains no wood components that could be adversely affected by variations in temperature or moisture in an uncontrolled environment.  The panels provide high shielding effectiveness, maintain electrical continuity, and are resistant to corrosion.  ALTER's EMC Test Chamber provides RF attenuation of 120 dB up to 40 GHz.

 

ETS-Lindgren lined the FACT 5 EMC Test Chamber with DuraSorb hybrid broadband absorber materials.  DuraSorb is manufactured in-house at ETS-Lindgren under a strict ISO 9001 Quality Management System.  It is constructed using substrates with rigid, closed cell foams, which are loaded volumetrically and uniformly throughout each absorber.  DuraSorb meets the requirements specified in Space, Automotive, Commercial, Industrial, and Military Standards such as ECSS, MIL-STD-461F, MIL-STD-464C, RTCA-DO-160G, CISPR 16, ANSI C63.4, and IEC 61000-4-3.  Each piece of absorber is factory-tested before shipment, and full performance data is provided.

 

In order to automate and expedite testing for ALTER's commercial and automotive test applications, ETS-Lindgren provided its VisionTRX Visual Monitoring System software.  The software redefines automated movement-based analysis of Equipment Under Test (EUT) during EMC testing.  In order to verify EUT behavior, the software allows automated visual monitoring of relevant parameters during exposure to the required electromagnetic field strengths.  EUT may include speedometer needles, dash lights, LEDs, radios, heads-up displays, etc. the possibilities are limitless.  VisionTRX provides the flexibility to adapt the software to ALTER's varied commercial and automotive test requirements.

 

"This chamber increases our capacity to carry out EMC and radio tests.  We can make measurements at 5 meters, which will allow larger devices to be tested, such as satellite equipment, new space or railway control stations, while achieving ISO7 cleanliness conditions due to the absorber capabilities," added Gema Blzquez, EMC Technical Manager with ALTER TECHNOLOGY.

 

For more information on ALTER's FACT 5 EMC Test Chamber, read the case study here.

 

Did you know ETS-Lindgren is the only true turnkey EMC systems supplier, able to manufacture 90% of the components of an EMC test facility  This includes the RF shielded enclosure, doors, penetrations, electromagnetic absorbers, power line filters, CCTV monitoring system, turntable, antenna tower, emission measurement and field generation immunity antennas, field probes, instrumentation, power amplifiers, and measurement software.  ETS-Lindgren's vertical integration capabilities, supported by six manufacturing factories and over 800 employees worldwide, nearly eliminates reliance on third parties and subcontractors.   In addition, ETS-Lindgren FACT 5 chambers are designed, engineered, manufactured, installed, integrated, and serviced by in-house professional teams.

 

About ETS-Lindgren

                                                                                                                                            

ETS-Lindgren is an international manufacturer of systems and components that measure, shield, and control electromagnetic and acoustic energy. The company's products are used for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), microwave and wireless testing, electromagnetic field (EMF) measurement, radio frequency (RF) personal safety monitoring, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and control of acoustic environments.

 

Headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas, ETS-Lindgren has manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of ESCO Technologies, a leading supplier of engineered products for growing industrial and commercial markets. ESCO is a New York Stock Exchange listed company (symbol ESE) with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Additional information about ETS-Lindgren is available at www.ets-lindgren.com. Additional information about ESCO and its subsidiaries is available at www.escotechnologies.com.

 

About ALTER TECHNOLOGY

 

ALTER TECHNOLOGY, a member company of TV NORD GROUP, is the leading provider of micro and optoelectronics services in engineering, procurement, assembly, and test in space and harsh environment markets. The company develops and offers complete turn-key solutions at equipment and systems level testing and certification (EMC, Radio, Environmental, Safety, and Electrical fields) by its own lab facilities in Madrid, offering testing services for space, aeronautical, defense, security, transport, industrial, big science, drones, or telecommunications equipment.

 

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CONTACT:
Julian Gallego
Commercial Director
ALTER TECHNOLOGY TV NORD
Office:  +34 918 043 292

Cell: +34 647 557 773
julian.gallego@altertechnology.com

 

CONTACT:
Janet O'Neil
Marketing Communications
ETS-Lindgren
Office:  +1 (512) 531-2676

Cell: +1 (425) 443-8106
janet.oneil@ets-lindgren.com