Seminar: Shielding for EMI: A Deep Dive

Karen Burnham

EMC Subject Matter Expert
EMC United

Shielding for EMI: Abstract by Karen Burnham

There is a lot of confusion about implementing shielding when EMI is the primary concern. This course will aim to get past the universal-sounding advice that turns out to have limited applicability. By going back to fundamentals, we want every engineer to be able to determine what shielding works best for their hardware, with their application and in their installation. We will also cover a variety of test methods that can be used to ensure your shields are performing as needed.

How do shields work–and how does their function differ depending on application?  There are many considerations in play, including: frequency range of concern; material construction of shields, seams and apertures, enclosure shielding vs. cable shielding; terminations of cable shields, installation conditions, etc.

This course is designed for electrical engineers, EMC engineers, and any technical professionals involved in the design, testing, or integration of electronic hardware where electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a concern. Whether you’re new to shielding for EMI or looking for new strategies, this seminar will provide you with immediately useful insights.

Date and time:

November 5th, 2024

From 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Pacific time

Class duration: 6 hours

Location: This event will be hosted online via Zoom

Certificate: Yes

In this seminar, you will learn:

• Live demonstration of varying RF energy picked up by cables with different shield arrangements
• Theory of shielding functionality
• Introduction to transfer impedance and shielding effectiveness
• Overview of shielding test methods, both for enclosures and cables
• Case study of the challenges associated with shield implementations
• EMC shielding best practices

• • Enclosures
  • Cables

About Karen Burnham

Karen Burnham has worked in and around the aerospace, defense, automotive, and broader consulting world since 1996. She has a BS in Physics, an MS in Electrical Engineering, and a talent for translating EMC to English. She has managed requirements and test planning for NASA and the Dream Chaser spaceship and others. She has done troubleshooting on electric vehicles for Ford Motor Company and others. She has initiated innovative SBIRs and STTRs through government centers and worked on classified programs. She has consulted on projects across a wide swath of industries and sits on multiple international standards committees, landing her in her current role of Vice President of Standards for the IEEE EMC Society.

Ms. Burnham founded EMC United, Inc. in 2024 in order to focus on helping companies and hardware designers solve EMC problems, ideally before they even start. She believes that, far from being black magic, EMC can be understandable (and even fun!), and she hopes to spread that passion more widely.