01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.

Canavero, 2015

01OUXOQ, 01OUXOT, 01OUXOV, 01OUXPE

Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and

Compliance

2. Basic Concepts

Flavio Canavero
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
flavio.canavero@polito.it

01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Outline

• decibels

• Measuring Instruments

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

EMC Units

•Conducted Emissions
•Voltage -Volts (V)
•Current - Amperes (A)
•Power – Watts (W)
•Radiated Emissions
•Electric Field – Volts/meter (V/m)
•Magnetic Field – Amperes/meter (A/m)
•Power Density – Watts/square meter (W/m2)

01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Decibels (dB)
Because of the large dynamic range (8-10 orders of
magnitude) of EMC quantities, they are commonly
expressed in decibel (dB) format.
Decibels are logarithmic quantities and must be
combined appropriately.
The dB is used in Regulatory Limits (FCC, CISPR,
etc.)
The “Bel” was named after Alexander Graham Bell
It was originally used to measure acoustic sound power
ratios in telephony.
The Bel is a large unit, so the decibel,which is 1/10 of a Bel,
is more commonly used.

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

dB definition (power)

The quantity most commonly expressed in decibels is power

ratio.
P1
GdB  10 log10
P2

NB – always use logarithm base 10

– if P1 > P2  GdB > 0
– if P1 < P2  GdB < 0

For example, a power ratio of 1,000,000 to 1 could be

expressed as 60 dB.

01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Properties of logarithms

y  log 10 x  x  10 y

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

dB definition (voltage & current)

The power into the amplifier is

The power out of the amplifier is

The power gain G of the amplifier, expressed in dB is

If R1 = R2, and using the log properties, then

01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

dB definition (voltage & current)

Examples:
P1 = 200 mW P2 = 20 W  P2/P1|dB = 20 dB
V1 = 5 V V2 = 50 mV  V2/V1|dB = -40 dB
I1 = 1 mA I2 = 1000 mA  I2/I1|dB = 60 dB
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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Conversion to dB

01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

dB definition (absolute values)

The decibel may also be used to represent an absolute
power level by replacing the denominator of the
definition with a reference level X0
x
X dB  10 log 10
X0

NB – dB are always ratios of numbers, never an absolute

quantity. So to say that the voltage gain of an amplifier is 22 dB
makes sense. In fact, it is 20 times the log of the ratio of the
output voltage divided by the input voltage.

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Reference Levels for Various dB Units

Unit Type Unit Reference Use
dBW power 1W
dBm power 1 mW
dBV voltage 1V
dBmV voltage 1 mV
dBV voltage 1 V
dBA current 1A
dBmA current 1 mA
dBA current 1 A
dBV/m field strength 1 V/m Elm fields
dBspl sound press. 20 Pa Acoustics

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Back from dB to absolute value

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Back from dB to absolute value

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Outline

• decibels

• Measuring Instruments

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Signal Sources
Signal sources (pulse and sinusoidal) can be
characterized in terms of a Thevenin equivalent.

Virtually all signal sources today have RS = 50

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measuring Instruments
The vast majority of instruments used to measure signals
can be characterized as shown.

Typically measuring instruments have Rin = 50

and Cin  0

See next for exceptions!

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measuring Instruments: voltmeters & oscilloscopes

The high-impedance plug-in for an oscilloscope typically

has Cin = 47 pF and Rin = 1M.

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Souce/Measurer Connection
The cable is matched and the input impedance, at any
frequency and for any length of the cable, is Zin = 50  = ZC.
Coaxial cables easily have ZC = 50 . This shows why
instruments typically have input resistance of 50 .
50  has become the industry standard.

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Souce/Measurer Connection
Modern EMC test equipment have input and source
impedances of pure 50  and are connected by 50 
coaxial cables!

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measurements - voltage
A signal source is terminated in the measuring instrument
either directly or via a connection cable

Measuring instrument

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measurements - power
Typical assumption throughout industry: voltages and currents of
test and measurement equipment are specified in their RMS
value and no factor of ½ is then required in power expressions.

Measuring instrument
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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measurements – source voltage from power

Inverse procedure: determine the source if the instrument
measures the power.

 V 1 V   P 1 mW 
20 log10  out   20 log10  50 out 
 1W 1 mW 
 1V 1 V  
V   1 V   P   1 mW 
20 log10  out   20 log10    10 log10 50   10 log10  out   10 log10  
 1 V   1V   1 mW   1W 
Vout dBV
 120  17  Pout dBm
 30

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measurements – cable effect

Non-ideal cables have a loss given in dB/length,
e.g. c = 4.5 dB/100 ft

Prec dBm
  c   Psource dBm

Psource Pin Pout Prec

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measurements – example (i)

A Signal source (50 ) is connected through a 3-m cable (50 
and loss of 0.2 dB/m) to a power meter (50 ), measuring
-30 dBm. This is done to characterize the Signal source.

Psource dBm
 Prec dBm
  c   30  0.2  3  29.4 dBm
VOC dBV
 107  Psource dBm
 77.6 dBV  VOC  7.7 mV

Pin Pout Prec

Psource

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01OUX… - Advanced Design for Signal Integrity and Compliance.  F.Canavero, 2015

Measurements – example (ii)

The previous Signal source (50 ) is connected directly to a load
(RL = 150 ). Compute the current flowing into the load.

VOC
IL   38.5 A  I L  32 dBA
RS  RL dBA

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