From product development to stable operation: Lessent EMC laboratory solutions

A product may operate normally on its own, but will it remain stable when used alongside other equipment? For a development team, that question concerns everyday functions such as communication, control and data display. Electromagnetic compatibility, or EMC, concerns equipment working satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without causing excessive interference to other equipment.[1]

Lessent includes EMC laboratories in its laboratory solutions.[2] This overview starts with practical development scenarios and explains how the test space needs to work with the product, the people and their workflow.

Bring real operating questions into the laboratory

A development team may need to understand whether a product creates excessive interference when connected to different cables and supporting equipment. It may also need to assess whether communication and control functions meet their requirements under specified external disturbances. These questions require testing, rather than simply checking whether a sample powers on.

In everyday terms, emissions testing looks at whether a product interferes with others, while immunity testing examines how it performs when exposed to interference.[1] A laboratory allows these questions to be investigated under defined, repeatable conditions, providing evidence for design changes and subsequent verification.

Build a usable test environment, not just a room

Product placement, supporting equipment, cable connections and observation of the operating sample should all follow the intended test tasks. A small electronic product and a large machine will not necessarily need the same space or working arrangements. Nor will a standalone sample and a system that must operate with other equipment.

Lessent's published laboratory offering covers design, manufacture and engineering implementation, with EMC laboratories included in its business scope.[2] Planning discussions should therefore begin with the product and its intended use, then establish the test area, equipment arrangement and operating workflow. The aim is to connect construction of the space with the testing that will take place inside it.

Make the plan useful to the development team

For a business planning a laboratory, a practical starting point is a representative sample: where will it be used, what must be connected to it, and which functions need to remain observable during testing? This gives the construction and test teams a shared task to discuss, rather than only an equipment list.

Test requirements differ between products. For example, a radiated immunity method provides a common testing basis, while applicable product requirements determine whether it is used, the test levels and the performance criteria.[3] The laboratory's intended capability should be defined accordingly.

From sample placement and observation to the test environment and operator access, an EMC laboratory needs to support everyday development work. This is the connection between laboratory space and practical tasks that Lessent's solution overview addresses.

References
[1] METAS — Electromagnetic compatibility. https://www.metas.admin.ch/en/electromagnetic-compatibility
[2] 列星科技 — 声学实验室解决方案. https://www.lessent.com/labs
[3] IEC 61000-4-3:2020, Edition 4 — Radiated RF electromagnetic field immunity test. https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/59849