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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY, VOL. 41, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 1999

TEM Waveguides for EMC Measurements

Christine Groh, Jens Peter K rst, Student Member, IEEE, Michael a Koch, Member, IEEE, and Heyno Garbe, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract An overview of TEM waveguide electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) test facilities applicable to radiated emission and immunity measurements is given. Measurements of the eld homogeneity in two TEM waveguides of different style are discussed. A statistical weighting of the measured electrical eld is used to compare the results with standards requirements. Index Terms Field homogeneity, generalized telegraphists equations, higher order modes, TEM cells.

I. INTRODUCTION HE open area test site (OATS) is the reference for many standard measurement procedures which assume far-eld conditions. This paper considers OATS alternative electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) test facilities for radiated immunity and emission measurements. OATS emission testing can be difcult due to poor EM environments. A shielded enclosure can be used to isolate the test area from the environment. Wall reections must then be suppressed over the desired frequency range to simulate a free-space environment. This can be achieved by covering the walls with absorbing material. However, absorption is typically less than ideal for wavelength large compared to the absorber size and absorber material can be costly. Thus, in order to reduce the expense of EMC, testing alternatives such as TEM waveguides are of interest. II. TEM WAVEGUIDES The TEM mode can be used to approximate a free-space plane wave. TEM wave propagation is possible in waveguides consisting of at least two separate conductors. The transverse eld distribution of the TEM mode is identical to the transverse electrostatic eld between the two conductors. In order to approximate a linearly polarized plane wave as would exist in ideal free-space, two innite parallel plates give the desired eld structure. Parallel plates of nite width can be used to approximate a linearly polarized plane wave over some limited volume. A. Open TEM Lines Open parallel plate structures or strip lines can be problematic as they are open. They radiate to the outside environment. To avoid radiated emissions and ambient noise, they need to be located inside a shielded room. Coupling between the shielded
Manuscript received April 2, 1999; revised September 2, 1999. C. Groh, J. P. K rst, and H. Garbe are with the Institut f r Grundlagen der a u Elektrotechnik und Messtechnik, University of Hanover, Hannover, 30167 Germany. M. Koch is with Autoug GmbH & Co., Rellingen, 25462 Germany. Publisher Item Identier S 0018-9375(99)09636-2.

Fig. 1. Crawford cell.

room and the open TEM line can signicantly degrade the intended TEM line performance. This disadvantage led to the development of enclosed TEM lines, also known as TEM cells. B. Enclosed TEM Lines TEM cells for EMC applications are usually given a rectangular cross section. The TEM mode eld structure between the wide at inner conductor and the outer wall resembles that of a parallel plate line. Such TEM waveguides are closed and do not couple to the outside environment. C. Double-Port Waveguides Enclosed TEM lines can be separated into single- and double-port waveguides. This criterion deals with the termination of the waveguide. An example for a double-port waveguide is the Crawford cell [10], which is depicted in Fig. 1. It consists of two tapered sections and a homogeneous middle section. In these cells, the location of the septum is normally symmetric. Cell impedance is usually designed to be 50 to facilitate connection to standard measurement equipment. Both ports may be used for measurements, excitation, or resistively loaded. D. Single-Port Waveguides Single-port waveguides typically feature some sort of broadband termination. One realization is to combine distributed resistors with an absorber wall as is done in gigahertz TEM (GTEM) cells [8], as shown in Fig. 2. The location of the septum in a GTEM cell is asymmetric to achieve a larger test volume. Fig. 3 shows the asymmetric cross section of a GTEM cell, together with the coordinate system used in the section that follows.

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Fig. 2. GTEM Cell.

Fig. 4. Transverse eigenvector ~tr e

(TEM)

Fig. 3. Cross section of a GTEM cell.

(TEM) h Fig. 5. Transverse eigenvector ~ tr .

III. FIELD MODES AND GENERALIZED TELEGRAPHISTS EQUATIONS In inhomogeneous waveguides the transverse elds are a function of longitudinal coordinate , the direction of propagation. Transverse elds for every cross section are expressed by the following set of orthogonal transverse vector functions: and (1)

mode propagation. As the cross-sectional geometry changes along the direction of propagation, the cutoff frequencies of higher order modes also change. This behavior can be termed local cutoff frequency. Substituting (1) and (2) into Maxwells equations, a system of coupled ordinary differential equations known as generalized telegraphists equations is obtained (7)

(2) (8) In (1) and (2), the transverse eigenvectors for deduced from the wave functions on and for modes (5) on (6) and can be modes (3) (4) IV. EIGENVALUES
AND

and are termed the propagation conThe parameters are coupling stant and the characteristic impedance and coefcients between the modes. CUTOFF FREQUENCIES

which satisfy the differential equations and boundary condiof the wavetions on the cross-sectional boundary curve guide. The geometry is described by a coordinate system appropriate to the cells boundary curves. The TEM mode propagates at all frequencies. With increasing frequency, higher order modes can propagate above their cutoff frequency. These cutoff frequencies depend on the cross-sectional geometry of the waveguide. In the case of a TEM cell, both the dimensions of the outer conducter and the location and dimensions of the septum determine higher order

The transverse electric eigenvector and magnetic of the TEM mode are shown in Figs. 4 eigenvector and of the and 5. The TE and TM eigenvectors mode are depicted in Figs. 6 and 7. In both cases, the cross section depicted in Fig. 3 is used. modes are solved Equations (3) for modes and (5) for for the cross section in Fig. 3 as follows. In each area 14 the elds are expressed by a double Fourier series satisfying the boundary conditions on the metallic guide walls. Together with the conditions following from the matching between the different areas, the eigenvalues of the Helmholtz equations (3) and (5) can be calculated. The determination of the local cutoff frequency is simplied if the waveguide has an inherent shape. Then the proportions of the cross-sectional dimensions remain

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Fig. 6. Transverse eigenvector ~tr10 . e

H)

Fig. 8. Transmission line model of a GTEM cell.

V. RESONANT BEHAVIOR In the frequency range typical for EMC measurements GHz, higher order modes are only able to propagate in regions with large cell dimensions. For a Crawford cell, this is the homogeneous middle section of the cell, whereas in the two tapered sections higher order modes reach their cutoff points and are not able to propagate any further. At these cutoff points, the power of the mode is reected. Reections at these cutoff points can cause strong eld resonances due to the highquality factor of the cell as cavity. Resonances are always unwanted for EMC measurements as they perturb the desired eld distribution normally based on the TEM mode alone. In the case of a GTEM cell, reections occur on the one side at the cutoff points and on the other side in the region of the cell termination at the absorber wall or at the metallic back wall of the cell. Due to the absorbers, resonances are largely attenuated. This behavior is illustrated in Fig. 8 using the transmission line model for both the TEM and higher order modes. VI. STATISTICAL CONSIDERATIONS The aim of the IEC 61 000-4-3 standard is to establish a common reference for radiated electromagnetic elds immunity tests [1]. Section VI-B of the IEC 61 000-4-3 describes the requirements for eld homogeneity. The eld generating antenna is set up at an 3 m distance to ensure far eld conditions in the frequency range considered. In the absence of an equipment under test (EUT) the electrical eld strength of a linear polarized eld is measured at 16 points, each 0.5 m apart. The points dene a quadratic area of the size (1.5 1.5) m 0.8 m above ground; 75% of the measured points have to satisfy (11) dB % To realize equal test conditions, in alternative test facilities such as TEM waveguides a statistical approach taking all measured points into account is being proposed in [5]. Assuming (11)

(H ) Fig. 7. Transverse eigenvector ~ tr10 . h

the same in every cross section. For TEM cells, this condition is approximately fullled. In this case, the cutoff frequency of one mode can be expressed for the complete waveguide as a quotient of a constant and the local width of the cell (9) The cutoff frequency decreases with increasing width of the cell. Higher order modes are excited by changes of the cross section, by inhomogeneous media like absorbers, or by the nite conductivity of realistic guide walls. The amplitude of a higher order mode depends on the excitation as well as on the capability for propagation. Modes which are excited by the TEM mode and inevitable for geometrical reasons are called essential modes. Others, excited by disturbances in the geometry or little discontinuities and reaching only small amplitudes are called not essential, respectively. The mode, as depicted in Figs. 6 and 7, is the essential mode with the lowest local cutoff frequency that is able to propagate in a TEM waveguide with a cross section according to Fig. 3. The most important geometrical size affecting the excitation of higher order modes is the slope of the boundary curve along the direction of propagation as the coupling coefcients between TEM mode and higher order modes are proportional to (10) is the change in where is half of the width of cell and width along the direction of propagation. The vertical angle of the cell is related to the slope of the boundary curve.

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Fig. 9. Orientation errors of the eld intensity vector.

that the measured data is normally distributed, (11) can be expressed as dB using the abbreviation for the mean value deviation (12) and the standard
Fig. 10. Side views of the examined TEM waveguides (cut according to Fig. 3; dimensions at the cut) (a)  = 20 , b1 = 460 mm, b2 = 150 mm, z = 1200 mm. (b)  = 20 , b1 = 460 mm, b2 = 150 mm, z = 3200 mm. (c)  = 180 , b1 = 40 mm, b2 = 660 mm, z = 350 mm.

With (12) we can adopt the requirements described above to smaller planes with less points. VII. MEASUREMENTS The orthogonal electrical eld components , , and can be measured using an isotropic -eld probe. The orientation errors (13), (14), the total eld strength (15), and the coordinate system used are depicted in Fig. 9. Transversal orientation error (13) Longitudinal orientation error (14) Total eld strength (15) With these measurements, the dominance of a TEM wave and the amount of higher order modes contribution to the wave propagation and, therefore, the eld homogeneity can be judged. VIII. FIELD HOMOGENEITY The eld homogeneity in three TEM waveguides has been measured using the presented statistical considerations. Two are single-port cells of different dimensions. One is a

Fig. 11. Field homogeneity TEM waveguide [see Fig. 10(a)].

Crawford-type cell. The results are depicted in Figs. 1113. The results are processed according to Table I. The major differences between both styles are the vertical angle of the cell determining the degree of change in the cross section and the method of termination. The waveguides are depicted and Fig. 10(c) , in Fig. 10(a), (b) with

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Fig. 12.

Field homogeneity TEM waveguide [see Fig. 10(b)].

Fig. 13. Field homogeneity TEM waveguide [see Fig. 10(c)].

respectively. The electrical eld is measured in nine points in three transversal planes forming a cube with the dimensions 300 300) mm. The TEM waveguide according (300 to Fig. 10(c) is symmetrical in the direction of propagation, therefore, only two planes are measured. As discussed above, we expect the degree of coupling from the TEM mode into higher order essential modes to increase with . Measuring the electrical eld, the higher order modes can be identied by their longitudinal eld modes by their transversal eld components and the components, respectively. The occurrence of these components can be derived using the corresponding orientation error. With this in mind, the resulting eld homogeneity measurements of the two waveguides Fig. 10(a) and (c) can be compared using Figs. 11 and 13. In contrast to Fig. 11, Fig. 13 shows a MHz dominant coupling into higher order modes at due to . In this frequency range, the waveguide acts more like a reverberation chamber. Therefore, it is false to term the waveguide a TEM waveguide. To study the excitation of essential higher order modes due to the vicinity of the termination and the absorber the eld homogeneity in an identically sized test volume is investigated according to Fig. 10(b). A comparison between Figs. 11 and 12 reveals both the inuence of the cross section ( MHz) and the inuence of discontinuities of the geometry MHz) due to the vicinity of the termination ( and MHz). and the absorber (increasing

TABLE I DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURED VALUES (FIGS. 11, 12,

AND

13)

The order of appearance of the and modes with lowest cutoff frequency correspond with the predicted values of their cutoff frequencies presented in [3]. IX. CONCLUSION TEM waveguides (especially TEM cells) are becoming an alternative to the well-known OATS. After an short overview of the existing TEM cells, an analytical description based on the generalized telegraphists equations was presented to calculate the eld propagation inside a TEM waveguide. Using these equations, the resonant frequencies of a TEM waveguide can be calculated. The next chapter showed a new procedure to verify the eld homogeneity. The paper closes with measurement examples showing the eld homogeneity of special TEM waveguides. Summarizing the paper, it can be

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said that TEM waveguides are on the way to be a proven and reproducible alternative to the established OATS procedure. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank the reviewers Prof. Marvin, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Schaer for their helpful comments. REFERENCES
[1] IEC 61000-4-3, Radiated radio frequency electromagnetic eld immunity test. [2] M. Koch, Analytische Feldberechnung in TEM-Zellen, Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. Hanover, Germany, 1998. [3] M. Koch and H. Garbe, Analytische und numerische Parameterstudien in TEM-Zellen rechteckf rmigen Querschnitts, in Elektromagnetische o Vertr glichkeit, EMV98, A. Schwab, Hrsg. Tagungsband, Germany: a VDE-Verlag GmbH, 1998, pp. 255262. [4] P. Wilson, Test facilities, in Proc. 12th Int. Symp. Tech. Exhibition EMC, Zurich, Switzerland, Feb. 1997, pp. 315316. [5] H. Garbe, M. Koch, and H. Haase, Specication of alternative test sites with respect to given EMC eld standards, in Proc. 12th Int. Symp. Tech. Exhibition EMC, Zurich, Switzerland, Feb. 1997, pp. 459464. [6] P. Wilson, Alternatives to open area test sites, in Proc. 11th Int. Symp. Tech. Exhibition EMC, Zurich, Switzerland, Mar. 1995, pp. 579582. [7] M. Koch and H. Garbe, Investigation of eld distorsion in a TEMwaveguide, in Proc. 11th Int. Symp. Tech. Exhibition EMC, Zurich, Switzerland, Mar. 1995, pp. 595598. [8] D. Koenigstein and D. Hansen, A new family of TEM cells with enlarged bandwidth and optimized working volume, in Proc. 7th Int. Symp. Tech. Exhibition EMC, Zurich, Switzerland, 1987, pp. 127132. [9] M. L. Crawford, Generation of standard EM elds using TEM transmission cells, IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. EMC-16, 1974, pp. 189195.

Jens Peter K rst was born in Solingen, Germany, a on June 2, 1967. He received the Dipl.Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1994. From 1994 to 1996 he worked as development engineer with D-Tech GmbH, Bielefeld, Germany. There he was involved in the developement of inverters with the main emphasis on the drive and the fault protection of voltage controlled components. He joined the Institut f r Grundlagen der u Elektrotechnik und Messtechnik, University of Hannover, in 1996 as a Research Assistant. His main research interests are electromagnetic compatibility measurement techniques and especially loaded TEM waveguides. His technical interests include high-frequency analog circuits and microcontrollers.

Michael Koch (M92) was born 1965 in Seesen, Germany. He received the Dipl.Ing. and Dr.-Ing (Ph.D.) degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1993 and 1998, respectively. From 1993 to 1998, he was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Basic Electromagnetic Theory and Measurement Technology, University of Hannover. His main research interests were TEM waveguides and electromagnetic compatibility. Currently, he is an EMC Manager with Autoug GmbH, Rellingen, Germany.

Heyno Garbe (M88SM96), for a biography, see this issue, p. XXX.

Christine Groh was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, on February 19, 1971. She received the Dipl.Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1998. She is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree at the same university. Her research interests include electromagnetic compatibility, especially TEM cells and test chambers.