Pass EMC/ESD testing the First Time
According to Intertek, 50% of products fail EMC testing the first time, with Medical Devices slightly more successful with a 40% failure rate. By the second round, success is 93% to 97%.
How can manufacturers increase chances of passing EMC testing the first time? Start with ensuring the correct EMC principals are being applied and the correct EMC regulations are being complied with, as well as mitigating risk of non-compliant modules or subassemblies being incorporated into final product. Finally, perform pre-compliance testing where possible.
Pre-compliance testing presumes it is easier (and cheaper!) to fix EMC problems caught early in the design cycle. There are many advantages to pre-testing. These include transforming unknown risks into known risks, mitigating those risks early on, and finally having a higher confidence level regarding passing EMC during full compliance testing. Generally, the pre-testing itself is less expensive than two rounds of full compliance testing.
Pre-compliance testing involves an attempt to simulate the methods (or a close approximation to it) that a full compliance lab would undertake on the product – both radiated and conducted, and immunity and RF testing.