EMC test aims for safer cars

A method for determining the validity of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) models is helping make electrically equipped cars safer in the future.

The technique, known as Feature Selective Validation (FSV), was developed by researchers at

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Engineers from around the world are now beginning to use the method to ensure the validity of their EMC models, which are designed to predict how a source of interference could affect electronic circuitry.

UK automotive testing specialist MIRA is using FSV in its research on electromagnetic interference in cars and its effect on, among other things, electrical braking systems.

FSV involves a set of equations that can be implemented in any EMC modelling software. The technique separates the raw data plugged into an EMC model into two files and compares and interpolates them. After an intense amount of number crunching, the process will deliver results that tell engineers whether their model is valid and contains enough information.

One of the developers of FSV, Alistair Duffy, a reader in electromagnetics at De Montfort University, said engineers would usually determine whether an EMC model was valid by comparing it with their past experience, which he said is a highly subjective process.