What are the best books about EMC?

There are a couple of good books on the market about Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC). This blog post helps you to find the best book for you.

• Electromagnetic compatibility reference books - Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering by Henry W. Ott, Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility by Clayton R. Paul

• Signal and power integrity reference book - Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified (2018) by Eric Bogatin

• For troubleshooters - EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers by Patrick G. André, Kenneth Wyatt

• For aerospace engineers - Handbook of Aerospace Electromagnetic Compatibility (2019) by Reinaldo J.Perez

Best books about EMC and signal integrity.

Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering, Henry W. Ott (2009)

There is this particular book which explains all the different coupling mechanisms so well, I was able to understand it right away: Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering by Henry W. Ott. It is one of the EMC reference books for me. It gives you a fantastic introduction to the EMC topic, as well as deep insights and an overview on all the relevant norms and standards. Moreover, it contains problems and solutions. This means it is also a good choice if you are planning a lecture on EMC.

Another big topic in the book is shielding. You will learn everything about all types of shielding for low-frequency signals as well as for high-frequency signals.

The only downsize about the book is that it is from 2009. I mean, the physical rules did not change since then. However, the norms and standards did. Therefore, some of the mentioned frequency ranges or emission limits and so on may not be up to date. Nonetheless, it is a great book and a must have for every serious electrical engineer which does product design and hardware development. It will really help you to understand how to make good PCB designs and good wiring and cable designs!

In the following, you can see some extractor from the book (topic: coupling mechanisms).

Buy from Amazon.

Capacitive Coupling [Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering, Henry W. Ott].

Inductive Coupling [Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering, Henry W. Ott].

Common Impedance Coupling [Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering, Henry W. Ott].

Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility, Clayton R. Paul (2006)

Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility by Clayton R. Paul is the best EMC book for lectures. It contains many examples and problems with solutions. Compared to Henry W. Ott's book, this one explains the topic more from the academic side with many formulas and a lot of math. Because of this, it is most suitable for well educated engineers with a good understanding of vector analysis, integral calculuses and complex numbers.

To be honest: This book covers the topic EMC more comprehensive than any other book that I have ever read. For me as an EMC enthusiast, it is a pleasure to read in it. Every single time I open this book, I think that Clayton R. Paul can not be honored enough. Clayton R. Paul was an IEEE awarded EMC expert (Clayton R. Paul passed away in 2012) and his Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility is a truly masterpiece of knowledge and engineering.

In the following, you can see some extractor from the book about skin effect, shielding effectiveness and problems about antennas.

Buy on Amazon.

Skin effect [Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility, Clayton R. Paul].

Shielding effectiveness [Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility, Clayton R. Paul]

Problems about antennas [Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility, Clayton R. Paul]

Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified, Eric Bogatin (2018)

Signal and power integrity are similar topics to EMC and a solid design regarding signal and power integrity helps to prevent EMC issues. Therefore, I would like to mention here the best book about signal and power integrity I know: Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified by Eric Bogatin. The book is clearly written and perfectly structured. Eric Bogatin is an industry leading expert and he describes signal and power integrity without extensive math. To understand this book, there is no need to know vector analysis or calculus.

It is up-to-date and it contains countless useful and well explained step-by-step examples about decoupling, PCB layer stackup, cross-talk and simulation examples (SPICE) and so on. The Power Distribution Network (PDN) chapter about combining multiple capacitors for decoupling is one of my favorite sections in this book.

Buy from Amazon.

Transmission lines [Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified, Eric Bogatin]

When to terminate [Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified, Eric Bogatin]

EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers, Patrick G. André and Kenneth Wyatt (2014)

A great book about real world EMC troubleshooting and hands-on EMC examples: the EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers from Patrick G. André and Kenneth Wyatt.

This book gives you a short introduction to EMC and the fundamental concepts of good EMC design. After that, the authors dive deep into Do-It-Yourself (DIY) EMC measurements which will help you to identify noise sources by yourself and without expensive test equipment. This is necessary for every pre-compliance testing.

This book is a clear recommendation for all engineers and developers who have to do pre-compliance and compliance testing. It is not recommended for EMC newbies (where I would go with Henry W. Ott's book).

Buy from Amazon.

DIY current probe [EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers, Patrick G. André and Kenneth Wyatt].

Handbook of Aerospace Electromagnetic Compatibility, Reinaldo J.Perez (2019)

EMC for aircraft and space vehicles differs from commercial EMC testing regarding test methods and limits. This book focuses on the EMC standards RTCA/DO-160, EUROCAE/ED-14, MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-464, and UK DEF-STAN 59-411. The Handbook of Aerospace Electromagnetic Compatibility by Reinaldo J.Perez and many others, covers every detail of aircraft and space equipment EMC design and test. Every chapter was written by an industry expert. If you work in the space or aircraft industry and have to deal with EMC: go for this book. However, it is not thought as introduction to the topic. It is a book from experts for experts.

In the following, you can see some extractor from the book about , and

Buy from Amazon.

Lightning and High Intensity Radiated Field (HIRF) coupling [Handbook of Aerospace Electromagnetic Compatibility, Reinaldo J.Perez]

Multi-stage lightning protection of a DC power line [Handbook of Aerospace Electromagnetic Compatibility, Reinaldo J.Perez]

EMC system testing flow chart [Handbook of Aerospace Electromagnetic Compatibility, Reinaldo J.Perez]

About the reviewer

In case you want to understand the technical background of the reviewer of these books: I am an electrical engineer with over 10 years of experiences in electronics and firmware design. I did a lot of EMC experiments, measurements and succeeded in EMC compliance tests of different products from different industries (consumer, railway, medical devices).

Closure

I hope this blog post helped you to choose the right EMC book for you. When in doubt, just write us an email: info@academyofemc.com.

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Reto Keller