SPRACP3D November 2019 – August 2026 AWR6843 , AWR6843AOP , IWR1443 , IWR1642 , IWR6443 , IWR6843 , IWR6843AOP
If an emission is detected, it can sometimes prove difficult to locate the source of the emission. One technique which can assist is called near-field probing. Also known as "sniffing", near-field probing involves using specifically sized probe antennas to track down the source of a radiated emission. Typically the following equipment would be used:
The process is typically as follows:
Once an emissions source is located, it is then possible to intuit the source origin based on the location of the radiation and it's frequency. This can be done by considering the length of a trace or the size of populated metallic components. As their size approaches one-quarter wavelength of the emission, they begin to act effectively as antennas.
While this technique is helpful for finding emissions, it is important to realize that not all near-field emissions result in a far-field emission. Thus, not all near-field emissions present EMC issues. For this reason, it is often best used as a reactive or debug exercise. While this section has discussed manual techniques for measurement, there are automated test solutions that are available at some cost.