Disturbing and being disturbed

Rob Bijman, EMC engineer at Thales, will give the closing presentation at the EMC-ESD event on November 19 in Vianen. He will discuss the overlap between military and civilian applications.

Rob has been working at Thales in Hengelo for 16 years now. He started as an engineer for antenna development and transmission lines. He then moved on to EMC engineering, where he is involved in the entire lifecycle of product development, including aftercare. Rob says his background in physics is well-suited to EMC engineering, primarily because EMC engineering largely involves electromagnetism.

Thales is an international company that develops technical solutions for Defense, Space, Aerospace, and Digital Identity & Security. Thales Nederland is the largest defense company in the Netherlands and produces advanced radar and infrared equipment and fire control systems.

Puzzle

Rob explains that within Thales, every product is essentially a collaboration between various disciplines: EMC engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and architects. A wide range of people approach the product being developed from their own areas of expertise. Initially, they consider standard (military) requirements, but Thales also has customers with specific requirements. Rob compares this to a puzzle. A set of requirements and experts from various disciplines must work together to piece together the puzzle. The design must immediately consider the combination of the various components. As every electrical engineer should know: you can't simply connect everything. The EMC engineers first test various components and subsystems. Finally, they test whether the entire system meets all the requirements.

One of the systems Thales develops is radar systems, primarily for the military market. Thales incorporates components suitable for this market. However, many components are difficult to obtain, expensive, and often difficult to maintain in-house. One of the requirements of a system is its ability to respond quickly if something breaks. As a result, Thales prefers to use commercially available components. Civilian products are developed according to civil requirements and guidelines. The EMC regulations for both military and civil products are essentially the same, but the requirements a product must meet depend primarily on the environment. And the environment for a product designed for the military market is often different from that of a civil environment.

Military ship

The civilian environment: the office, home, or the café around the corner. You're surrounded by potential sources of interference. This directly overlaps with a military environment. But there are certainly differences, such as the type of equipment and the environment. Rob uses a military ship as an example. A military ship is completely packed with specialized communications equipment. The ship is packed with electronics. Furthermore, ensuring continuous full functionality is a huge priority within the military market – especially for a military ship. Of course, this is also a priority for the civilian market, but it's a different matter. A disruption at home is annoying, but not necessarily a problem.

Come to the EMC-ESD event on November 19th. Discover the latest developments, practical applications, and smart solutions. Rob Bijman will give the closing presentation. Visit the website for the full program.