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The automotive industry has increased reliance on electronics technology and wireless communication systems and the demand for these systems is still increasing. With this demand there is a need to ensure these systems do not interfere with each other in a way which may cause system performance degradation or even failure. Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is a discipline that deals with interaction between electronic and wireless systems. During EMC testing the device under test (DUT) is isolated from the surrounding environment to facilitate measurement of the component’s electromagnetic characteristics. Geometric aspects of an EMC test setup may impact test results without the knowledge of the test engineer. In this paper, electromagnetic simulation and measurement results will show the impact of one of the least obvious but most often experienced issues in an EMC setup - grounding.

Hybrid and electric vehicles utilize high power electric motors to propel the vehicle requiring a significant level of electric current to travel between various modules such as energy storage devices, power inverter modules, energy charging modules, and the motors themselves. This electric current creates magnetic fields around the devices themselves and wiring that delivers this current between devices within the vehicle. These devices and wiring exist throughout the vehicle and can even exist near vehicle occupants, which has prompted investigations looking into the short term biological effect these non-ionizing fields can have on the human body. The findings from these investigations have been published by organizations such as the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), and some nations have passed laws regulating the magnetic and electric field exposure to vehicle occupants.