Why EMC Immunity Testing Is Inadequate For Functional Safety

Why EMC Immunity Testing Is Inadequate For Functional Safety image #1

Safety-implicated, safety-related, and safety-critical systems are increasingly using electrical,electronic and programmable electronic devices. All such devices can suffer malfunctions or damagedue to electromagnetic interference.

Safety systems have safety integrity requirements (defined by IEC 61508 [1]), but their EMC aspectsare not adequately controlled by either safety or EMC standards.

We discuss the shortcomings in the way that the EMC immunity of such equipment is dealt with, andshows that the normal immunity testing approach is inadequate, on its own, as a means of verifyingthis aspect of safety integrity.

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