I read in !emc-pstc that King, Richard <richard.k...@uk.thalesgroup.com> wrote (in <C02943801230D611919D00508BDF0C246EB61A@RTWEXCH>) about 'Help wanted with succinct subject description for non-special ists' on Thu, 27 Mar 2003:
>In 1967 off the coast of Vietnam, a jet landing on the aircraft carrier >U.S.S. Forrestal was briefly illuminated by carrier-based radar. This is >quite a normal event, however the energy from the radar caused a stray >electrical signal to be sent to the jet weapon systems. The result was an >uncommanded release of munitions that struck a fully armed and fuelled >fighter on deck. The subsequent explosions killed 134 sailors and caused >severe damage to the carrier and aircraft. This is an appallingly bad example, insofar as it was caused by a **fault condition**. EMC standards, and the testing itself, do not take fault conditions into account. There is a separate subject 'EMC and functional safety', which is incredibly complicated. If you just think about it for a while, you will see why. Don't let your audience think that EMI occurs only when source or victim is faulty. EMI occurs when both would be working perfectly normally if the EMI were not present. -- Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Interested in professional sound reinforcement and distribution? Then go to http://www.isce.org.uk PLEASE do NOT copy news posts to me by E-MAIL! This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: davehe...@attbi.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org Archive is being moved, we will announce when it is back on-line. All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc