Quantifying Radiation and Physics From Edge-Coupled Signal Connectors

Electromagnetic radiation at a production printed circuit board (PCB) midplane connector is studied in this paper. A highly detailed simulation model is constructed and corroborated by comparing measured and simulated results, for both mixed-mode S-parameters and total radiated power, which is measured in a reverberation chamber and over-the-air anechoic chamber. The radiation loss in the production connector is a small fraction of the total loss. Common-mode antenna current is used to understand the radiation physics.