Challenging EMC problems on two-dimensional communication systems

While “Two-dimensional communication” (2DC) is expected as a new sensor network technology, there are concerns of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues. Although the transmission mode along the 2DC sheet has an evanescent property normal to the sheet surface, several discontinuous parts along the sheet can produce the radiation modes, which are emitted to surrounding environment resulting in electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems. This paper describes a preliminary investigation of radiation from a 2DC system. In particular, the radiation mechanisms from the discontinuous parts of a coupler-sheet system are explained using the plane wave theory of electromagnetics and verified by numerical simulations. Furthermore, promising countermeasures are proposed to reduce the radiated emissions from two main discontinuous parts of the system: the sheet edges and the coupler-covered regions. The proposed countermeasures are shown to be effective by analyzing elementary configurations.