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NisrUnited States Department of Commerce

Technology Administration

National Institute of Standards and Technology

NIST Technical Note 1383

100

J5753

^0.1585

1997

Electromagnetic Shielding Characteristics

of Optical-Fiber Connectors

-

Keith D. Masterson

David R. Novotny

Galen H. Koepke

1

TN 1383

Electromagnetic Shielding Characteristics

of Optical-Fiber Connectors

Keith D. Masterson

David R. Novotny

Galen H. Koepke

Electromagnetic Fields Division

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

325 Broadway

Boulder, Colorado 80303-3328

April 1997

^Ut^s o*

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, William M. Daily, Secretary

TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION, Mary L. Good, Under Secretary for Technology

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, Robert E. Hebner, Acting Director
National Institute of Standards and Technology Technical Note

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol., Tech. Note 1383, 44 pages (April 1997)

CODEN:NTNOEF

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1997

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325
CONTENTS

Page

List of Tables iii

List of Figures iii L INTRODUCTION 1

2. THEORY 2

3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE 8

3.1 Apparatus 8

3.2 Test and Connector Matrix 11

3.3 Data Acquisition 12

4. DATA ANALYSIS 15

5. UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS 23

5.1 Uncertainty in the Reference Transmission Cross Section 23

5.2 Uncertainties in the Ratios for Sj/S^ 25

5.3 Uncertainties in the Calibration Factors 26

5.4 Combined Standard Uncertainty 27

6. CONCLUSIONS 27

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 29

8. REFERENCES 30

APPENDIX A. SHIELDING EFFECTIVENESS FOR OPTICAL-FIBER

FEEDTHROUGHS 31

APPENDIX B. SPECTRAL DEPENDENCE OF COMPONENT UNCERTAINTIES .... 35

in

ELECTROMAGNETIC SHIELDING CHARACTERISTICS OF

OPTICAL-FIBER CONNECTORS

Keith D. Masterson, David R. Novotny, and Galen H. Koepke

Electromagnetic Fields Division

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Boulder, CO

A number of commercially available optical-fiber connector styles (ST, SC, and FC)

were tested to determine the extent to which their use in bulkhead adapter

feedthroughs would compromise the shielding of electromagnetic interference for

electronic enclosures. Metal, ceramic, and polymer components were included in

the test matrix. Tests were carried out using a nested reverberation cell technique

and cover a fi-equency range from 1 GHz to 1 6 GHz. The shielding effectiveness

varied widely, from a low of about 20 dB to a high for an all metal FC connector

system that was nearly equal to the 90 dB obtained for a blank reference plate. In some cases, the feedthrough coupled more energy into the enclosure than was

coupled through the empty hole required to mount the adapter barrel. Comparison

between the experimental results and the theory for coupling electromagnetic energy

through a ckcular aperture enable us to more accurately determine the Q of the nested

cell and to calculate transmission cross sections for the feedthroughs. The calculated

transmission cross sections do not depend on the specific experimental parameters

and can be used to estimate the degradation in shielding effectiveness for enclosures

other than our reference cell. The inaccuracies in the reported transmission cross sections are calculated to be ±3 dB and are small compared to the differences

between the measured cross sections.

Key Words: Electromagnetic interference; fiber optic adapter barrels; fiber optic

cormectors; fiber optics; shielding effectiveness

1. INTRODUCTION

Besides having very high bandwidths and low attenuation, optical fibers provide

electrical isolation between system nodes, and they have found applications where the

elimination of ground loops and common mode interference is the critical parameter. They are

also characterized as being immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI). Although this is true

for the fiber itself, the photodiode and laser diode optoelectronic transducers and their associated
electronic circuitry are very sensitive to EMI and must be placed in shielded enclosures with

filtered supplies in order to fully realize this benefit in an environment of strong EMI. As

bandwidths and data rates increase, we expect the problem of electromagnetic fields leaking into

shielded enclosures to become more important. This is especially true for analog links used in

demanding metrology applications such as often encountered at NIST. Although fiber

feedthroughs consisting of very long, small diameter metal tubes which perform as waveguides

below cutoff provide excellent shielding effectiveness for critical applications, they are more

expensive and awkward to use than commercially available connectors and bulkhead adapters.

It is expedient to use the commercially available products in many applications. The degree to which the shielding effectiveness of an enclosure is compromised by a particular connector is of

considerable interest, especially for the newer, low cost polymer body styles.

We have been unable to find published data on this issue, although the EMI sensitivity

of optoelectronic components have been studied [1]. We have experimentally measured the

shielding effectiveness of a variety of commercially available connector systems. Our results are

expected to be of considerable interest to engineers involved in designing optical-fiber links for

critical applications, to provide baseline data for possible additional studies, and to aid the

development of standard procedures to evaluate the shielding effectiveness of a variety of

optoelectric components.

2. THEORY

Our goal is to determine the degradation in the shielding of an enclosure due to an

optical-fiber bulkhead feedthrough mounted in one of the enclosure's walls. Since the shielding

effectiveness of an enclosure is very dependent on its geometry and materials, we measure the

degradation in a reference chamber when the feedthrough is installed and then calculate a

transmission cross section for the feedthrough. This transmission cross section can then be used

to estimate the shielding effectiveness of other enclosures that use the same connector system.

We closely follow the work of Hill et al. [2], who studied the aperture excitation of large cavities.

The experimental arrangement consists of nested, mode-stirred reverberation cells as shown in
figure 1 . The cells perform much like common microwave ovens. Power radiated by the

transmitting antenna Aj^ establishes an RF field between the cells. The stirring paddles assure

that all modes are excited and the resultant fields are isotropic when averaged over time. Since

mode stirring is more effective when the modes are closely spaced, reverberation cells are used

for frequencies large compared to their fundamental mode. We list the practical lower

frequency limits of our reverberation chamber and nested cell together with other pertinent data

later in table 1

Fields which leak into the inner cell give rise to a signal from the receiving antenna A(>.

Because of the high RF reflectance and low losses for the cell walls, relatively high incident

electrical fields can be established around the nested cell with modest input powers (>100 V/m

with <10 W). Also, only a slight leakage into the nested cell results in a measurable field.

Receiving

Antennas

Transmitting

Antenna

Figure 1. Configuration of reverberation chamber and nested cell for shielding effectiveness

measurement
The shielding effectiveness of the enclosure is defined from the ratio of the power

density S; incident on the enclosure and monitored with the receiving antenna Aj to the power

density 5 ^ inside the enclosure and monitored with the receiving antenna ^^ ^s

SE = 10 log

10 1l (1)

If the enclosure contains no source, SE is always positive. The ratio Sj ISq is given formally

by

S^ ~ <o^> Q

' <o^>

^

Q.

' ^^^

where

k = wave number of the incident EM radiation,

<<7^ > = transmission cross section of the aperture averaged for uniform, isotropic

incident radiation of wavelength lizlk,

V = the volume of the cavity,

Q = the quality factor for the electrical characteristics of the enclosure, and

Q^ = the contribution of a particular loss mechanism to the total Q of the enclosure.

From experimental measurements of S,/ S^, V, and Q, we can determine the

transmission cross section of the aperture. If the aperture is filled with an upiical-fiber

connector system, we can determine a transmission cross section for the connector system. This

transmission cross section can be used to estimate the degradation in the shielding effectiveness

of enclosures that might be used in practical systems.
For a high Q enclosure, Q is very sensitive to geometry, construction materials, and the

specific experimental setup. An accurate determination of Q is difficult by either direct

experimental qameasurements or theoretical calculations. However, by measuring the SE for a

well defined small circular aperture and relating the results to the theoretically predicted values

for the aperture, we can eliminate the cavity Q from eq (2) and determine values for the

transmission cross sections of the various connector systems relative to that of the reference

aperture.

The Q of the nested cell is determined by the rate of dissipation of the electromagnetic

energy that is inside it. Each of the loss mechanisms contribute a component Q^ . These

components can be calculated [2] and their relative magnitudes compared. The power

dissipated by absorption in the enclosure walls is

3V kc\^O^y.

2S ^^r

Ml

(3)

where V and S are the cavity's interior volume and surface area, o^ and lu^ are the

conductivity and relative permeability of the cavity's walls, and //^ is the permeability of free

space. The conductivity of the wall is the most difficult term to accurately determine. We use

a value of 8.83x10^ S/m, which was experimentally measured for an aluminum alloy similar

to that fi-om which our nested cell was fabricated [2].

The power dissipated by coupling into the receiving antenna is

Q2 = —k\ (4)

mn

where m is an impedance mismatch factor (m = 1 for a matched load, as was our case).
The power lost back through the aperture is

2V

Although an exact solution for the transmission coefficient of circular apertures is

available in terms of spheroidal functions [3], we use the following approximate solutions given

by Hill et al. [2] for electrically small and electrically large circular apertures of radius a:

<o.p>^ = —k'^a^, electrically small, (6)

J' Jt

and

2 <Oj>^ = , electrically large. (7)

Theoretical solutions for normal incidence which are based on variational approximations [4]

show increases in the transmission cross section of up to 2 dB at ka^ 1.5 (see Appendix B).

Based on this work and the experimental data from Hill et al. [2], which also indicates the

presence of an increase in the transmission cross section near A» =1.5 for reverberation

chamber measurements, we chose <aj^ = ^(^t^s up to ^ = 1.4 and then linearly connected

this with <o j> = <o j> ^ for ka ^ 5, as shown in Appendix B.

Additional power can be absorbed by cable shielding and other materials placed in the

enclosure leading to a contribution Q^. We leave Q^ to be determined by fitting theoretical

curves to the experimental data for the well defined small circular apertures. We have

evaluated ^ i 2, and 3 ^rid plotted the results in figure 2. At frequencies below 1 GHz, the Q is

dominated by the absorption of the receive antenna in the cavity, while at higher frequencies the

wall losses dominate the net result.
o

o

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nn\J.\J

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 1 1E+8 1E+9

FREQUENCY (Hz)

1E+10

Figure 2. Q of the nested cell and contributions due to various loss mechanisms.

The transmission cross section for a bulkhead feedthrough can be calculated from eq (2)

if the cavity Q is known. Using eq (2) and eq (5), we can express the shielding effectiveness as

'S't 2Vk 1 1 ZK/f [J_j^i ^ <Oj,> (8)

where

Qp Q

j_

Q2

(9)

and then eliminate Qp by obtaining data for small circular apertures with known diameters while

using the same experimental parameters. Thus, the measured transmission cross sections for

feedthroughs can be expressed in terms of the theoretical values for the small open apertures as
^/ ^\SA ^ \C ^ \AF SA^ R

s. ^2SA ^2C ^lAF SA^ F

The ratios of the power densities are obtained by applying caHbration factors to the output

of the spectrum analyzers as follows:

(11)

where

Fj^ = Calibration factor for the spectrum analyzer,

Fc = Calibration factor for cable loss,

F^p = Antenna transfer function,

SA = Numerical output from spectrum analyzer, and

R = SAj/SA^.

The calibration constant F is independent of the feedthrough system under measurement.

The individual terms are displayed explicitly because the accuracy of the calibration factors must

be considered later in the error analysis.

3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

3.1 Apparatus

A diagram of the experimental setup is shown in figure 1 . The larger, outer

reverberation chamber and its use in more general EMI/EMC studies is described in more detail

by Crawford and Koepke [5]. Its characteristics and the parameters under which we operated are summarized in table 1 . The nested cell was constructed of welded aluminum with a large

access door in the front that was sealed with a double row of finger stock, steel wool gasket

strips, and conducting tape. Other characteristics of the nested cell are summarized in table 2.
Table 1. Characteristics of the reverberation chamber and the nested cell.

Material Dimensions (:m) Low frequency

cutoff

Approx.

Length Width Height Q

Large reverberation Painted 4.57 3.05 2.74 -500 MHz -10^

chamber Steel

Access door a 1.23 2.13

Stir paddles Al alloy -1.42 -0.71 irregular

Nested cell Welded

Al alloy

1.48 1.16 1.43 -IGHz -10^

Access door Al alloy 0.63 0.78

Stir paddles a 0.61 0.46 rectangle

Optical-fiber, bulkhead feedthrough

Mounting plate

Mounting flange

Finger stock EMI gasketing

Wall of nested cell Steel wool gasketing

Figure 3. Detail of fixture for holding mounting plate in the nested cell.
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The nested cell has a square port (255 mm each side) to which a test plate can be

mounted. Figure 3 shows a cross section of the mounting frame with its double row of fingerstock seals to minimize unwanted leakage of electromagnetic energy. To further suppress

leakage into the cell, we also placed a 30 mm wide strip of steel wool between the plate and the

mounting frame as shown. We mounted the adapter barrels following the manufacture's

recommended procedures in a 300 mm square test plate of 1.6 mm thick aluminum. No effort

was made to increase the shielding by adding extra gaskets. However, before assembly all

contact surfaces on the plate and cell wall were buffed with steel wool to remove oxide layers

and improve the electrical contact. The two broadband, open horn receiving antennas had frequency responses from 800

MHz to 1 6 GHz and were a matched pair. To obtain high EMI immunity for the lines between

the nested cell and the outside bulkhead of the main reverberation chamber, we used semi-rigid

coaxial cable. The DC line to the mode stir paddle in the nested cell was shielded and filtered.

In order to minimize EMI into the nested cell and signal lines, all electrical connections were wrapped with steel wool and then covered with electrically conducting tape.

3.2 Test and Connector Matrix

We performed measurements on ST, SC, and FC/PC optical-fiber connector systems.

These three styles are currently the most popular and readily available, and they represent the

most cost-effective approach for optical-fiber links in many applications. The ST and FC/PC

styles are also available in a variety of material combinations ranging from all dielectric to all

metal. This provided the opportunity to study a number of variables that might affect the

shielding effectiveness of the connector system. The principal components of a bulkhead

feedthrough consisting of an adapter barrel and optical-fiber connectors are identified in the

cross section of a representative installation shown in figure 4. The ST and FC styles include

metal connector and adapter bodies with either stainless steel or ceramic ferrules and alignment

sleeves, as well as polymer connector and adapter bodies with ceramic ferrules and alignment

sleeves. The SC system is primarily of polymer and ceramic construction. However, we used

11
Connector

Ferrule

Spring

Body

Boot

Adapter Barrel

Body

Alignment Sleeve

Cabled Optical Fiber Bulkhead

Figure 4. Cross section of typical connector-adapter barrel feedthrough.

SC adapter barrels with both metal and ceramic alignment sleeves. Limited resources did not

permit us to test all the combinations. Instead, we tested representative all-metal and alldielectric systems and then mixed some of the metal dielectric components to get an idea of the

performance of systems that might occur in general usage. Table 3 lists the various connectors

and adapter barrels that we tested together with their material components.

3.3 Data Acquisition

The instrumentation shown in figure 5 was used to accumulate data over 9 frequency

bands. Many of the details for the experimental parameters are contained in table 2. The output

signal from the tracking generator was amplified about 40 dB before being sent to the transmit

antenna. Since appropriate power amplifiers cover about one octive in fi-equency range, it was

necessary to continually switch between 6 power amplifiers to cover the entire 1 GHz to 1 6 GHz

range. The power input to the chamber ranged fi*om 3 W to 10 W.

12
Table 3. Connectors, components and materials used in test matrix.

SET TYPE CODE CONNECTOR ADAPTER BARREL

Body Ferrule Body Alignment

sleeve

1 ST STMM metal stainless metal stainless

2 ST STMP metal stainless polymer ceramic

3 ST STPP polymer ceramic polymer ceramic

4 ST STOA 9.5 mm dia. open aperture

5 FC FCMM metal stainless metal stainless

6 FC FCMC metal ceramic metal stainless

7 FC FCMP polymer ceramic metal stainless

8 FC FCOA 9.0 mm dia. open aperture

9 SC SCPP polymer ceramic polymer ceramic

10 SC SCPM polymer ceramic polymer metal

11 SC SCOA 9.9 mm by 13.6 mm open aperture

12 SC-DUP SCDP polymer ceramic polymer ceramic

13 SC-DUP SCDO 9.9 mm by 26.4 mm open aperture

14 SC-DUP SCDT As in 12 but with long dimension bisected

with 2 mm wide conducting strip

15 REF REF Blank reference plate with no aperture

16 Open Port LGOA 0.25 m by 0.25 m open, mounting port

13
Spectrum

Analyzer

Receive

Antenna

AJ

Transmit

Antenna

Mini Computer

Receive

Antenna

Ac

Signal Generator

Tracking Generator

Spectrum

Analyzer

Power Amps

1 - 4 GHz

2 - 4 GHz

4-8 GHz

8-12 GHz

12-16 GHz

Figure 5. Instrumentation for data acquisition.

At frequencies above 3 GHz we used a mode-stirred technique where the input is

repetitively swept across the frequency band while the metal stirring paddles are slowly rotated

to mix the cavity modes and establish a field that when averaged over time is nearly isotropic.

The low power signal from the receive antenna A^ inside the nested cell was accumulated by a

spectrum analyzer with a tracking generator that supplied the input to the power amplifier.

Since we could not synchronize a second spectrum analyzer with the tracking generator, the high

power signal from the antenna A/ between the cell walls was recorded by a free-running spectrum

analyzer. We accumulated data in a peak-hold mode on each spectrum analyzer and averaged

long enough to ensure that mode and channel filling were almost complete. Although

theoretical data for the transmission cross section more closely model an averaged signal, the

approximate 8 dB increase in the signal obtained using the peak-hold method cancels when the

ratio of the two signals is taken. After approximately 1 h of run time, no changes in the

displayed signal were observable from sweep to sweep.

14
At frequencies below those accessible by the tracking generator, the input frequency was

fixed, and the spectrum analyzers were left to accumulate signal over many paddle wheel

revolutions. The frequency was stepped to the next desired value and the measurement was

repeated. This generally results in somewhat more accurate data at the set measurement

frequency, but allows the possibility of missing narrow resonances in the measurement.

However, we do not expect to observe narrow resonances at the lower frequencies for the

connector systems under study because their physical dimensions are much smaller than one

wavelength. In this mode of operation, 2 h were required to obtain the data at the 2

1

frequencies which we used to span the 1 GHz to 3 GHz interval.

We first measured a blank reference plate with no aperture to determine the leakage into

the nested cell and to establish a maximum SE that could be detected above the noise. Then a

plate with an installed optical-fiber feedthrough was measured. Finally, without disturbing the

mounting plate, we removed the connectors and adaptor barrel to leave just an open aperture in

the plate and repeated the measurement. This provided data that could be compared to theory

and used to adjust the calculated value for the ^ of the nested cell. The total run time over the

complete 1 GHz to 16 GHz frequency range totaled about 10 h for a single cormector

configuration.

The spectrum analyzers were recalibrated frequently according to the manufacturer's

directions. Loss curves for the coaxial lines from the receive antennas to the spectrum analyzers

were obtained by calibrating them on a network analyzer.

4. DATA ANALYSIS

Our goal is to use eq (10) to calculate the relative transmission cross sections from our

shielding effectiveness measurements. The transmission cross sections for the small circular,

open reference apertures computed from eq (6) and eq (7) are smooth featureless curves that can

be compared to the experimental data. The experimental data from mode stirred reverberation

chamber measurements is typically very noisy because of the statistical mixing of the many

possible modes. Therefore, we averaged a large number of closely spaced data points to reduce

15
the noise. The initial spectral data contained over 7000 points between 2.7 GHz and 16 GHz.

Calibration factors measured for the cable losses were applied, and the shielding effectiveness

was obtained from eq (1). These data were then averaged by applying a second-order leastsquares fit to sets of nine points and keeping the central point. We then stepped three points and

repeated across the entire data set. This smoothing procedure was applied twice to reduce the

data to about 700 points. Comparison of curves before and after smoothing shows little loss in

sharp spectral features from this procedure.

100 -n

^

80 —]

OQo

CO

CO

LU

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Io

LU

LU

O

Z

Q

—I

LU

X

CO

60 —

40 —

20

STOA

THEORY: Q.

LGOA

DATA

THEORY

4 8

FREQUENCY (GHz)

12 16

Figure 6. Reference values for the shielding effectiveness of the nested cell.

16
Figure 6 shows the resuhing traces for the blank reference plate and a plate with the

9.5 mm diameter open aperture required to mount the ST bulkhead adapter. At the bottom of

the figure, we have also included limited data we took for the shielding effectiveness of the large

square mounting port (0.25 m by 0.25 m) which was left open and without a mounting plate.

Over one portion of the curve for the blank reference plate, the unsmoothed data are shown to

illustrate the effects of smoothing. This curve also shows a sharp dip at 14 GHz. This is

attributed to a small gap or crack in the shielding which was resonant at that frequency and

allowed some leakage into the cell. The raw data also show occasional step-like jumps. The solid, smooth curves in figure 6

are the theoretically calculated values for the shielding effectiveness of the open apertures and

do not predict any such jumps. The observed jumps always occur at the changes in the

frequency bands where we physically changed the input and output cables to the power

amplifiers. During this process, it was easy to bump the signal cables to the spectrum analyzer

and slightly alter the signal coupled into it. Unfortunately, this was discovered late in the total

measurement process and affects much of the data; the implications will be discussed in the

section on error analysis. We have used the theoretical curves and the experimental evidence of

the magnitude and direction of such jumps to correct the raw spectral traces for most cases where a short interval in the data was clearly out of step with the rest of the curve. A smooth, continuous analytical expression based on the theory of small open apertures

is desirable for SEq^ and (iS;/^^) o/i ii^order to remove the statistical fluctuations from the

experimental data and allow interpolation for any desired frequency within the experimental

limits. The solid curve labeled STOA in figure 6 is calculated from theory for the shielding

effectiveness of the 9.5 mm aperture and lies about 7 dB below the experimental data. This

implies the presence of additional losses that lower the Q of the nested cell, for example, due to

higher than expected wall losses or absorption by materials that are in the cell. Absorption by

steel wool that may have been left hanging from the lip of the mounting plate as shown in figure

3 appears to be especially significant. A mounting plate was installed following the same

procedure used during the experimental testing, and we observed that in some places up to a

centimeter of steel wool was left exposed. To account for the additional loss, we added the

17
1 ABC + + 04 k' k^ e

term ^410 eq (2). We modeled the absorption as an electrically large aperture, roughly equal to

the surface area of the exposed steel wool, and then used this approximation over all ka since its

boundaries would not sustain the currents required to produce scattered fields included in the

electrically small aperture approximation. The resulting theoretically calculated shielding

effectiveness gave a much better fit to the observed data. In order to further increase the

accuracy of the fit, we let

(12)

and used a standard regression analysis [6] to determine the fitting parameters A , B, and C.

The resulting fits match the experimental data well, as shown for the ST connector by the dashed

line in figure 6. The fitting parameters for the ST, FC, and SC connectors are given in table 4.

Variations in the fitting parameters for the open apertures arise from inaccuracies in the simple

theory for describing the transmission of the various apertures, the amount of steel wool left

exposed each time the mounting plate was replaced, and effects traceable to the faulty connector.

In the case of the SC connectors, the apertures are rectangular. Still, our experimental data for

the aperture required for the simplex connector is fit well by using a circular aperture of

equivalent area. However, for the higher aspect ratio aperture required for the duplex connector,

this only worked well for the electrically large approximation. For values of ka<\, the

shielding effectiveness for the duplex aperture is considerably reduced from that predicted by the

equal area approximation, probably due to resonance effects. We placed a 1 mm wide piece of

conducting copper-foil tape across the center of the long dimension of the aperture for the SCduplex connector and repeated the measurements. The shielding effectiveness for ^a < 1 was

improved substantially, and the measured values were nearly equal to that expected from two

single SC apertures.

We have collected all the curves for the shielding effectiveness of the nested cell with the

various apertures and connector feedthrough styles into Appendix A.

The transmission cross sections for the reference open apertures were calculated from

eq (6) and eq (7), and then the transmission cross sections for the various connector styles were

18
Table 4. Fitting parameters for open apertures.

Aperture Parameter

A B C

ST

FC

SC

-(2.83 ± 3.68) 10"' 1.357 ± 0.064 -22.6 ± 1 .9

-(2.8±1.3)10-' 2.75 ±0.14 -45.8 ±2.8

(1.81 ± 0.08) 10"^ 1.013 ± 0.047 -9.63 ± 1.35

calculated from eq (10). The experimentally determined transmission cross sections for all the

connector feedthroughs are presented in graphical form in figures 7, 8, and 9. Included as smooth curves in the figures are the theoretical values for the open apertures. The dashed curve

is for the 9.5 mm open aperture and is included as a common reference in all the plots

The transmission cross sections for all the SC-duplex configurations are calculated using

the transmission cross section and curve fit for the single SC connector as the reference.

Although the transmission cross section for a high aspect ratio aperture appears to be predicted

by using a circular aperture of equal area for ka > 1.5, we do not feel that this is accurate

enough to be used as a reference for smaller value ofka. Since the shielding effectiveness of

the duplex aperture with the conducting tape is close to that expected for two single SC

apertures, we conclude that the experimental conditions for the mounting plate were very close

to those for the single SC aperture. Therefore, we used the data of the single aperture as the

reference for the transmission cross section of the duplex feedthrough.

19
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II' lii iii'iiiii iiT ^ M lUftliUiltt -=

. i

^—

— ^STOA

^^

=te#

1* J iw <»

= ^

/'I', ^

1 — /^ , 1 =

-

n

i

* t~^

f^

=

: /—

- a -

J

1 4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure 7. Transmission cross sections for ST optical-fiber feedthroughs.

20
1E-4

1E-11

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

CO

1E-4

1E-5

z

o

1- 1E-6

o

UJw

w 1E-7

(/} o

cro

z

1E-8

o

CO

CO 1E-9

1E-10

1E-11

=~ FCOA

— b

~~ —^^

nil J

Lll J,*!

V1 lili III = -7^ 1 " 7^ HiW

t=ffl IF

^1 Ww

P' / k

f 1 1 i|aiii

ll lU^I ^f

= ^^ W M Wllllnhi

— / TWr- iMB J I^tiitIIi 1NpFCM F^Ji!L

rtndtr

^^J

— —f— '

i k SMWnlnu —-TTJ-mtflm -CMC -

1 H J^Mi ff'" 1 i ^^^

iliHlM H^ F

~

r W' 11 Imnll

-|

-^ ffll ff^pi

—

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure 8. Transmission cross sections for FC/PC optical-fiber feedthroughs.

21
1E-2

8

FREQUENCY (GHz)

12 16

1E-2

"e 1E-3

o

1- 1E-4

o

LU(0

(0 1E-5

(0

o

(TO

z

1E-6

o

w

w 1E-7

CO

1E-8

1E-9

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure 9. Transmission cross sections for SC optical-fiber feedthroughs.

22
5. UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS

A proper uncertainty analysis is derived from eq (10), from which the transmission cross

section is obtained. Standard techniques for the propagation of uncertainties [7] are used to

obtain the combined standard uncertainty for the transmission cross sections. Differentiating

eq (10) by parts, summing the squares of the terms, and dividing by eq (10), we obtain

^li<^T>FT) «'(<Or>o^) "'((^//5'c)o^)

<a,>2^ <o^>\^ [{S,IS,)^, - \f

(13)

u\iS,IS^)^) \.{^ilSc)0A - (5;/5cW] « (^)

for the fractional, mean square uncertainty in the measurand. We have used eq (1 1) to separate

systematic errors due to the calibration constant F from the statistical fluctuations inherent in

the data from the mode-stirred chamber. We have also concluded that the various component

uncertainties are independent and uncorrelated. We discuss the various uncertainties below and

provide details of the analysis along with the required partial derivatives of eq (10) and their

spectral dependencies in Appendix B. Table 6 itemizes the various contributions to the

combined fractional uncertainty and identifies whether they are derived from a statistical

evaluation (Type A) or by some other method (Type B).

5.1 Uncertainty in the Reference Transmission Cross Section

Uncertainties in the cross section <aj >q^ for the open aperture which we use as a

reference arise from the inadequacies in the electrically large and electrically small

approximations. Previous studies [2] have shovm these approximations to give good agreement

with data for circular apertures at the high and low frequency ends of the spectrum. In the

transition region for Aa = 1 to fcsf =10, minor resonance effects appear to be present. They are

consistent with effects that have been evaluated theoretically for normal incidence by Levine and

Schwinger [4]. Accurate data for all angles of incidence is not available in the literature.

Figure B-1 shows the values and uncertainties that we used for the transmission cross section as a

fimction of ka.

23
coc CQ cosoEC

Li

.oVSSsBOO8UH

C3 T3C

cd 00

2^ S

0^ 10 o o O

O o

(N

V

on

(L)

V -tS ^ o

10 00 ^ o

<u

T3 o m oc

.2>oo

00 _c

'5533

Ido < < < u

>-

CO on C/5 OJ 1) 0) >- >^ >^

O o o o o

in

m o o o c

'-•u

a>

toCO

COooa

CQ CQ CQ 2 >.

CO

p

T3^

.1

C/0

(X,oao

cd

i-i

IdU

13O

N

h

>^ c^

"cd 2

00 <

cd u

COo

)-l C

GO

0)c3

-d

<uoc3o

_gU

T3

Cd>

cdo

J33

T3C

•s

<UO CO C -C .3 DO 2 o ^^CO -tS 0) 13 O (L> •^c2i

•3 1^ H *-'

24
In the case of the rectangular apertures for the SC connectors, our experimental data for

the simplex or single-fiber aperture was fit well by using a circular aperture of equivalent area.

Numerical analysis of rectangular apertures [8] indicates that for ka « 1 the transmission cross

section for the duplex connector would increase by about 1 dB over that of an equivalent circular

aperture. Our data for the duplex connector were taken closer to ^ = 1 and show considerably

larger transmission cross sections, presumably due to resonance. As discussed above, we used

the aperture for the single SC feedthrough also as the reference for all SC-duplex measurements.

We think that the increase in the uncertainty for the transmission cross section measured for the

SC-duplex feedthrough due to this choice is considerably less than 1 dB and is not significant

compared to the uncertainties in the values for the reference aperture itself or to the statistical

errors associated with {Sj/ S^ )fT5.2 Uncertainties in the Ratios for Sj/S^.

We use the analytical curve fitted to the (Sj/S^Jqa ^^ta for the computation of the

transmission cross sections. The uncertainty in the curve is derived from a standard regression

analysis for the correction term Q^. The mean square uncertainty associated with (S, / 5'^ )oa

was calculated using the covariance matrix provided by the regression analysis and is plotted for

the ST connector data in figure B-2. The residuals between the experimental data sets and the

analytically fit curves show a small somewhat periodic dependence that appears to be correlated

and reproduced in three of the four data sets. We can find no explanation for the observed

dependence in the physics of the measurement technique and conclude the effect is characteristic

of the instrumentation. Since a more sophisticated fitting routine would reduce the ripple and,

therefore, the uncertainties in the analytic curves, the errors that we associate with {S; / S^- )q^ are

conservative. Since they are also small compared to the total uncertainty for the transmission

cross sections, there is no compelling reason to pursue a more sophisticated fit. The probable errors in the (Sj/S^ )fT ratios for the connector feedthroughs are

determined from the statistics of the spectral plots for the open apertures. The observed noise

fluctuations are uniform across fi-equency and SE. We use the root-mean-square of the

25
residuals between the analytical curves fit to the open apertures and the actual data for the open

aperture as the base uncertainty in these ratios. This is a conservative approach since it includes

regions where the data for the open aperture are not centered about the fitted curve and thus

would give a larger than appropriate mean-square result. In addition to the random noise

attributed to the modal variations in reverberation chambers, the spectral plots we obtained show

occasional jumps in the raw data at points where the frequency bands were changed. The

jumps were more noticeable at the higher frequencies and on a few occasions amounted to about

6 dB. During the calibration of the signal cables at the end of the experiment, we discovered one

cable had a loose connector. The observed jumps are consistent with changes in the reflection

coefTicient at the connector, which could occure if it was bumped and which become more

prominent with increasing frequency. In the case of the measurements for the small open

apertures, most of this discrepancy can be removed by adjusting the data to conform in shape to

the theoretical model. Although spectral features in the data for the bulkhead feedthroughs

made this more difficult, the corrections for most of jumps were still obvious. After correcting

for these obvious jumps, we estimate that the uncertainty in (S;/ S^ fpj- is a factor of 2 larger

than the mean square of the residuals for the curve fit to the open apertures.

5.3 Uncertainties in the Calibration Factors

The imcertainties in the individual calibration factors are determined by manufacturers'

specifications and NIST calibration data. They are identified along with the method used to

estimate their numerical values in table 5. We calibrated the spectrum analyzers frequently

using known input signals and obtain the calibration uncertainties given in table 5. These are

about 1 dB below the manufacturer's specifications. The antennas are a closely matched pair,

so FiAF^ ^2AF ~ 1' ^^^ systematic errors in their calibrated response should cancel. However, we

used values provided by the manufacturer and considered each anterma separately to obtain a

very conservative estimate for the uncertainty associated with the antenna factors.

The calibration of the coaxial cables on a network analyzer provides an uncertainty of

about 0.5 dB. The error due to the faulty connector is not uniformly present in all the data and is

26
not considered to be a systematic error. Instead, we have included this effect in the uncertainty

budget for (Sj/Sc )ft ^s reported above. The spectral dependence of the uncertainty associated

with the calibration factor is shown in figure B-4. The contribution to the total error from

systematic errors in the calibration factors is seen to be small. This is reasonable. Since almost

all values of {Sj/ Sq ) are greater than 100, any systematic errors in these ratios nearly cancel

from the numerator and denominator in eq (10).

5.4 Combined Standard Uncertainty

The component uncertainties are added according to eq (13) to obtain the combined

standard mean-square fractional uncertainty for the transmission cross sections. We show the

results for the fractional uncertainties for the ST connectors in figure B-5. The primary

contribution to the uncertainty is from the large uncertainty associated with {S,/ S^ )ft- Th^

other significant contribution to the combined uncertainty is that associated with the theoretical

values used for the transmission cross section of a small circular aperture. Since the major

contributions to the combined uncertainty do not show strong spectral dependences, the final

combined standard uncertainty shown in figure B-5 shows little spectral dependence. Although

the resulting uncertainty is relatively large compared to those found in some measurement

technologies, an uncertainty of ±3 dB is typical and acceptable in reverberation cell

measurements. These results for the ST connectors are typical of all the data sets, and we

assign a combined standard uncertainty of ±3 dB to all of the transmission cross sections

reported.

6. CONCLUSIONS

The measured shielding effectiveness and transmission cross sections for the various

connector styles and combinations show a wide range of values. We were able to achieve

about 90 dB of shielding for the enclosure when a blank reference plate was used. The signal

strengths for the bulkhead feedthroughs are sufficiently above the limits of the measurement

27
system to clearly show the relative performance of the various connector styles. Although the

uncertainty in the measurements is in the range of ±3 dB, the differences between the various

adapter barrel systems ranged from 10 to 30 dB. The results also clearly show the superiority

of the FC metal/metal adapter for maintaining the integrity of a shielded enclosure.

We have successfully measured the ability of several optical-fiber bulkhead feedthrough

systems in maintaining the shielding effectiveness of electronic enclosures. The results

indicate that only the metal/metal systems are effective in maintaining the integrity of the

enclosure. Several of the connector styles degraded the shielding even beyond that of the open

aperture needed for their installation. This can be readily explained for the STMP system where

a metal connector was used in conjunction with a dielectric adapter barrel, hi this case the metal

cormector pair formed a dipole in the center of the aperture and efficiently coupled

electromagnetic radiation into the enclosure. This also is the case for the SCPM measurement

because of the metal alignment sleeve in the adapter barrel. The dielectric feedthrough systems

such as those designated by STPP, SCPP, and SCDT are not completely dielectric. They have

small metal springs between the outer shell and the ferrule to maintain pressure on and hold the

ferrule securely in place. These small springs, together with the dielectric materials, which can

act as flux concentrators, can also increase the coupling of radiation into the enclosure, hi the

case of the SC simplex connector system, an adapter barrel with a ceramic alignment sleeve was

used for the low frequency measurement (SCPP), but the adapter used for the high frequency

measurement (SCPM) had a metal alignment sleeve. A substantial increase in transmission

cross section is evident at 3 GHz where we changed the adapter barrel.

The bottom set of curves in figure A-3 includes the measured SE for the open rectangular

aperture required for the SC-duplex style connectors with (SCDT) and without (SCDO) a 1 mm

wide piece of conducting tape across the center of the long dimension. The conducting strip

considerably increases the shielding effectiveness at low frequencies, ka<\, until it is just

about one half of that for a single SC feedthrough. For applications that require SC-duplex

cormectors, we recommend that a feedthrough which accommodates a conducting strip be used.

One way to accomplish this would be to use two separate single adapter barrels mounted with

dimensions to match the duplex connectors.

28
We have obtained transmission cross sections for the tested systems. Together with

other parameters of a specific enclosure, these transmission cross sections may be used to

estimate the enclosure's shielding effectiveness. However, for small enclosures the geometry of

the enclosure itself and its orientation with respect to ambient electromagnetic environment will

also play an important a role in total leakage into the enclosure.

We have developed basic measurement techniques that can be used to test connector

shielding effectiveness. The basic techniques can be applied to other types of devices and could

be adapted to testing of active components such as connector mounted laser diodes and

photodiodes.

There are areas in which measurement techniques could be improved to reduce the

uncertainties reported here. Clearly, the faulty electrical connector was a problem that is easily

corrected. Theoretical calculations and numerical analysis for the coupling of isotropic

radiation, characteristic of that in the reverberation cell, through a small circular aperture would

reduce the uncertainties in the reference cross sections. Finally, improved data-gathering

techniques in which both signal processing channels could be synchronized to the tracking

generator would reduce both the noise fluctuations and the data acquisition time.

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors acknowledge J. Ladbury and D. Camell for considerable help in setting up

the experimental equipment and data acquisition system. We also want to thank D. Hill for the

helpful discussions throughout the project. KDM especially thanks D. Vecchia for valuable

help in statistical and uncertainty analysis. We thank D. Kuchta and J. Crow of IBM for their

suggestion to place a narrow strip of conducting tape across the aperture for the duplex SC

adapter barrel in order to increase the shielding. Finally, we acknowledge the NIST Advanced

Program Technology Office for financial support during part of the project.

29
8. REFERENCES

[1] Daher, J. Georgia Tech. Research hist. Presentation at "Progress in Electromagnetic

Research Symposium," U.S. Air Force Rome Laboratory. Contract F30602-89-C-0165,

JPL; July 1993.

[2] Hill,D.A.; Ma, M.T.; Ondrejka, A.R.; Riddle, B.J; Crawford, M.L.; Johnk, R.T.

Aperture Excitation of Electrically Large, Lossy Cavities. IEEE Trans. Electromagn.

Compat., 36; 169-177; 1994.

[3] Meixner, J.; Andrejewski, W. Strenge theorie der beugung ebener elektromagnetischer

wellen an der vollkommen leitenden kreisscheibe und an der kreisformigen offiiung im

vollkemmen leitenden eben schirm. Annalen der Physik. 7: 157-168; 1950.

[4] Levine, H.; Schwinger, J. On the theory of electromagnetic wave diffraction by an

aperture in an infinite plane conducting screen. Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 3: 355-391;

1950.

[5] Crawford, M.L.; and Koepke, G.H. Design, evaluation, and use of a reverberation

chamber for performing electromagnetic susceptibility/vulnerability measurements.

Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 1092; 1986.

[6] Marquardt, D.W. An algorithm for least squares estimation of nonlinear parameters.

J. Soc. Industrial Appl. Math. 2: 431-441; 1963.

[7] Taylor, B.N.; Kuyatt, C.E. Guidelines for Evaluating and Expressing the Uncertainty of

NIST Measurement Results. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Tech. Note 1297; 1994.

[8] de Meulenaere, F.; Van Bladel, J. Polarizability of Some Small Apertures. IEEE Trans.

Antennas Propagat.AP-25: 198-205; 1977.

30
APPENDIX A. SHIELDING EFFECTIVENESS FOR OPTICAL-FIBER

FEEDTHROUGHS

Figures A-1 through A-3 which compose this appendix, contain the shielding

effectiveness curves for all the optical-fiber feedthroughs that were studied. They also contain

the curves for the reference open apertures and their best fits derived from a standard regression

analysis. The curve fit to the 9.5 mm open aperture is carried throughout the data set for

comparison.

The shielding effectiveness values reported here are for our nested cell. The same values

would not be obtained in a different experimental arrangement. They are used here for purpose

comparison and to calculate the transmission cross sections.

31
80 —

1

ffi

CO

CO

UJ

z

UJ

>

o

UJ

UJ

o

5

-J

UJ

X

CO

40 —

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

80

CQ

2,

CO

CO

UJ

z

UJ

Io

UJ

UJ

o

z

Q—

i

UJ

X

CO

40 —

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure A-1 . Shielding effectiveness measured for ST optical-fiber feedthroughs.

32
CD

(fi CO

LU

LU

>

O

lUu.

LU

o

Q

LLJ X

CO

80 —

40 —

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

CQ^

CO

CO

lU

z

lU

>

I-o

LU

U.

LI. LU

O

z

o

_l

LU

X

CO

80 —

N VV ^'^^^ FCMC rflWlliiii.. ,

"*" ^nNU " IF*\iiillnl 1 s Fill n*! iWili Jill iL [FCMP jV Ljj ' WfLI^^

^-, '%f^Mfw% , , ,.iii'flrVfti#

STOA - . ' T^ML^Mr "

40 — - . ^

fly y

n\i

1 1 1

1 1 8

FREQUENCY (GHz)

12 16

Figure A-2. Shielding effectiveness measured for FC/PC optical-fiber feedthroughs.

33
80 -n

CD

2,

CO

CO

LU

LU

>

o

LU

UJ

O

z

Q_l

UJ

X

CO

40

STOA

SCPP

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

80 -^

CD

2,

CO

CO

UJ

z

UJ

Io

UJ

u.u.UJ

o

z

Q_l

UJ

X

CO

40 —

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure A-3. Shielding effectiveness measured for SC optical-fiber feedthroughs.

34
APPENDIX B. SPECTRAL DEPENDENCE OF COMPONENT UNCERTAINTIES

In general, an estimate yofa measurand is determined from N other quantities through a

functional relationship

y = /(^p ^2' ^3' ••• ^A^) ' (B-1)

where the jCj are the estimates for the N quantities. The uncertainties associated with the input

estimates jCj are u (x^ ). When they are uncorrected, the general rule for the propagation of

uncertainties [8] can be written as

^^c(y) = E i^M^i)? = E ^hy) ^ (b-2)

where c, = ^/ dc, is a sensitivity factor and u ,(y) = |c, \u(x,). The u , (y) can be

considered components of uncertainty of the measurement result >'.

Using eq (10) and eq (1 1), we can rewrite the relationship between the unknown

transmission cross section, the theoretical value for the transmission cross section of the open

aperture, the measured signal ratios, and the calibration factor as

<Oj>^ = <^T>OA -r, ^ (B-3)

This separates the systematic errors due to calibration factors into the one term F and the

statistical fluctuations inherent in the experimental data of the mode-stirred chamber into the

analyzer ratio term R. In the following figures, we give the analytical expressions, appropriate

derivatives, and spectral plots for the components of standard fractional uncertainties.

35
Figure B- 1 . Transmission cross section and fractional uncertainty for a circular aperture.

The values are normalized to the electrically large limit given by eq (7).

36
1E+0 -n

\nO

z

-J

<

Z

o

O

1E-1 —

1E-2

fdROA RoA-F iS,IS^)oA-^

«'((5;/5c)o.) = E,CM dCF{x) dCFjx)

'' ax, dx,

where CM = Covariance Matrix

CF(x) = Analytical function for curve fit X = Vector of fitting parameters (A, B, C)

dCF ^ ]_ . dCF ^ _!_ . dCF ^ J[_

dA k

' dB k^ ' dC e

8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure B-2. Fractional uncertainty associated with the curve fit for {S,/ Sq )q^.

37
f dRFT RpT ~^ ^^I^^C^FT ~^

1E+1 -^

I

Co''

Co"

uH{S,IS^)^) 1 {RESIDUALS^^f

[(s,/s^)^-\f N-\ [is,/sx,-^'

1E+0 -^

1E-1 —

1E-2

1E-3

12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure B-3. Fractional uncertainty associated with (Sj/S^ )pT The residuals are the

magnitude of the difference between the experimental data for the shielding

effectiveness for the open aperture and the smooth analytic curve fit to the data. The

diamond is the root-mean-square value and is equal to 0.41 8. We use this value

times the square root of 2 for the fractional uncertainty associated with iSj/S(j )p-[.

38
1E+0

cr: Hi

o

o

O

1E-1

1E-2

1E-3

1 df _, [Ro,-R^]u{F) {{S,IS^)^^-{S,IS^)^]\u{F)

m^r ) - = / 5F \_R^^ -F\{R^-F\F [(5/ IS^)^^ -\\{{S,IS^)^-\\F

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure B-4. Fractional uncertainty associated with the calibration factor.

39
1E+1 -^

1E+0 —

LUO

1E-1 —

O

I-Q

1E-2 —

1E-3

4 8 12

FREQUENCY (GHz)

16

Figure B-5. Combined fractional uncertainty for the measured transmission cross sections.

The result for <aj' >pj is for a coverage factor of 2 corresponding to a 95%

confidence interval.

40

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