# Why 90% of Electronics Fail EMC Tests and How to Fix It

- Show: [OnTrack](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack)
- Published: 2026-02-03
- Length: 48m
- Episode: 332
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it
- Listen: https://podcast.altium.com/e/why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it/

## Summary

Karen Burnham, chief engineer and founder of EMC United, explains why 60-90% of electronics fail EMC tests on the first attempt, citing counterintuitive antenna effects and misleading data sheet advice like ground plane splits. She details how requirements management is often mishandled, leading to over-specification, and discusses the limitations of current EMC simulation tools in predicting system-level behavior. Burnham advocates for early design reviews and low-cost pre-compliance tools like the TinySA to avoid costly respins, while noting that AI's role in EMC is currently limited by a lack of proprietary, correlated datasets.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it#t=0) Introduction: Karen Burnham and EMC United
- [1:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it#t=86) Burnham's Career Path from Physics to NASA EMC
- [3:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it#t=201) The Lack of EMC Education in University Curricula
- [13:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it#t=797) Common Misconceptions: Requirements and Data Sheets
- [24:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it#t=1475) Why 90% of Designs Fail First EMC Tests
- [33:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it#t=2033) Pre-Compliance Strategies and Low-Cost Tools
- [38:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it#t=2296) The Role of Simulation and AI in EMC Design

## Topics

- [PCB design & layout](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pcb-design)
- [Certification & compliance](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/certification-and-compliance)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- EMC United (company)
- NASA Johnson Space Center (company)
- TinySA (tool)
- CISPR (other)
- FCC (other)
- Todd Hubing (other)
- Texas Instruments (company)

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- [Photon Rich, Cash Poor](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-10-14-photon-rich-cash-poor) (The Amp Hour)
- [An Interview with Kieran O'Leary](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-07-29-an-interview-with-kieran-oleary) (The Amp Hour)
- [Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-02-07-oxide-and-the-chamber-of-mysteries) (Oxide and Friends)
- [299: Reasonably Foreseeable Misuse](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2019-08-15-299-reasonably-foreseeable-misuse) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2026-02-03-why-90-of-electronics-fail-emc-tests-and-how-to-fix-it. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to OnTrack.