RF Shield Testing
Expert Shielding Effectiveness testing for your Shielded Enclosure requirements
About US
Our Legacy
John G. Lindenmeyer was a U.S. Army Veteran, a graduate of the University of Southern California, and an employee of Hughes Aircraft Company, where he worked in radar development for over 10 years. In 1982, he started Lindenmeyer Electronics Inc. where he provided RF shield testing to some of the first builders of MRI shielded enclosures. After his passing in 2013, his family continued his work and in 2015 we created Lindenmeyer Shield Testing & Consulting, LLC. Headquartered in Orange County, California, and servicing North America; our technicians have over 40 years experience in the field performing Shielding Effectiveness measurements on RF shielded enclosures. We work closely with numerous shield builders, site owners, MRI manufacturers, and general contractors providing independent third party quality assurance testing at various stages of development.
Shielded Enclosures
A shielded enclosure, or RF shield, is a structure designed to block electromagnetic fields, specifically radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation. It consists of conductive materials that create a barrier, preventing external electromagnetic interference from penetrating the enclosed space and interfering with sensitive electronic equipment or signals inside. The basic principle behind a shielded enclosure is based on the Faraday cage concept, named after the scientist Michael Faraday. Faraday discovered that an external electrical field cannot penetrate a conductive enclosure, as the charges within the material redistribute themselves in response to the external field, canceling out the field's effects inside the enclosure.
Shielding Effectiveness
Shielding Effectiveness (SE) is a measure of how well a shielded enclosure attenuates or reduces the strength of electromagnetic fields (EMF). It quantifies the enclosure's ability to block or absorb electromagnetic radiation across a specific frequency range. The higher the shielding effectiveness, the more effectively the shield can block electromagnetic interference (EMI) and maintain a low noise environment inside the enclosure. Shielding Effectiveness is typically expressed in decibels (dB) and varies depending on factors such as material thickness, frequency range, and construction quality. A shielded enclosure is only as effective as its' weakest point.
Our Process
We use MIL-STD-285, ASTM D4935, and IEEE Std 299-2006 as general references. Depending on your needs, we'll use a signal generator, RF power amplifier, spectrum analyzer, and a variety of transmit and receive antennas to map the effectiveness of the shielded enclosure and its' necessary penetrations and openings. If the shielded enclosure does not meet the clients minimum pass/fail requirements for RF attenuation in its' entirety, we are proficient at locating the source of failure. Whether you're building a new ground up enclosure, retrofitting an existing room, or looking for a source of RF interference; shielding effectiveness testing is a critical step that we would be happy to help you with.