Research and Development

Eurofins E&E UK Engineers are proficient in providing tailored, research fed services where solutions may not be immediately apparent nor known.

All of our Engineers are educated to Masters degree level or above, are experienced in research-based activities and have a very wide range of expertise in the fields of EMC, EMI, EM and RF research and development. Where exceptionally innovative solutions are required, we have the added value of being able to draw upon the experience and research-orientated skills of our doctorate level engineers.

We can deal with research contracts that are short-term e.g. a few days’ investigative research or development, through to contracts that last a number of years such as the FP7 EU research projects.

Examples of work undertaken

Product development

• Development of reference noise sources, using comb generator technologies, for characterising EMC measurement facilities and making enclosure shielding measurements; frequency ranges 1 GHz – 40 GHz. This work was sponsored by Intel and production units are available
• Development of industry standard noise sources, including our range of Comparison Noise Emitters (CNEs), Comb Generator Emitters (CGEs) and the York Reference Source (YRS) combined noise and comb generators

Antenna design and development

• Development of the ‘BiLog’ wideband antenna series using computational electromagnetic modelling to optimise the design, validated by measurement. The design was subsequently licensed to Chase (acquired by Schaffner) and now manufactured and distributed by TESEQ
• Active Receive Antenna (ARA); an active broadband receive antenna developed in-house by Eurofins E&E UK and available through our distributors (Link to Products ARA page)
• Passive Inter-modulation (PIM) in GSM antennas; a research project looking at the possibilities for localising and characterising PIM within an antenna structure
• Small antennas for use inside small enclosures; development of credit-card sized antennas for a variety of uses including shielding measurements of enclosures

Rail industry specific

• RRUK-A Research Contracts; Piezo-based signalling system, wireless signalling (2.4 GHz)
• RSSB; Traction Current Study
• OFCOM
  • Research into improving the radiated emission measurements from moving trains. This enabled the frequency range covered by EN 50121-2 and 3-1 to be measured during a single pass of a train or vehicle
  • This work subsequently won a National Measurement Award, the IET Award for contribution to rail safety and best IEEE EMC symposium paper

Certification and technology

• SMART meters in the Home
• Power Line Transmission (PLT)
• EMF in the workplace
• EMF in electric vehicles
• Bespoke screened room construction advice and investigation

Our expertise enables us to perform studies across a wide range of subject areas, example projects have included

• Uniformity of food heating in microwave ovens with no rotating plate
• Mutual interference for aircraft-mounted antennas
• The effect of space weather on the rail and power networks

Bespoke electromagnetic measurements

• Measurements beyond the Standards; extended frequency ranges or bespoke limits
• Future technologies
• Shielding and screening performance; from a few Hz to 49 GHz
• Spectrum management and use

Regulatory Research and Development

• Study into worldwide compliance looking at the requirements, standards and standard bodies available
• Study into bespoke frequency spectrum sharing use and future development
• Contribution to standards with respect to shielding effectiveness

MoD and Government sponsored projects

• We have carried out a variety of research activities for both the MoD and Government departments

European Communities Seventh Framework Programmes (FP7)

• TREND project (Testing of rolling stock electromagnetic compatibility for cross-domain interoperability); research into transient emissions from the railways.
• HEMIS Project (Electrical powertrain health monitoring for increased safety in full electric vehicles); research into the electromagnetic (EM) effects of electric vehicles. For more information click here.

Click here for a list of recently published research by members of the Eurofins E&E UK Expert Services and Research Department.

This is not an exhaustive list of our experience and capabilities so please contact our York office to discuss your EMC, EMI, EM, RF, microwave or related fields research and development requirements with our experienced engineers.