Sophisticated electronic technologies are increasingly used in mission- and safety-critical systems where electromagnetic interference (EMI) can result in substantial risks to people and the environment. Traditionally, EMI engineering have been following a rule-based approach, which is unable to cope with complex modern situations. With this rule-based approach, during the design stage, guidelines are prescribed, which result in the application of a set of mitigation techniques, which are verified in the finished product against existing standards. This rule-based approach is costly, but with no guarantee of the required performance. What is needed is a truly interdisciplinary – but also revolutionary – approach to this very serious problem. More specifically, one needs to bring together expertise from 4 key areas – electromagnetic compatibility, reliability engineering, functional safety and risk management – and implement a risk-based EMC approach, which was the goal of the PETER project.
Why is it important for society?
The shift from the traditional "rule-based" approach to the innovative "risk-based" approach in EMI management is crucial for ensuring the safety and reliability of modern high-tech systems, especially in critical applications such as medical systems and electric/autonomous vehicles. The inherent flaws in the rule-based approach, such as uncertainties about the adequacy of mitigation strategies and standards lagging behind technological advancements, pose serious risks to system dependability. The interdisciplinary and revolutionary nature of the risk-based approach proposed by the PETER consortium aims to comprehensively address EMI issues throughout a system's entire lifecycle, providing safer and more systems through hazard-and-risk analysis, risk reduction, and robust verification and validation processes.
What were the overall objectives?
PETER, the Pan-European Training, research and education network on ElectroMagnetic Risk Management, played a crucial role in facilitating an interdisciplinary and revolutionary approach to address the significant shortcomings of the rule-based approach with respect to EMI. In order to achieve this objective a group of 15 highly skilled early-stage researchers (ESRs) investigated and developed hazard-and-risk analysis techniques (WP1), effective EMI risk-reduction methods (WP2), improved verification-and-validation approaches (WP3), and applied the EMI risk-management methodology in industry-driven case studies across various sectors and design levels (WP4).
