A Modular Test Suite for the Validation and Verification of Electromagnetic Solvers in Electromagnetic Compatibility Applications

Computational solvers are increasingly used to solve complex electromagnetic compatibility problems in research, product design and manufacturing. The reliability of these simulation tools must be demonstrated in order to give confidence in their results. Standards prescribe a range of techniques for the validation, verification and calibration of computational electromagnetics solvers including external references based on measurement or for cross-validation with other models. We have developed a modular test suite based on an enclosure to provide the EMC community with a complex external reference for model validation. We show how the test suite can be used to validate a range of electromagnetic solvers. The emphasis of the test suite is on features of interest for electromagnetic compatibility applications, such as apertures and coupling to cables. We have fabricated a hardware implementation of many of the test cases and measured them in an anechoic chamber over the frequency range to 1 – 6 GHz to provide a measurement reference for validation over this range. The test-suite has already been used extensively in two major aeronautical research programmes and is openly available for use and future development by the community.