Dan of System Solution Specialists

Hour 1 –  Daniel Beeker:  Controlling the Waves: A Field-based Perspective on High-speed PCB Design 

Good signal integrity and EMC start with a good PCB design philosophy. It is critical for design engineers to understand the behavior of EM fields. Proper design of the spaces these fields follow through the board is critical. Creating transmission lines that meet the needs of the PDN and fast-switching ICs in today's high-performance products can be challenging. Specific questions must be answered to define the PCB geometry that will lead to a successful design. This seminar will present an easy-to-understand, science-based approach to PCB design.  

Hour 3 –  Daniel Beeker: Novel Power Distribution System Design 

This presentation will present a simple EM physics and geometry-based approach to designing power distribution networks on PCBs. The simple rules discussed can be used to reduce power supply noise and improve EMC from the input power connection to the IC die. New research will be presented on the impact of discrete components on radiated and conducted emissions, with an emphasis on cost analysis. 

Biography:

Dan is currently President and CTO of System Solution Specialists. With over 50 years of experience in electronic system design and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), Daniel Beeker is a globally recognized authority in signal integrity and EMC design. He provided application support to NXP Automotive customers worldwide and supported global teams with specialized development tools and 
instrumentation. 

Daniel's expertise lies in EMC and signal-integrity techniques for systems and PCBs, particularly in low-layer-count designs. He has completed more than 250 PCB design evaluations for both customers and internal NXP products, consistently driving performance improvements and design reliability. 

A passionate educator, Daniel has delivered over 150 training sessions to more than 6,000 attendees since 2010, sharing his field-based design philosophy at NXP Tech Days, industry conferences, and customer workshops worldwide. He also contributes to NXP's IC package and development tool teams, supporting EMC performance across more than 25 IC designs. 

Daniel's unique approach to EMC stems from years of collaboration with industry pioneer Ralph Morrison, author of the foundational textbook Grounding and Shielding Techniques (1967). Ralph's science-based methodology profoundly influenced Daniel's design philosophy, which emphasizes electromagnetic field behavior over traditional conductor-based thinking. Daniel also credits Rick Hartley—another respected industry leader—as a key mentor whose insights continue to shape his work and teaching. 

Daniel was the inaugural recipient of UBM Publishing's 2017 ACE Award for Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) Speaker of the Year. He has delivered keynote addresses at Altium Live (San Diego, 2017; Munich, 2019) and is a regular presenter at PCB East/West, DesignCon, IEEE EMC Society events, and NXP training sessions. His speaking engagements also include special events hosted by Sierra Circuits, VAC Consulting, and Azitech in Copenhagen. 

Beyond his work at NXP, Daniel is a committed contributor to PCB Africa, a project that aims to advance electrical engineering expertise across central Africa. Most recently, he delivered the keynote address at the EMC and Compliance International Conference at St. Anne's College, Oxford. 

Rethinking Energy in Electronic Design 
We are all engaged in developing products that generate, control, and consume electromagnetic field energy. However, this is not how we are traditionally taught to think. Circuit theory suggests that electrical energy is simply the movement of electrons through conductors. Flip a switch, and current instantly flows through the loop. The wires supposedly carry the energy, and the load responds immediately. 

Wrong. 
What actually happens is far more nuanced—and far more important to understand. When a switch is activated, it creates a new space. The electromagnetic field carries the energy into that space, and it takes time for the field to propagate. The field has no knowledge of what lies at the end of the space—it simply moves forward. This movement of field energy through space is what we measure as current 
flow. 

The real magic lies in the displacement current—the field flowing through the dielectric at the wavefront, completing the circuit. Fields do all the work. "Current flow" is not electrons racing through wires; it is a measure of field energy moving through the space between conductors, bounded by the dielectric. 

Some of this field energy interacts with the molecules on the surface of the conductors. That interaction consumes energy, resulting in a voltage drop—what we call "resistance." The energy consumed in this process increases molecular motion, which we observe as heat. The dielectric behaves similarly unless it is a vacuum. Electromagnetic energy moves more slowly through physical dielectrics than through empty space because it must navigate around molecules. The denser the material, the longer the path—and the longer it takes for the field to travel. 

Once created, electromagnetic field energy can only do three things: 
Move from one space to another. 
Be converted into kinetic energy. 
Radiate into surrounding spaces. 

This is the foundation of our work. Understanding and designing for field behavior—not just conductor paths—is essential to building efficient, reliable, and high-performance systems. 

Email:

Address:Michigan, United States

Chris of Renesas Electronics

Hour 2 – Chris Semanson’s first presentation features demos and builds a practical framework to use on the bench and in the chamber. It starts by showing how energy moves through a system: conductively through return paths and impedances, and electromagnetically through capacitive, inductive, and radiated paths. Then problems are separated by mode: common mode versus differential mode; the single classification that often points directly to the shortest fix.  A debugging methodology is discussed which centers around the EMI model: source, path, and receptor.  Then the most common conducted mechanisms are covered, including concrete examples and common remedies. The presentation then notes how to verify that the change addressed the issue.

Hour 4 – Chris Semanson’s second presentation covers near field versus far field coupling.  It explains reasons why fixes that work on some issues in the near may not work on those in the far field.  Also discussed is  how to recognize when a local magnetic or electric field interaction is dominating the behavior. The presentation lays out a field-tested debug workflow for when someone asks, “Why does the circuit quit working?” His goal is not only to explain how to quiet the waveform immediately, but to give students a repeatable method to identify the path, identify the mode, and remove the coupling with minimal impact. Chris explains the concept of parasitics.  The presentation shows how in practice, local capacitive and inductive interactions live in the near field, while true free space wave radiation dominates longer distances. Paths of coupling will be illustrated with demonstrations and equations.

Biography:

Christopher Semanson works at Renesas Electronics America Inc. as a Staff Power Systems Applications Engineer in Durham, NC supporting the design of PMICs and other power generation semiconductors in automotive applications in accordance with ISO 26262. He has five years previous experience in EMC Education at the University of Michigan, teaching EMC and Electronics with Mark Steffka. Semanson has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan Dearborn.  Chris recently authored "Coupling in Real World Systems"  plus more than 10 other technical articles on EMC for Compliance Engineering Magazine

Email:

Address:North Carolina, United States