Webinars

Electro Magnetic Applications, Inc. (EMA) hosts the Solving Electromagnetic Challenges series to explore proven solutions, emerging technologies, and engineering best practices for tackling today's toughest electromagnetic design problems.


Our next webinar is Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026

Lightning Certification, Reimagined: Simulation, Test, and Automation Under One Roof

Lightning certification has traditionally meant waiting until late in a program to find out whether an airframe meets its requirements. EMA is changing that timeline. Our portable lightning test capability travels to your facility, injecting the key waveforms called out in the governing airworthiness standards at low level directly into your airframe, giving you certification-relevant data on your schedule rather than a test range's.

But test is only the first step. Airframers need to know the lightning transients at safety-critical interfaces much earlier, while design decisions are still cheap to change. EMA's simulation tools predict those lightning levels well before hardware exists, and critically, we validate that simulation against your actual airframe (not a generic model), which is what certification credit requires. Once validated, that simulation becomes a tool you can use for both indirect effects (lightning's impact on electronics) and direct effects, including fuel tank ignition requirements, where EMA's dedicated ignition detection hardware identifies the certification level on your program.

Put together, this is what it means for EMA to act as your virtual E3 team: certification expertise, design expertise, simulation expertise, test expertise, and the equipment, software, and compute to back it all up, functioning as an extension of your own engineering team. And because EMA now builds on MCP APIs, we're the first E3 team that can automate your recurring workflows, simulation, data analysis, design review, so your process gets more efficient with every program, not just this one.

Join us Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. ET.

Speaker: Tim McDonald

EMA Co-CEO

Tim McDonald, PhD is Co-CEO at EMA. He is a leading expert in electromagnetic modeling and simulation, specializing in multiphysics solutions for EMC, power systems, and space environments. As a key contributor at EMA, Inc., he drives innovation in computational electromagnetics, developing advanced techniques for interference analysis, plasma physics, and high-power effects. With extensive experience in EMC Plus and Charge Plus, Tim has helped engineers tackle complex challenges in aerospace, energy, and manufacturing. He is passionate about bridging the gap between ease of use and high-fidelity physics, enabling engineers to model real-world electromagnetic interactions with confidence. Tim regularly presents at industry conferences, sharing insights into the latest advances in simulation and design optimization.


View our previous webinars here:

Installed antenna performance and RFI

Installed Antenna Performance and RFI

Topic: Installed Antenna Performance and RFI Presenter: Matt Miller, EMA Principal Scientist II Chris Maholm, Dayton Granger Director of Business Development Abstract: Radio Frequency (RF) systems represent one of the most critical technology areas today. Without RF systems, all types of vehicles cannot navigate, communication cannot occur, advanced weapons cannot hit their targets, and the […]

EMC qualification

EMC Qualification Analysis to Electric units

Topic: Analysis to Predict Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Compliance of Units and Devices for Suppliers Presenter: Tim McDonald Abstract: Tier-1 suppliers of electronics units for aircraft, automobiles, or other platforms must meet electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements. Platform integrators establish EMC requirements in order to ensure overall system compatibility. Almost always, the method of compliance to the […]

wind turbines

Using Simulation to Reduce Damage and Maximize Availability in Wind Turbine Applications

Topic: Using Simulation to Reduce Damage and Maximize Availability in Wind Turbine Applications Presenter: Justin McKennon Abstract: Lightning effects on wind turbine blades present significant challenges to manufacturers and operators. The industry is skewing heavily towards larger wind turbine blades and more remote locations, and these pose substantial logistical challenges in terms of accessibility, cost […]

Aircraft helicopter lightning strike

HIRF and Lightning Certification for VTOL Airtaxi

Topic: HIRF and Lightning Certification for VTOL Airtaxi Speaker: Giancarlo Guida Abstract: With Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) air taxis, the engineering community is once again called to support an emerging technology that could have an amazing impact on the way people and goods are transported allowing for safer and more environmentally friendly urban mobility. […]

Automotive EMC

Existing and Emerging Challenges Facing Automotive EMC

Topic: Existing and Emerging Challenges Facing Automotive EMC Presenter: Jonathan Nydell, President and Founder, JN Engineering LLC Abstract: Technical development has turned automotive systems into complex electrical and RF devices. Fully electric powertrains and the development of vehicle autonomy increases the need for active electrical components, complex interconnected systems, and the use of RF systems. […]

lightning striking an aircraft

How to Get Your Aerospace Platform Certified for Lightning

Topic: How to Get Your Aerospace Platform Certified for Lightning Presenters: Tim McDonald Giancarlo Guida Abstract: Lightning is a required environment for certification of many air and space platforms. The lightning requirement has a long history in transport aircraft. In addition, lightning requirements are often imposed on many novel applications including: Personal taxi aircraft Unmanned […]

Spacecraft charging simulations

Fully Coupled Internal Spacecraft Charging Simulations with EMA3D

Topic: Fully Coupled Internal Spacecraft Charging Simulations with EMA3D- Internal (now Ansys Charge Plus) Presenter: Bryon Neufeld Abstract: EMA3D®-Internal (now Ansys Charge Plus) is a fully 3D internal space charging software tool. It allows for a comprehensive internal space charging analysis to be performed almost entirely within a graphical user interface, including: sophisticated geometry import, […]

lightning aircraft model

Testing and Simulation to Achieve FAA Certification of Aircraft Fuel Tanks to Lightning

Topic: Testing and Simulation to Achieve FAA Certification of Aircraft Fuel Tanks to Lightning Presenters: Billy Martin Cody Weber Abstract: Failure is truly not an option when it comes to FAA certification of passenger aircraft. The bar for acceptance of testing and simulation is incredibly high. Would you like your engineering team to learn what […]

cosite interference

Avoid Costly RF Cosite Interference Before it Becomes a Problem

Topic: Avoid Costly RF Cosite Interference Before It Becomes a Problem Presenter: Matt Miller Abstract: Interference between RF devices is one of the biggest challenges in designing and maintaining commercial and defense systems. These systems include ships, airplanes, drones, cell phones, satellites, automobiles and generally, anything that has RF systems installed in or on it. […]

Space plasma EMC analysis

Comprehensive Space Plasma EMC Analysis Using a Single Model

Topic: Comprehensive Space Plasma EMC Analysis Using a Single Model Abstract: Space plasmas present many risks to space vehicles, ranging from antenna pattern distortion to surface charging to box level transient coupling. The modern use of ceramics and other insulating materials in space vehicle platforms makes numerical EMC analysis an important part of the design […]

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