everything RF recently interviewed Joel Kellogg, the Vice-President, Global Sales & Marketing, of ETS-Lindgren. He holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a CBA from the University of Illinois – Chicago, and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He has more than 20 years of industry experience and is a member of the IEEE. He also participates in various industry working groups, including those with an EMP focus, and served as vice-chair of the GlobalEM 2024 conference held in Austin, Texas.
Q. To start things off, could you give us a brief introduction to ETS-Lindgren?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren is an international manufacturer of components and systems that measure, shield, and control electromagnetic and acoustic energy. The company’s products are used for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), microwave and wireless testing, electromagnetic field (EMF) measurement, radio frequency (RF) personal safety monitoring, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and control of acoustic environments. Headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas, ETS-Lindgren has six ISO 9000:2015 certified manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia that are supported by a team of more than 750 professionals worldwide. ETS-Lindgren’s parent company is ESCO Technologies, a publicly held company.
Q. ETS-Lindgren offers a broad portfolio of products along with specialized testing services. Could you walk us through the key solutions and services your company provides?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren's key solutions include turn-key systems such as anechoic, reverberation, EMC, acoustic, and antenna pattern measurement test chambers. We also provide related components such as antennas, amplifiers, absorbers, filters, positioners, probes, software, and turntables, as well as RF and acoustic shielding. ETS-Lindgren is proud to be a highly vertically integrated company with some 90% of a project’s materials being designed and manufactured by our veteran team. This ensures control over budgets and scheduling, which are important to our customers. Our key services include customized product and chamber design, installation/relocation of chambers, education, training, calibration, and maintenance services. Many people don’t know we offer A2LA-accredited calibration services not only for our antennas and probes, but for those manufactured by others as well. We offer specialized testing services in our accredited (NVLAP Lab Code 100286-0) Acoustic Research Lab. You would be surprised at the products that require sound transmission testing in our lab, such as vehicle windows and interior dividing walls in various environments. ETS-Lindgren is also unique in offering the services of a certified in-house building information modeling (BIM) team. Our BIM software capabilities help our customers visualize a project before it is built, so onsite installation runs smoothly with no surprises that can adversely impact budgets and schedules. Knowing how a project “fits” within a parent building, identifying all structural support, HVAC/utility access, etc., in advance ensures a project’s success.
Q. What industry segments do you cater to? Which segment is the largest for you?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren serves the EMC, RF Microwave, Wireless, EMF, Acoustic, and MRI markets. We are the leader in each of the segments we serve. I wouldn’t say we “cater” to a specific industry segment, as we have served these industries for decades, and they are each a large segment at any given time. However, I can say we’re paying increasing attention to our customers who require protection of critical infrastructure from high-power electromagnetics (HPEM) and intentional electromagnetic interference (IEMI). This is a distinct shift in looking at the use of electromagnetics as a weapon and using our expertise in shielding and filtering to provide solutions that protect against these threats. In addition, with the extreme weather conditions as well as catastrophic fires we’ve experienced, utilities and data centers are seeking protection since the loss of power and/or data is increasingly unacceptable and may pose a security risk.
Q. Can you tell us about the antenna measurement systems that you have developed? Can you tell us about the different solutions you offer and the software that controls them?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren supported the development of the industry’s first Over-the-Air (OTA) measurement plan and pioneered the world’s first CTIA Authorized Test Lab for mobile station OTA performance testing. Our unparalleled expertise and our full line of solutions for the entire wireless product cycle are why ETS-Lindgren has designed and built a staggering 80 percent of the CTIA OTA labs that exist today. We offer solutions for all stages of the testing cycle — from design and validation, pre-compliance, to final approval. ETS-Lindgren’s EMQuest™ EMQ-100 Antenna Measurement Software offers a wide range of fully parameterized test methods for measuring basic antenna performance metrics, as well as testing both radiated and conducted performance of various wireless devices. EMQuest EMQ-100 provides the flexibility to meet all testing needs. Additionally, EMQuest supports all major brands of test equipment.
Q. Can you tell us about your range of RF power amplifiers for EMC testing? What are the key requirements for amplifiers in EMC applications, and how do they differ from standard RF power amplifiers?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren offers a wide range of RF power amplifiers for any EMC test application. These amplifiers produce excellent output power levels while maintaining an efficient performance level. The key requirements for amplifiers in EMC applications include meeting the applicable industry standard for the application, such as IEC/EN 61000-4-3, and determining the watts needed, as well as the volts per meter performance requirement. For automotive and aerospace/military EMC testing, for example, the volts per meter requirement can be quite high. High reliability, safety, low distortion, and tolerance for 100% mismatch and safety are paramount concerns when selecting an amplifier for EMC test applications. ETS-Lindgren’s full range of amplifiers includes output power from a few Watts to 10 kW and a frequency range from 10 kHz to 40 GHz.
Q. Could you tell us about the absorbers that ETS-Lindgren develops? What sets them apart from absorbers that other companies develop in terms of design and performance? Have there been any recent innovations in your advanced absorber technologies?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren has an extensive absorber product line, with solutions for EMC and RF microwave applications. Workstations running advanced numerical modeling software are used to develop our absorber products, which are then prototyped and tested to validate predicted results. For quality control, each piece of our absorber is tested and serialized; we’re not aware of other companies that test their absorber so thoroughly. With ETS-Lindgren’s proprietary software, our engineers can model a chamber to show the best value in chamber dimensions with absorber placement and size to meet a target performance objective. Often, our customers have space constraints in the parent building where the chamber will be housed, so this modeling is extremely effective in providing a high return on investment. Of course, we perform test site validation to honor our guarantee of chamber performance following installation. Along with our standard absorber, ETS-Lindgren has the ability to create customized absorbers with special formulations and physical geometries to meet unique requirements. The year 2026 will be exciting for the ETS-Lindgren absorber, so stay tuned!
Q. What EMC test solutions does ETS-Lindgren offer for the automotive industry, and how does testing for this sector differ from others? Could you also tell us more about your work on the world’s largest automotive EMC test facility for General Motors?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren offers comprehensive solutions for automotive testing, including chambers, absorbers, antennas, positioners, probes, software, turntables, and RF shielding. The automotive industry offers unique challenges as we’re seeing an increase in the blurring between EMC and antenna pattern measurements. As a result, we’ve developed chambers that can be used for both EMC and antenna measurements. That means it is increasingly important to have a supplier that thoroughly understands and supports both types of measurements. Automotive test chambers typically are larger than those provided for other sectors since the automotive industry standards call for full vehicle testing — this can include a large passenger bus! For the vehicle to be tested in its intended environment, these chambers will have a dynamometer and specialty HVAC installed, which you won’t see in the chambers we provide for other market sectors. Some will have special battery test requirements for electric and hybrid vehicles. Regarding General Motors, that was a memorable project, not only for the large size and number of chambers, but also for the complexity of the design of the chamber and sliding vehicle entry doors. ETS-Lindgren provided a turn-key automotive EMC test system, including the chamber, doors, absorbers, turntable, and dynamometer as well as components such as RF filters, antennas, air vents, lighting, HVAC, and more. What makes us unique in the automotive industry is our continued active technical contributions to the Automotive EMC industry standards committees, such as ISO and CISPR/D. Our engineers contribute to the technology advances inherent in the revisions to these standards. As a result, our product lines are ready to meet these emerging test requirements.
Q. Could you tell us more about the range of wireless testing services you offer? Since testing tends to be a localized industry, how do you support a global customer base? Do you operate multiple labs or offices worldwide, and are specific types of testing carried out at different locations?
Joel Kellogg: While we have several OTA chambers in-house that perform a variety of testing for legacy technologies (2G, 3G, 4G, LTE) and 5G, including new testing requirements for NB-NTN, Wi-Fi 7, etc., it is our customers that really operate labs globally. This would include customers that perform product testing per industry standards, as well as perform development testing or production line testing. Therefore, we support customers globally through our design and supply of turnkey wireless/OTA solutions.
Q. Can you tell us about your global footprint and customer base? Where are your manufacturing facilities located?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren has manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Finland, China, and India that are supported by a team of more than 750 professionals worldwide, as I previously mentioned. This is significant to note as we are a truly global company that offers regional manufacturing and support to better serve our customers. Our customer base is extremely varied and includes aerospace, automotive, medical, and commercial companies as well as academic and government institutions. We provide test environments to validate the performance of all sizes and types of products, from a small cell phone to a large satellite or custom chamber for testing aircraft. We’re increasingly seeing interest in our products and services from the utilities and information technology sectors. As I mentioned, our customer base has expanded recently to include data centers, for example, that need to protect sensitive information from intentional electromagnetic interference. And utilities that need to ensure their power service is not adversely impacted by extreme weather conditions such as fires and tornadoes.
Q. What is your product roadmap for the next three years?
Joel Kellogg: ETS-Lindgren is at the forefront of technology in all of the markets we serve. Over the next three years, we anticipate new products in the antenna, absorber, positioner, probe, shielding, and antenna test system lines. In some cases, we will be releasing products to support changes or expected changes in test standards and in other cases, we will be releasing products that will improve the quality and efficiency of testing. Outside of test lab requirements, we have products in development for general shielding and healthcare shielding applications. As we have for decades, we will continue to actively support the industry standards committees to ensure our product roadmap aligns with emerging technologies. Many of our customers count on us to keep them up to date on test and measurement requirements now and in the future.
About ETS-Lindgren
ETS-Lindgren is a manufacturer of systems and components that measure, shield, and control electromagnetic energy. The company’s products are used for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), microwave and wireless testing, electromagnetic field (EMF) measurement, radio frequency (RF) personal safety monitoring, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and control of acoustic environments.
