| Inter-Society Activities |
Representative Advisory Committee (RAC)By David A. Case NCE, RAC Chairman |
There is no doubt that wireless has changed almost every aspect of our lives. At times I feel being wireless is just a more politically correct way of saying I am tethered. There is no doubt that the wireless revolution is well on its way through out the world and just as often as it offers conveyances it also gives us headaches.
When I attended the IEEE EMC Symposium years ago, the only effective way to reach me was by calling the hotel and leaving a message or have some one page me. I was away from problems unless I checked in or someone sent out the goon squad to track me down.
Now, while I wander around the symposium, my pager, PCS phone, and in my room my remote e-mail keeps me connected all the time back to the office in real time. No longer can I avoid the irritating phone call from someone who was too lazy to look up the information for themselves or could not wait a few days for an answer for a non emergency question.
Wireless also affects the way we live, go out of town on a family trip and if you have the cell phone in the car (just for emergencies), your leisure time gets interrupted by calls from the office.
However, there is some good news: the PCS coverage at the location for this year's IEEE EMC Symposium was spotty in some locations on coverage. I was so disappointed that I missed a few non-critical pages and since I was extremely busy, I did not seem to find time to check my e-mail regularly.
Once again it seems more and more wireless issues are cropping up at the show in special sessions. The FCC hosted an all day presentation on spectrum management, there was a special session on Wireless Devices in the Medical Environment, and RAC hosted a special session on RF Exposure from Wireless Devices. All three sessions had very good attendance, which showed a clear interest in the field of wireless.
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RAC
Chairman Dave Case of Cisco Systems (C) queries Mike Hart of Quantum Change/EMC
Systems (L) and Steve Berger of Siemens (R) for their opinions of where the wireless
EMC market is heading. |
The RAC special session addressed an area that has received unfortunately lots of publicity and most of it not positive. The session addressed a discussion of the standards for RF exposure both in the US and Canada and presented by members of the FCC and Industry Canada. We also had several speakers who spoke from the industry on the issues from Aprel Laboratories (Canada) and the Wireless Research Center at the University of Oklahoma. Lastly, we had a special guest speaker that was representing Bluetooth.
My disappointment from the Symposium was that there were not a lot of microwave test equipment systems being displayed. As we move more and more into the GHz bands for RF devices (and computers for that matter), we need more and more specialized cables, filters, and test instruments to perform the tests. With HP/Agilent pulling out of the market, the need to fill this void will be greater then ever.
This year the Symposium being in Washington, DC offered some of its own interests. Unlike the other symposia, this year the FCC booth actually had several of the engineers from the FCC Lab in Maryland present so one could ask questions. This seemed to be a big draw for those who had questions for the FCC staff.
This year RAC hosted a special lunch with the Standards Advisory and Coordination Committee (SACCom). My co-host this year was the new SACCom Chair Elya Joffe. We had an attendance of about 31 members including EMC Society board members. This was a roundtable event and everyone gave a quick update on his or her professional affiliation.
This year we added two new groups to report into the RAC and that is the R&TTECA committee and the Telecom-munications Certified Body Council. It seems slowly but surely RAC is starting to gain new memberships from other outside non-IEEE EMC Society organizations.
Elya Joffe was busy wearing many hats during the symposium (EMC Society Board member, SACCom host, speaker, and official advance delegate from the IEEE EMC Symposium to be held in 2003 in Tel Aviv, Israel.) I actually did not get to discuss any issues with him until dinner on Friday night when we both had a chance to sit and unwind after a long, hectic week of symposium activity. However, my pager going off interrupted that dinner conversation!
I hope to see everyone next year in Montreal. EMC