EMC Standards Activity

US Homeland Security/ Voting Equipment Immunity Testing and Wireless Topics Reviewed
The Society’s Standards Development Committee (SDCom) has been recently presented a challenge. It was asked to review RF immunity requirements specifications for critical equipment used in US Homeland Security requirements. Equipment covered here includes truck/container scanners, not just personal scanning equipment. Also included in the request was to review similar immunity test levels that would apply to voting equipment standards, which are being used by the US Election Assistance Commission. The question was what are the best EMC standards to use as well as at what test levels? In addition, is there a need for test to failure rather than just a test level pass to ensure the failure mode is acceptable (i.e. no false votes or missed materials at a scanner). Further, there is still no easy way to define a failure mode as it depends on an operation knowing that there is a problem for either a person using scanning equipment or voting equipment.
The SDCom is now reviewing the immunity specifications to respond to the US agency with its recommendation as the committee believes that the EMC Society should get involved to the extent of drafting a test to failure procedure and determine if the equipment fails safe or in at least an acceptable manner such as an error message which means that a check must be made to see why.
The next study project includes the work on software-defined radio. IEEE standard activity revolves around the action draft standards activity under the number P1900 series of proposed standards. A meeting was held in March where representatives of the EMC Society Standards Development Committee (SDCom) met to discuss IEEE 802.19, which deals with co-existent or wireless local area networks, and other radio services in the 2.45 GHz frequency range. The SDCom chair, Stephen Berger, was in attendance and reported on an analysis method for determining when interference occurs in radio receivers occupying that portion of the radio spectrum. The receiver immunity is addressed in the P1900.2 draft standard. (Note: many IEEE standards that are directly related take a number after the main number by a .1, .2. etc. suffix). It should be noted that at the next day EMC Society Board of Directors meeting, the author proposed that the scope of the EMC Society should extend to in-band interference issues which heretofore has been solely considered a spectrum allocation issue. With the advent of software defined radio (SDR), which can operate on many different portions of the radio spectrum, interference to radio receivers, both in-band and out of band (not in the receive channel(s)), this scope expansion is needed for the EMC Society to stay relevant to this new technology. We will report the outcome of this challenge in this column when we have more information.
SDCom then approved a new study project proposed by Dr. John Chapin (Vanu Corporation), to develop a test method to verify that SDR is working as desired. Stephen Berger will prepare the documentation and lead the volunteer work with help from Andy Drozd, Ed Hare, and the author. This will require again further extension of EMC into spectrum allocation and radio receiver immunity issues. As mentioned above, the author presented the SDCom need for the extension of the EMC Society scope to allow SDCom to get into new technologies in the wireless arena as they emerge.
To facilitate keeping abreast of these new technologies and associated regulatory issues, SDCom approved in principle the establishment of an “External Communications Planning Committee.” There was a note of caution of any interactions that would have legal issues as well as possible conflicts that might arise with other standards developers. The first output of this committee will be to define its scope, which will be approved by SDCom.

Other Actions Taken By SDCom Included:
a. Approved a new PAR from Sabrina Sarto for IEEE Standard 299 (to be designated Standard 299.1) concerning the shielding effectiveness of small enclosures and boxes (having linear dimensions between 0.1 – 2 m at frequencies up to 18 GHz). SDCom member Bruce Archambeault volunteered to join this committee and work with Sabrina, especially in addressing the apparent gap of linear dimensions between 0.75 m and 2 m.
b. Approved SDCom to offer the Broadband Power Line (IEEE Standard P1775) access standards group venues to meet at during the annual IEEE EMC symposium or in conjunction with other EMC meetings. This work has much EMC activities and in fact has EMC in its title. The EMC Society is the co-sponsor with the Power Engineering Society (PES), which started this work. The P1775 committee is heavily represented by BPL systems manufacturers; hence the meetings are at BPL events. The SDCom believes that offering meeting venues at EMC events seems like an appropriate suggestion. Along with the PES and EMC Society, there is now a strong interest by the Communications Society. The SDCom encouraged a Memorandum of Understanding is written between the three societies so that each knows their respective roles in this activity. The first step is to have an MOU between ComSoc and the EMC Society and then approach PES to work out any further understandings of how to form operating procedures among the societies. Stephen Berger will lead the MOU activity by drafting these MOUs.
c. Requested that all standards working groups as well as the SDCom itself provide the chair of SDCom with budget estimates for meetings they plan to hold at the 2006 Portland EMC Symposium. These budget estimates are due to Stephen Berger by the time this Newsletter is published to ensure that the total VP for Standards budget is not exceeded. For our readers that usually attend these Working Group (WG) and SDCom meetings, the author suggests that you contact your WG or committee chair to confirm attendance. In this way, the cost for any food function can be more accurately forecasted.
ASC C63™ Meets in Piscataway and Announces Antenna Calibration Workshop at the 2006 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Portland
The Standards Development Committee of the EMC Society is a voting member of Accredited Standards Committee C63™ (EMC), which is noted for its standards on such topics as emission measurements, emission test instrumentation, compliance measurements of unlicensed personal communications systems (in the USA), and EMC of mobile phones used by the hearing impaired using hearing aids. C63™ met mid March at IEEE headquarters in Piscataway, New Jersey USA. The full day meeting focused on many topics of interest to the EMC Society including updates on the committee’s standards activity in the following standards:
1. C63.2 (Emission test equipment specifications)
2. C63.4 (Emission measurement method including measurements above 1 GHz)
3. C63.5 (Emission antenna calibration including the status of the 2006 edition)
4. C63.9 (Immunity of office equipment to radiated immunity levels)
5. C63.15 (Immunity test instrumentation requirements and non-standard immunity test methods)
6. C63.16 (ESD test methodologies and the status of the next edition)
7. C63.17 (Compliance measurements of unlicensed personal communications systems)
8. C63.18 (Ad hoc testing of installed medical devices)
9. C63.19 (EMC of mobile phones used by the hearing impaired wearing hearing aids)
10. C63.22 (Guide for automated emission and immunity testing)
11. C63.23 (Measurement uncertainty as applied to C63™ standards)
The committee is also discussing EMC of power line communication systems as well as specific test techniques for showing compliance of low power transmitters with in-band and out of band limits. These transmitters include classical narrowband emissions as well as broadband spectrum application.
Each of the seven subcommittees also presented short reports. Their membership was approved for the year as well. Finally, the chair (the author of this column) presented an announcement of a workshop on ANSI C63.5-2006 that will be held the Saturday before the EMC Symposium in Portland this August. The registration form and information on the topics to be covered are included in the special section on the 2006 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Portland in this Newsletter (see page 41). EMC
Dave Guzman Named Vice Chairman of EMC Society
Standards Advisory and Coordination Committee (SACCom)
Since July of 2002, Mr. Guzman has been involved in EMC consulting and contracting, doing business as RFTEK. During this time, David has participated in a variety of EMC projects involving design, testing, training and laboratory accreditation in the telecommunication, industrial controls, information technology, automotive and semiconductor industries. The variety of projects has allowed Mr. Guzman to obtain exposure to many EMC standards in these industries. Prior to starting RFTEK operations, David was the Laboratory Technical Manager and EMC Design group leader for the US division of Solectron in Durham, North Carolina. From 2000 to 2001, David was a Senior RF and EMC Engineer at RF Microdevices in Greensboro, North Carolina with responsibility for the development of EMC design practices applied to broadband amplifiers used in cable modems. Prior to that David spent a year at Nortel Networks in RTP, North Carolina as a Senior EMC Engineer involved in the design and testing of high frequency telecommunications hardware for compliance with worldwide EMC regulations. David was also responsible for the management and accreditation of the Nortel Networks EMC lab. From 1989 to 1999, David progressed from Junior Engineer to Staff EMC Engineer at Square D Company, in Knightdale, North Carolina. During this time David assisted in the EMC design and testing of multiple types of control devices including photoelectric sensors, programmable logic controllers, welder controls, variable frequency drives, and industrial networks. David also had the opportunity to specify, develop and manage the Square D EMC laboratory. David holds a B.Sc. from the University of Rhode Island, a M.Sc. from the University of Nebraska, and a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University. David has been a member of the IEEE and EMC Society since 1995. David also serves as Chair of the Eastern North Carolina EMC chapter, and is a member of the Electrostatic Society of America. David can be reached at dguzman@rftek.net.