EMC Standards Activity

Standards Happenings in Germany!
In May, the EMC Society Board of Directors accepted the kind invitation of Professor Heyno Garbe of the University of Hannover to hold its Board series of meetings in Hannover, Germany. Part of that week’s activities were two special EMCS standards events arranged by Professor Garbe. The first was a workshop presented at the University on the IEEE standardization process and the second was a meeting of the Society’s Standards Development Committee (SDCom).
Because of the special efforts of Professor Garbe, your editor asked if he would contribute to the Standards Activity column in our Newsletter. He graciously accepted. What follows is his report on both the workshop presented by your editor and the SDCom meeting chaired by Stephen Berger.

The attendees at the special Standards Workshop held at the University of Hannover in Germany.

Don Heirman, President of the IEEE Standards Association and EMC Society for Standards, lectures at the Standards Workshop held in Germany.

Report on the Workshop: IEEE Standards Association and Standards Development Process
By Heyno Garbe, University of Hannover, Germany
On May 16, 2006 the Board of Directors of the IEEE EMC Society held a meeting in Hannover, Germany. The Board of Directors wanted to show that they take the globalization process in the IEEE seriously and scheduled for the first time such a Board of Directors meeting in Germany. Three goals were formulated for this meeting: First to get in personal con-tact with the members of the German chapter, second to demonstrate the workings of the Board of Directors and, third, to get information about the typical situation of a chapter outside the US.
It is well known that many prominent persons are members of the Board of Directors. One of them is Don Heirman, a leading person in the international standardization community. In addition, he is the Vice President for Standards of the EMC Society, President of the IEEE Standards Association (SA), chairman of the SA Board of Governors, Chair of Subcommittee A of the IEC/CISPR, member of the IEC’s Advisory Committee on EMC (ACEC) and the Technical Management Committee of the US National Committee of the IEC. As he was in Germany for the Board of Directors meeting, he offered to the local host of the Board of Directors meeting, Heyno Garbe, to give a workshop on the standardization process in the IEEE and its relationship to international activities.
Heyno was very happy about this kind offer and organized this workshop at the University of Hannover. On May 16, people attended from different groups such as the IEEE German EMC Chapter, IEEE Student Branch, faculty of the electrical engineering department as well as others who are involved in the national standardization process.
Don’s intention was to show the general process of standardization development in the IEEE and the special links to the IEC. This was a good fit to the expectations of the audience. First, he showed how the Standards Association (SA) fits in the overall IEEE structure and what the special tasks are. It was very interesting to see the wide spectrum of the SA activities. These cover the group of reference standards, safety standards, emerging technologies and others. The presented theoretical structure was explained with different examples from reality.
Being that this meeting was outside the US, Don set an important point on the topic of international cooperation. He explained the cooperation of the IEEE SA with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It was very important for the audito-rium to see how the IEEE standards affect the standardization process on the international level.
Last, but not least, Don Heirman explained the standard development process within the SA. He strongly encouraged the auditorium to take part in it. The SA needs the help of volunteers, who bring in their special knowledge of the actual subject. Every-one has the chance to influence the standards in a democratic way. There is no excuse for a bad standard. Everyone has the chance to drive the development process in the right direction.
Sometimes people say that dealing with standards is boring and a waste of time. They never attended a presentation from Don Heirman! After the workshop, all commented that he provided a lot of new and helpful information. As an example, Professor Jobmann stated after the workshop, “I’m working on mobile communication and have to deal with a lot of IEEE standards in this field. Now, I have the personal contacts to get information from the source.”

Signage for the Standards Workshop was clearly posted on campus at the University of Hannover.

Report on the SDCom Meeting
(Augmented by the editor who attended the full SDCom meeting)
After the standards workshop described above, the attendees were invited to join the meeting of the IEEE EMC Standards Development Committee (SDCom). This provided a very good experience to the see the working of the structure learned in the workshop before. There were the usual meeting discussions continuing the focus on such topics as software defined (cognitive) radio and related standards activity in the committee and with other liaisons being established. One of the attendees from Germany requested that the SDCom review the work his organization was doing on EMC activity in the chemical industry. This again was a fresh idea that piqued the interest of the SDCom members present.
Not to go hungry, sandwiches were served for the attendees of the workshop as well as the SDCom meeting. Since the meetings were on two different floors of the building, we are sure that some had a chance to get a second sandwich. But who was counting as in any case it was a nice touch for all those that turned out for these events.
This report must end with a very big “Thank You” to Don Heirman. It was very nice to have him in Germany and to establish personal contact to “Mr. IEEE Standards.”
Editors Note: The editor wants to add his personal thanks to Professor Garbe for arranging the workshop and for encouraging so many to attend, including students that are, after all, the next “life blood” of our Society and our standards work. He was a most gracious host in even transporting me to the University, which if I had to do it on my own, I might still be searching for the building. EMC