As modern systems have gotten increasingly complex, there has been growing interest in designing for safety and reliability from the earliest stages of a program. Perhaps the most well-known standards for this are ISO 26262 for automotive Functional Safety and IEC 61508 “Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety-related Systems”.
We know that designing for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) early in a program is key, but historically, we’ve tended to encourage good design by imposing strict testing requirements on hardware. The idea is that you design the hardware to pass the tests, and it should perform well in the real world. However, there hasn’t been standardized guidance on how that design work should be done. We’ve also assumed that we can catch most risks with in-chamber testing.
As electronics systems evolve into more complexity, we simply can’t exercise every combination of modes and frequencies for emissions and immunity in any test campaign that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time. This makes design for EMC compliance and resilience even more important. Stepping into this arena is IEEE 1848, “Standard for Techniques & Measures to Manage Functional Safety and Other Risks with Regard to Electromagnetic Disturbances”.
Published originally in 2020 (when a few other distractions were going on in the world), IEEE 1848 has the following scope:
This standard provides a set of practical methods for managing functional safety and other risks due to Electromagnetic (EM) disturbances throughout the life of a product.
This includes all types of errors, malfunctions, or failures in products, equipment and systems that employ modern digital technologies (i.e., hardware and software).
For those looking for a way to bring some order to the chaos of how electromagnetic concerns are usually handled during program design (i.e, “not at all”, or “this has always worked before”), being able to point to an IEEE standard document may be helpful. 1848 aligns well with IEC 61508 and provides thorough checklists for a program to systematically work through the safety risks associated with interactions between complex electronics and the electromagnetic environment.
As mentioned in my article on the state of IEEE standards, IEEE 1848 will be renewing in 2030, and that renewal effort will likely start in the next couple of years. Given that it was brand new in 2020, we expect several years of adoption will yield a lot of comments from users and suggestions for refinements and improvements. We’d love to hear from you if you have used 1848 in your day-to-day work. And consider this a reminder that all IEEE standards working groups are open. You don’t even have to be an IEEE member to join.
IEEE 1848 will have a “continuity group” meeting at the IEEE EMC + SIPI Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina, August 18-22, 2025. The continuity group keeps members of the original working group engaged and monitors discussions on the use and usefulness of the standard so they’ll be able to hit the ground running when the renewal process starts in earnest. Consider joining the meeting if this interests you—either in person in Raleigh or online (if calling in, you do not need to register for the Symposium). The meetings will be hybrid, so check the final program of the Symposium for meeting information or contact me directly: standards@emcunited.com. We hope to see you there!
