The iNARTE Informer – April 2011

SYMPOSIUM EXAMINATION SCHEDULE FOR 2011

iNARTE has confirmed our attendance at the following key Symposiums during 2011. At each of these events we will be exhibiting, taking certification applications, proctoring examinations and in some cases hosting exam preparation workshops. Although iNARTE examinations are available all year round at our 200 Authorized Test Centers, these events offer candidates a chance to save the Test Center proctor’s fee, since all exam rooms are compliments of the event organizers:

• APEMC 2011 – Jeju, South Korea. iNARTE workshop on May 16th, examinations on May 19th
• IEEE EMCS 2011 – Long Beach, CA. iNARTE workshop on August 15th, examinations on August 19th.
• EOS/ESD 2011 – Anaheim, CA. iNARTE examinations on September 16th
• IEEE PSES 2011 – San Diego, CA. iNARTE examinations on October 13th

Remember that any and all of the iNARTE certification examinations will be available at these events by advance registration at http://www.narte.org/h/examregform.asp and clicking on the Special Event Location menu. In most cases we can accept registration at the event but this is not guaranteed.

We are still on track to introduce our new EMC Design Engineer Certification examination at the EMCS 2011 in August. Watch this publication and the iNARTE web site for updates.

The first iNARTE/ACLASS internal auditor training and credentialing, (iNCLA), workshop for 2011 will be in Alexandria, VA from May 17th to May 19th. Registration is
now open at http://www.narte.org/h/iNCLAConference.asp. This is an invaluable credential for all who have laboratory auditing and quality system management responsibility in accordance with ANSI/ISO/IEC 17025.

iNARTE QUESTION POOLS

A major challenge for us has always been the maintenance and upgrading of our question pools to incorporate changes to the industry standards and to reflect current measurement techniques and engineering practices. As all of you iNARTE members know, your 10 original questions are intended to keep our pools current. However, for every 100 that we receive only about 15 or so are suitable for use. Some duplication is inevitable, some we find are copied from standard text books, and some are just too simple, (how many ways can Ohm’s Law be applied). It is our intention to maintain the value of iNARTE certification so that all our members are recognized as experts in their profession and for this reason we need current and challenging questions. Questions that should be answerable by a competent engineer or technician within about 5 or 6 minutes, given that they have reference books and the internet at their disposal.

COULD YOU WRITE WINNING QUESTIONS?

Now you can help to maintain the value of your certification by writing questions for iNARTE and by doing so be eligible for an award. Each month all questions received will be reviewed by an independent team of experts and the winning question writer can choose from a number of awards: two free years of iNARTE membership, a $200 donation to a charity of choice, a $200 donation to a school or college of choice, or certification application and study guides at no cost if you are not yet an iNARTE member.

RULES OF THE GAME

Questions can be submitted by both members and non-members. There is no limit to the number of questions submitted or the number of months you enter. Questions should be original and in your own words. Questions are to be restricted to the disciplines of EMC, ESD and Product safety. In each discipline the questions categories can be found by accessing the applicable certification application form on the iNARTE web site. The questions are to be emailed to examquestions@inarte.us as Word documents, one question per page(s). Equations and figures are to be saved into the document. Each question should be formatted as follows:

1. The Question
2. Selection of four (4) plausible answers; A, B, C and D, only one of which is correct
3. State the correct answer; A, B, C or D
4. State whether question is intended for; Engineer, Technician or both
5. Estimate how long it should take to answer; (no more than 6 minutes is suggested)
6. Provide a Reference, (publication, standards, web site), where the answer can be verified, or provide calculations leading to the answer.
7. State the Category into which the question best fits, (select from options listed in the applicable iNARTE Application Form; i.e. Filters, Field Theory, Standards, etc.

iNARTE web site pages that contain question categories and examples:

• EMC Certification Application Form
• ESD Certification Application Form
• PSE Certification Application Form

iNARTE shall have the right to use all questions submitted for future examinations.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Back in the December issue we asked you:

What is the damping factor of a damped sinusoid with the following parameters?

1. Peak current = 20A
2. Current at 50% decay = 7A
3. Number of cycles at 50% decay = 4

A)  5
B)  9
C)  11
D)  14

The correct answer is B, from

This month the question is from our ESD pool:

A large piece of paper is left on top of an ESD control work surface. Someone sets a 15cm X 15cm tote directly on top of the paper. Given the following data, what is the capacitance between the tote and the work surface?

Data: ε of paper = 1.5, paper thickness = 0.05 cm.

A) 29.8 pF
B) 298 pF
C) 59.7 pF
D) 597 pF

Questions such as these could be award winners – why not try for one?