We would like to welcome Sal Agnello as the new RABQSA International Director of Business Development. Sal Agnello comes to RABQSA from ASQ, where he worked in Market Development and Services. Sal’s background is in marketing, sales, and business development. In the past he has worked with three major corporations, (Johnson Controls, WI Energy, and Invensys). He is a former US Army officer in the area of logistics and engineering. He has been a part time faculty member in marketing at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), and at Marian University.
Departments having responsibility for iNARTE question pool maintenance, exam development and new program development will report to Sal.
LOOKING BACK ON THE ESDA SYMPOSIUM
Although attendance was a little below that of recent years, this event was supported enthusiastically by attendees and exhibitors, and the venue itself was worth the visit.
During the symposium we were able to renew our formal Agreement for mutual support and cooperation, but this time under our new identity as a Certification Brand of RABQSA. Members of the RABQSA psychometrics and examination development team were with us in Tucson and we had a very productive meeting with the ESDA Technical Committee who support the iNARTE certification program. In the near future RABQSA will be conducting a job analysis survey with the intent of determining if the current iNARTE examination subjects are appropriate in today’s environment, and how changes to our exam structure might make it more appropriate as an evaluation of the knowledge mix that industry is looking for.
WHAT’S NEXT
If it’s November it must be Product Safety month. Yes, we are just about at the end of the US symposium season, and this year the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society holds its annual symposium in Portland, Oregon, another place that is worth a visit even without the symposium.
This society targets design professionals and design engineers interested in electrical product safety. The IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society addresses safety engineering for equipment and devices used in the scientific, engineering, industrial, commercial and residential arenas. It is interesting to note that this year the symposium is focused on Product Compliance Engineering, and an EMC track is featured each day of the event.
If consumers were questioned about what is important to them when selecting a product having electrical or electronic components, the safety of that product would be quite high on their list. Safety is certainly one of the key marketing strategies for the automotive industry and is being featured more and more frequently in other fields. SO WHY ARE THERE NOT MORE PRODUCT SAFETY ENGINEERS? Since its foundation as a new professional society of the IEEE in June 2003, the PSES has struggled for existence. There is considerable support for the society from a number of sister groups within the IEEE, but actual membership has been slow to develop. iNARTE has been affiliated with the PSES since 2004, offering the credentialing of engineers and technicians in product safety disciplines. However, eight years later we have less than 350 current certificate holders, almost equally spread between Japan and the North Americas. There is just one certified engineer in China, one in Taiwan, one in Australia and one in Switzerland. Considering all the products we buy from China, that one guy must be really busy.
Maybe our understanding of the knowledge and experience requirements for Product Safety Engineers and Technicians is missing the mark for today’s manufacturing environment. Maybe we need a better understanding of what a Product Safety professional does every day, and by so doing we could craft our credentialing requirements and our examination subjects to better match what industry expects of them. Such an understanding will add value to this certification for both employers and employees.
Whether or not you hold an iNARTE certificate in any of our disciplines, if you are associated or concerned in any way with Product Safety from design through manufacturing to final test, please visit and complete our on line JOB ANALYSIS SURVEY at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PSiNARTE
The results of this survey will be shared with the IEEE PSES in order that we can both be more responsive to industry needs and to the professionals that work in this discipline.
THE NEW WIRELESS DEVICE CERTIFICATION PROFESSIONAL, WDCP
The first applications and examinations for this new credential were featured during October at the Telecommunications Certification Body Council, (TCBC), workshops held at the Holiday Inn – Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. The TCBC workshops have great participation from the FCC through their continuing evolution of the Knowledge Database (KDB) documents, providing information and guidance on the testing of devices subject to the FCC Rules. The iNARTE WDCP examinations featured a number of questions related to the FCC KDB documents.
Congratulations to all our examinees who demonstrated their knowledge of EMC fundamentals and wireless device specifics, by passing this first iNARTE examination.
If you were not able to attend the TCBC workshops or the iNARTE examination, you can register for the examination at any time and at any of the Authorized Test Centers listed on our web site, www.narte.org.
Also remember that if you already hold an iNARTE certificate as an EMC engineer or technician, we will waive the Part 1 examination on EMC fundamentals and you can just take Part 2 on wireless device certification subjects. 
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Last month we asked:
Let H and E be the Phasors corresponding to a plane wave at some point in space, and H* and E* are the complex conjugates of H and E. How would you calculate the average power density in this plane wave?
The answer choices were:
A) Real (E × H*)
B) Real (E × H*)/2
C) Real (E × E*).
D) Real (H × H*).
E) Real (E × E*)/2Z, (where Z is the impedance of the medium).
The correct answer is (B) Real (E × H*)/2
Since the Phasor is defined as a function of the peak value of a sinusoidal quantity, the correct answer is (B). Since E/Z = H, answer (E) is also correct, but only when Z is real. Thus, only (B) is always correct, making (B) the correct answer.
This month’s question is from the Product Safety pool:
Choose one of the following parts that is permitted to be in contact with a test finger in the accessibility test.
A) An uninsulated part of an ELV circuit.
B) An uninsulated part of an TNV circuit.
C) An uninsulated part of a limited-current circuit.
D) Any parts separated by functional insulation or basic insulation.
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Brian Lawrence began his career in electromagnetics at Plessey Research Labs, designing ”Stealth” materials for the British armed services. In 1973 he moved to the USA and established a new manufacturing plant for Plessey to provide these materials to the US Navy. In 1980 he joined the Rayproof organization to develop an Anechoic Chamber product line. As a result of acquisitions Rayproof merged into Lindgren RF Enclosures and later into ETS-Lindgren. Following a career of more than 40 years in the EMC field, Brian retired as Managing Director of ETS-Lindgren UK in 2006. Later that year he assumed the position of Executive Director for the National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers. NARTE. Now renamed iNARTE, the Association has expanded its operations and in 2012 merged with RABQSA International, a subsidiary of the American Society for Quality, ASQ. Brian remains associated with RABQSA through this merger process. |
