The iNARTE Informer – September 2010

WHAT IS CERTIFICATION?
A recent IN Compliance survey showed that many readers wanted to know more about iNARTE’s Certification Programs and the process of Certification.

We have therefore decided that this issue of the Informer will be devoted to addressing these requests and providing answers to many frequently asked questions.

iNARTE is an independent credentialing agency that provides validation of an individual’s professional credentials in a number of specific disciplines. Individuals who demonstrate their ability to meet certain established criteria in these disciplines are awarded a Certificate attesting to their proficiency. For many professionals, this Certification step is the only way to demonstrate their cumulative knowledge and experience as a result of working years following their post secondary education.

iNARTE Certification is currently offered in:

• Telecommunications Engineering
• Electromagnetic Compatibility, EMC
• Electrostatic Discharge Control, ESD
• Product Safety Engineering, PSE
• Unlicensed Wireless Systems Installation, WSI
• Internal Laboratory Auditing, iNCLA

iNARTE operates under the guidelines of ISO 17024, as a result of which we do not ourselves provide training in our various disciplines. However, we can and do provide advice as to where and what training may be available. A number of training organizations and individuals have sent details of their training courses for our consideration. Those that we have found to be appropriate for the furtherance of education and understanding of the disciplines in which we operate are listed as Approved Training Centers on our web site. Appropriately most of these Training Centers will also offer their services as Authorized Test Centers.

WHO DEFINES REQUIREMENT AND THE SKILL SET?
As a general rule, the need to identify top performers within a discipline is created by industry or government needing to have confidence in their staffing decisions, their subcontractors or their service providers. As this need emerges, Certification or a similar professional credential is required. iNARTE then acts as a facilitator to develop, implement and administer the program. However, the following questions all need to be answered:

Is there a real and significant need in the marketplace to identify an individual practitioners engineering excellence?

Are there enough individuals working in the field to allow a large enough pool of top performers to be identified?

Is there a technology partner that can assist in the development of a suitable skill set by which to identify the top performers.

Many readers of IN Compliance will have interest in the EMC field, and iNARTE’s EMC Certification Program. For this discipline the above questions were answered as follows:

In 1988 a Command of the United States Navy identified a significant number of EMC problems within the fleet, resulting in the need to identify appropriately skilled contractors to implement solutions. Seeking a credible and respected certification entity, the uS Navy command selected iNARTE as the administrative agent for the certification of engineers and technicians in the field of Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC).

At that time the EMC community in the USA was extremely active. Regulatory standards for unwanted emissions and immunity against Electromagnetic ambients for both military and commercial equipment were well developed and had resulted in a significant number of practitioners entering the field with widely varying levels of understanding.

Many experts were already working for the US Navy and they in turn were easily able to identify a cadre of other acknowledged EMC experts, willing and able to assist in defining a skill set for EMC proficiency. The IEEE EMC Society was formed in 1957and by 1988 had grown to more than 10,000 members within which iNARTE was able to identify experts in all of the different EMC disciplines.

Working with the US Navy and other identified experts in the field, iNARTE developed a set of criteria for both EMC Engineers and EMC Technicians covering Education, Experience, Examination and Peer Evaluation.

The purpose of the iNARTE EMC Credential Certification Program is to foster technical “excellence” in EMC engineering. This approach established technical competency criteria for EMC and enforces these criteria for technical personnel performing EMI control work. The program benefits the individual engineer, the technician and the EMC community as a whole by establishing a standard of excellence in EMC engineering that will endure and extend across the boundaries of private and government agencies.

EDUCATION
Part of the basic requirement for certification as an EMC engineer or technician is a specific record of approved experience in EMC work. Part of that experience may be gained during post secondary education. An official transcript, the supply of which is the responsibility of the applicant, as defined in the following, must substantiate any experience gained by such study.

For an engineer:

1. Graduation in an approved engineering college curriculum of four years is equivalent to four years of the required experience.
2. Satisfactory completion of each year of such an approved engineering curriculum is equivalent one year of experience.
3. Graduation in a curriculum other than engineering will be evaluated by iNARTE.
4. Postgraduate study in engineering may be given credit up to one year.
5. Engineering teaching of a character satisfactory to iNARTE may be recognized as engineering experience up to a maximum of two years.

Similarly for certification as an EMC Technician:

1. Graduation in an approved technician curriculum of two years or US Navy Class “A” School is equivalent to one-year experience.
2. Satisfactory completion of each year of such an approved technician curriculum is equivalent to one-year experience.
3. Graduation in a curriculum other than a technician curriculum will be evaluated by iNARTE.
4. Technician teaching of a character satisfactory to iNARTE may be recognized as technician experience up to a maximum of two years.

All student credit from curricula approved by the Engineers Council for Professional Development are accepted. Students’ credits from other curricula than those approved by the Engineer Council for Professional Development may be accepted at the discretion of iNARTE.

“Watch for more information in the next iNARTE Informer”

EMC QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Following is a typical EMC Exam question that should be answerable by both engineers and technicians within 5 minutes.

The broadband impulse signal (the sequence of regular short pulses with uniform spectral density) is measured with a test receiver meeting CISPR requirements for the frequency range 0.15 – 30 MHz.

The PRF is 100 Hz. The reading of the test receiver with a peak detector is 60.5 dBμV. What would be the reading in dBμV if the PRF decreases to 2 Hz?

A)    26.5
B)    40.0
C)    60.5
D)    81.0
E)    83.0

The answer will appear in the next issue of IN Compliance!

UPCOMING EVENTS
Below is a table of upcoming iNARTE events.

Several other workshops are in the pipeline, so be sure to visit the iNARTE web site regularly to be sure not to miss those in your region or field of interest.