Standards and Compliance

Standards are increasingly important in our modern global economy – supply chains can be dizzyingly complex, and implementing the economic theory of comparative advantage has been more and more possible as the relative cost of transportation has declined over the years. Since the 1890s, the United States has been the world’s top manufacturing country. The world continues to change. Recently it was reported that China surpassed Japan as the second largest economy, and it is estimated that China will soon surpass the United States.

For over a year, the EU Commission has been reviewing the exemptions associated in the Restriction on the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment Directive.

Sellers and importers of Information Technology Equipment (ITE) must comply with a vast array of hardware regulations when marketing their products in today’s world. The scope of hardware regulations includes the following basic disciplines:

• Product Safety
• Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)
• Homologation of wired and wireless telecommunication devices
• Environmental
• Chemical

An Open Letter to the NAS team working on the project:  Electronic Vehicle Controls and Unintended Acceleration (TRB-SASP-10-03)

The professional opinions of Dr. Antony Anderson BSc(Hons), PhD, CEng, FIEE/IET MIEEE, Dr. Brian Kirk BSc(Hons), PhD, CEng, MBCS, MACM, and EurIng Keith Armstrong BSc(Hons), CEng, FIET, SMIEEE, ACGI

The electronics industry is terribly confused by the term Class 0. Particularly when it comes to electrostatic discharge (ESD) device sensitivity and how the term applies to factory controls designed to mitigate ESD. The confusion manifests itself through the many companies and engineers seeking direction on how to “become qualified to handle Class 0 devices.” They are seeking this information because their equally confused customers have imposed requirements on them to meet this mythical level of performance. Not only is Class 0 as a factory level of performance a contrived ideal, it is not a realistic or useful goal. Our purpose here is to explain reality and what is necessary for understanding device ESD sensitivity and establishing control.

CISPR 11 is the International Standard for electromagnetic emissions (disturbances) from Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) Equipment. The official title of the standard is “Industrial, Scientific, and Medical Equipment – Radio-Frequency Disturbance Characteristics – Limits and Methods of Measurement.” The premiere edition of the standard was released in 1975 and the latest edition (Edition 5.0) was released in 2009. The standard includes both limits and methods of measurement for conducted phenomena and radiated phenomena. This article traces the history and development of the content of the standard over the last 35 years.