Blog
Hardware Returns to Silicon Valley
In recent years, software has been king in Silicon Valley. Now the pendulum is swinging back, and hardware is taking center stage again, says Bloomberg Businessweek. The strongest evidence is the tablet war, which has been dominated by Apple’s iPad. Now, however, all the big players are piling in. Within two weeks of each other,... Read More
China CCC Product Safety Compliance for A/V & IT Equipment is Changing
Audio/video equipment and information technology equipment intended for sale in China must meet new China Compulsory Certification (CCC) product safety requirements starting in November and December, respectively. In February, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) Technical Committee for High Tech Industry finalized the certificate update instructions for both GB8898 (Audio, Video and Similar... Read More
Verizon NEBS ITL Lab Meeting Features Personnel & Requirements Changes
Verizon’s annual NEBS meeting in Baltimore, Maryland with ITL Labs was last week, and MET Labs’ NEBS guru Troy Franklin was there. Following are highlights from his notes. NEBS Personnel Changes Verizon NEBS Program Head Howard Davis has exited the NEBS group, assuming leadership of Verizon’s Optical Systems Testing team in Baltimore. Andy Marquis, from... Read More
Military EMC Testing Standard MIL-STD-461G is Coming
A draft of Revision G of MIL-STD-461 has not been released yet, but MET Labs has obtained information about proposed changes to the Military EMC test. As covered in this previous post, one of the primary changes is the incorporation of indirect lightning testing heavily leveraged off of Section 22 of RTCA/DO-160G. There is no... Read More
CTIA Meeting Addresses Updates to Battery Certification Program
In March, MET Labs attended a CTIA Battery Certification Program meeting at Verizon Wireless in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The meeting was attended by carriers (AT&T and Verizon), CTIA-Approved Test Labs (CATLs) and a few vendors. The focus of the meeting was to address pending issues and update the battery certification program requirements and management documents.... Read More
EU Updates ATEX, Medical, R&TTE & Machinery Directives for CE Marking
The European Commission has been busy updating lists of European harmonized standards for various product directives. Here are the updates to the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union, looking back from the most recent: May 4, 2012 – Updates to the ATEX Directive (94/9/EC), the European CE directive that applies to equipment used in... Read More
IECEE Suspends Brazil NCBs and CBTLs from CB Scheme
Effective last month, Brazilian National Certification Bodies (NCBs) and CB Testing Laboratories (CBTLs) have been suspended from the IECEE CB Scheme. This is the first time that the IECEE has suspended a member. The suspension is attributed to additional accreditation requirements of Brazil’s regulatory authority, the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO). INMETRO requires... Read More
Health Canada Provides Guidance on IEC 60601-1 3rd Edition Transition
For Medical Electrical Equipment product safety compliance in Canada, Health Canada currently recognizes both the second edition of IEC 60601-1, published in 1988, and the third edition, published in 2005. In October, 2008, Health Canada published a notice indicating that until June 1, 2012, conformity to the second edition of IEC 60601-1 and its related... Read More
FCC Issues Draft Revisions for RF Exposure & SAR Compliance
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued draft revisions to six Knowledge Database (KDB) publications for RF exposure and SAR compliance. They are: KDB Publication 447498 – General RF Exposure Policies for Equipment Authorization Draft revision Existing publication KDB Publication 941225 – SAR Evaluation Considerations for LTE Devices Draft revision Existing publication KDB Publication... Read More
ENERGY STAR Merges Lighting Scopes into New Luminaires & Lamps Specifications
Although this year marks the 20th anniversary of the ENERGY STAR program, lighting was a bit late to the party. It wasn’t until 15 years ago that residential light fixtures got their first ENERGY STAR specification, and 13 years ago that compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) did. ENERGY STAR lighting continues to evolve. Following are some... Read More
