Accredited Standards Committee C63

Subcommittee 5 - Immunity

Approved Minutes

27 April, 2005 -- Piscataway, NJ

 

1.  Opening and self introductions

 

SC5 Members Present:

Ed Hare - SC5 Chairman    

Joe Morrissey - SC5 Secretary

Steve Berger

Jon Casamento

Chrys Chrysanthou

Don Heirman

Dan Hoolihan

Victor Kuczynski

Werner Schaefer

Jeff Silberberg

 

SC5 Members not present:

Bob Hofmann

Herb Mertel

 

Guests Others:

Bob Delisi (UL)

Mike Windler (UL)

Bill Stumpf (DLSEMC)

Ken Hall (HP)

Colin Brench (HP)

 

2.   The draft agenda was approved and adopted.

 

3.   The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

 

4.   Mr. Hare solicited an invitation for vounteers for Vice Chair of SC5. There were no volunteers.

 

5.   The passing of responsibility of the maintenance of C63.15 into SC5 was discussed. It was generally agreed that once C63.15 is published, SC5 should take over its maintenance.

 

6.   The status of C63.24 and SC5’s help with C63.18 were discussed. C63.24 remains paused until C63.18 is written. SC5 will continue to contribute to C63.18 and, when completed, C63.18 will be leveraged as a template for C63.24 (non-medical device) ad hoc testing

 

7.   Mr. Berger presented a PINS entitled "American National Standard for RF Immunity of Office Equipment to General Use Transmission Devices with Transmission Power up to 8 watts"

 

8.   A motion to accept PINS and present to parent C63 committee was made and adopted.

 

9.   A discussion about patenting C63 standards was deferred to the C63 parent committee.

 

10.   Mr. Hare informed the group that S63-SC5@arrl.org is an email reflector for SC5, although no draft SC5 documents can be posted on the website and must go through the IEEE.

 

11.   Mr. Schaefer discussed the development of C63.22 –automation of emissions and immunity measurements for electrical devices - how to automate and avoid erroneous test results:

  • The current PINS calls for both immunity and emissions measurements, but the group has currently only addressed emissions.
  • With regard to immunity, WG decided to focus on conducted immunity (61000-4-6, 61000-4-3; existing guidance for user to automate immunity measurements (signal type, sweep rate, etc)
  • Currently four members in this WG.

 

12.   Mr. Morrissey presented an update on the activities of the RTCA SC202. This is an industry consortium tasked with providing recommendations to the FAA regarding the use of RF transmitting personal electronic devices (mobile phones, laptops with WiFi connections, etc) on board commercial aircraft.

  • Current activities of RTCA SC202 WG2 involve identifying and characterizing EMI issues due to passenger owned RF transmitters brought on and use on board commercial airplanes
  • Two potential EMI pathways: a) in-band interference due to spurious and/or out-of-band emissions with sensitive navigation / communication receivers and b) back-door coupling of RF energy to wire bundles or other elements
  • Current RTCA SC202 efforts have involved identifying and characterizing (on paper) common handheld RF transmitters (sources) as well as avionics susceptibility (victims) via receiver sensitivities and/or existing DO-160 immunity levels
  • Ongoing (phase 2) work involves defining path loss profiles for in-cabin RF signals, RF transmitter out-of-band and spurious emission pattern / levels, and developing a practical and meaningful test protocol for assessing EMI issues from specific RF transmitters (i.e., signal technologies).
  • The deployment of managed systems (WiFi access point or a mobile phone picocell for an on-board system) is envisioned, and the ad hoc test protocol would be foreseen eventually to validate the deployment and managed operation of such systems – likely as a standardized test that could be submitted to FAA.
  • The ad hoc test protocol has many complexities: many types of aircraft / avionics configurations; what level of margin should be applied, especially if a threshold value cannot be easily identified; must offer appropriate safety levels for airlines yet avoid policing by flight attendants and/or unrealistic RF transmitter product modifications; solution must envision operation of off-the-shelf mobile phones / PDAs, etc. Also, use of many mobile phone transmitters and/or WiFi cards vs. a test signal (dipole, signal generator, amplifier) to replicate multiple equipment factor and "light up" inside of cabin. Former option allows real spurious emission profiles, later option allows more practical testing as well as higher power to facilitate possible detection of an actual threshold level for EMI to work backwards from.
  • The RTCA SC202 group is working closely with EUROCAE WG58, and the two will plan to submit parallel documents / recommendations.
  • Action item to a) present SC5 willingness to assist (under C63 SC5) in the development of such an ad hoc test protocol, and b) invite SC202 WG2 to present at next ANSI C63 SC5 meeting to describe current efforts and possible synergy with SC5

 

13.    Mr. Hare called for volunteers to represent SC5 in SC2 meetings. There were no volunteers. Don Heirman agreed to function as interim liaison. He also asked that the definitions section from any active documents be forwarded to him for coordination with SC2 definitions.