Compliance Engineering
Electronic
products are subject to government regulations concerning electrical safety,
electromagnetic noise radiation and electromagnetic noise immunity. For
telecommunications equipment, additional rules govern attachment to the
public networks to ensure that the equipment will work with the network and
that it will not cause harm to the network or to people working on the
network. Compliance engineering is a term used to describe the engineering
activities to ensure that products conform to these rules.
In each jurisdiction, the
rules are set in a dance between government authorities and industry
associations representing manufacturers, their customers, and insurance
companies.
United States
In the Unites States, the players are:
-
US Department of Commerce with
- Federal Communications Commission
Sets rules for how much radio noise equipment may generate (Electromagnetic
Compatibility) (47CFR15), and technical specifications for telephone
equipment (47CFR68). Rules issued by FCC have the force of law.
- Underwriters Laboratories
A non-profit partnership between major insurance companies. UL certifies
products as complying with relevant safety standards.
- Telcordia (formerly
BellCoRe)
Originally part of ATT, this group which sets standards for telephone
equipment other than individual subscriber equipment is now owned by
SAIC.
- American National Standards
Institute
ANSI is the sole U.S. representative and dues-paying member of the two
major non-treaty international standards organizations, the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO), and, via the U.S. National
Committee (USNC), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
ANSI T1 subcommittee is responsible for telecommunication standards.
European Union
In Europe, all of this rulemaking is centered on
Directorate General III of
the Commission of the European Union, which can be considered the Federal
Department of Industry and Commerce for the European Union. DG-3 rules are
published in the Official
Journal of the EU, which is published daily in 11 languages. (But note
that the online edition is only available for 20 days; after that, you have
to pay for archive copies.)
The Commission publishes
directives which are linked to "harmonized standards" issued by the
Commission on the basis of documents written by
recognized Standards Bodies such as ETSI -
European Telecom Standards Institute.
In order for a manufacturer of any kind
to be able to sell products, they have to comply with the standards. To make
them compliant, you must have the documents describing the standards. These
documents tend to be priced fairly high, allowing much of the work to define
the standards to be paid for out of document sales.
In principle, you can buy the
documents from the organization that prepared them. In practice, it is
usually simpler to get them from companies that specialize in providing
standards from around the world. One of the best source in the USA is
GLOBAL ENGINEERING DOCUMENTS.
Many documents are available
on-line, often for free.
EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility)
In the USA, EMC is regulated by
the FCC regulations, 47 CFR 15 sections 15 -
113
In Europe, the primary document is
the EMC Directive and its harmonized standards foremost among which is
EN-55022B.
RF issues are an area of special interest, and besides ETSI, good
resources are
Electrical Safety
The primary electrical safety standard for computer
equipment is IEC-950, implemented in the USA as UL-1950 and in Europe as
EN-60950.
Telecommunications
ETSI - European Telecom Standards Institute
In Europe, most rules are
developed by ETSI, whose offices are in
Sophia Antipolis in Southern France. Many of ETSI's publications are
available for free via this link.
BellCoRe - Bell Communications Research (an SAIC company)
When the
old AT&T was broken up, the standards-setting activity was placed in
BellCoRe, which was jointly owned by the Regional Bell Operating Companies,
who later sold it to SAIC. Although BellCore is a private company with no
special legal status, the telephone companies generally will not buy
equipment unless it conforms to these standards.
ANSI T1
Many functional standards for telecommunications are codified
by ANSI (American National Standards Institute). The best source for ANSI
documents is usually Global (see above). Examples of ANSI documents:
- ANSI T1.409 - E&M Signalling
Engineering to technical
standards requires test equipment designed to measure what the standards
require. For ISDN equipment, it used to be that you had to get the $40,000
K1403 tester from Siemens ... nothing has changed, except that the product
line has been taken over by Tektronix
(see it here in Tektronix' catalog).
Besides compliance, we
often look for other issues in "how to make our product work in country XXX".
Such issues may include power standards and telephone plugs. This site has
many good hints: www.kropla.com.
Revision history:
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Revision 1.7 2004/08/14 23:06:02 lars
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Revision 1.6 2001/02/05 20:28:11 lars
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Revision 1.4 2000/12/10 01:48:39 lars
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Revision 1.3 1999/07/16 01:09:36 lars
Added pointer to Compliance FAQ.
Revision 1.2 1999/06/26 22:17:43 lars
Site re-organization.