TRA32 TRaC_South openday3hi.jpgThis post is by Mark Heaven, CEO, TRaC

The Test and certification industry is always evolving. Changes in existing legislation, new national requirements and standards following emerging technologies ensure there is never a dull moment.  

Clients constantly expect us to meet their, often legal, market entry requirements now and in the future.  Whether it is new test equipment to meet the demands of a new technology or a new standard, or simply adding the capability to accommodate large test items in more of our facilities, we're constantly investing to stay at the leading edge.

TRaC offers a huge range of test and certification services, and so the investments we make vary from internal R&D to support the latest standards to providing more vibration systems and EMC chambers to accommodate a greater variety of equipment and products.

This post is by Alistair Bitcon, Military/Aerospace EMC, TRaC

Recently, I have been working my way through RTCA/DO160G, which is the latest revision of standard procedures and environmental test criteria for testing airborne equipment.

It's becoming apparent that the RTCA/DO160G working groups are favouring the stirred mode method for radiated susceptibility as opposed to the anechoic chamber method.

Although it's still possible to use an anechoic chamber for radiated susceptibility testing, all faces of the equipment under test (EUT) must be directly exposed to the test antenna, and if any face of the EUT is not directly exposed to the test antenna, the justification for this decision must be included in the test report. 
This post is by Joe Lomako, Business Development Manager, TRaC

The old maxim of "how long is a piece of string" when given as an answer to your question doesn't really help anybody. However, in the case of global approvals, we at TRaC can certainly give you a good estimate of how long that piece of string is and in most cases a good idea of the maximum length!

Many countries in which manufacturers wish to market their products will often accept test reports to FCC and EU requirements as part of the approvals process.  But whilst these reports may indeed be accepted there is usually still be an application process which must be traversed with the national authority, but having the reports already prepared goes a long way to speeding up the process.

This post is by Joe Lomako, Business Development Manager, TRaC

The world of approvals may seem daunting, but it needn't be, not if enough preparation and forethought is put into deciding in which markets you want to place your products.

Whilst demands change, any good approvals engineer is always ready to assist a manufacturer with urgent approvals requirements, but ideally the manufacturer should speak to their approvals professional ahead of when they wish to place their products on the market.
This post is by Simon Barrowcliff, Director of SafetyTRaC

I've just been updating some records against the latest version of the list of harmonised ATEX standards in the EU Official Journal.

However this version too will soon be out of date as a consequence of the July release of new versions of two key standards in the 60079 series at IEC level. The EN versions of IEC60079-0 Edition 6 and IEC60079-11 Edition 6 are already in draft and will be issued in the next month or so. There's also a version of IEC60079-1 due soon.

All these standards include substantial changes that will be of use to or impact upon designers of many types of ATEX equipment.







This post is by John Charters, Radio Product ManagerTRaC

I was interested to see a news story online recently revealing how residents of a Southampton street have been baffled by their electronic car key fobs not working in the vicinity, whilst they appear to work perfectly well away from the area.

It's generally recognised that the problem is being caused by interference from another RF source, jamming the receiver used by the fob. Ofcom, the government agency responsible for radio communications, has pledged to investigate the cause of the interference.

I can't help but think that if manufacturers had tested the key fob's receiver to the Class 1 requirements of EN 300220, i.e. the RX blocking tests, then this may not have happened!

See: Electronic car key fobs fail on Southampton street

Some previous Certification & Test entries:

* Is the transitional period from old to new standards too long?

* How Radio impacts our lives

* Automotive v Electrotechnical - The Standards Battle Lines are being drawn up

* No more interference!


* Meeting MET

* The impact of the new legislative framework on CE marking

* FCC Certification: The cost of making assumptions

* Choosing an EMC test lab

* First it was EN55022, now it's the generic standards requiring >1GHz emission testing

* How the UK helped prevent dangerous explosions

* Why some certifications need factory inspections

* Can Standards really be improved?

* What does a UKAS schedule mean?

* Improve temperature testing by optimising chamber airflow and distribution

* Which standard should I apply?


This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

October 2011 sees the end of the transitional period from previous versions of EN55022 to the latest version which now requires testing above 1GHz for the first time. At the same time (beginning of October 2011) the Official Journal of the EU listing the harmonised standards for the EMC Directive has also been updated.

Notable (and predicted) is the inclusion of both generic standards for emissions (EN61000-6-3 and -4).

Both these standards now include emission requirements above 1GHz in the same way that EN55022 has.

This post is by John Charters, Radio Product ManagerTRaC

It recently occurred to me how often we come across RF connected devices in our day to day life.  Consider a typical day:

•    You're woken up by the baby monitor signalling it's breakfast time!
•    You go downstairs to turn off the wireless burglar alarm.
•    You unlock the car using a wireless key fob.
•    You press a button to start the engine via a keyless RF system, only to be told the tyre pressure is low by the in-built monitoring system which uses RF to communicate this to the engine management system.
•    On the road, you come across temporary lights using dipolar radar to detect oncoming vehicles and RF control to change the lights.
•    You get into work with your access control fob and log onto the WiFi network.
•    Later, you leave the office and phone home from the car using Bluetooth handsfree.
•    Someone at home answers using DECT.
•    In the evening, you play games on your Wii using wireless remotes.
•    You also check your domestic energy consumption using your wireless energy monitor.  

This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

You cannot have failed to notice that there is a lot of activity in the world of Electromobility. This is the term for all facets of electric vehicles and the associated chargers and infrastructure. The current work is moving forward at two levels - strategic policy and test standards.

For the standards communities (and hence manufacturers) the challenge will be to decide if an electric vehicle is actually more electrical than automotive. This is a major issue since the test methods, limits and hence product designs will be different dependant on the standards used.
This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

I stumbled upon a section of the OFCOM website the other day and noticed that OFCOM no longer accept interference complaints from individuals or consumers - this has now been passed exclusively to the BBC and is essentially a web-based process that is followed to identify and resolve interference issues.

It appears from the OFCOM web site that the only interference issues they deal with are from pirate radio stations. Surely domestic users and pirate radio stations aren't the only sources of interference, otherwise we wouldn't need legislation like the EMC Directive?






This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

Many of our customers are surprised when we tell them that TRaC is affected by certifications and standards, even though we don't sell products. The EMC directive, however, addresses both apparatus and installations, and as our EMC testing chambers are installations, they need to meet EMC regulations!

We're currently building a new test facility, and some of the measures we have taken include laying out the many cables running in the building to reduce emissions and ensuring that our wired and WiFi networks will operate in the presence of interference.

This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

Looking at the sleek electronic product that you've just bought and wondering why design has improved so much?

Safety standards can impact many aspects of product design, and can even lead to improved aesthetics! Here are my top 5 examples of how the CE mark has affected product design:

•    Restrictions on touch temperature have driven toaster manufacturers to put attractive plastic cladding around the product
•    The requirement to stop fingers getting into electronic products drove the design of the ventilation grill on your Playstation3
•    Safety standards that prohibit sharp edges and corners mean that TV manufacturers need to adopt modern stylish case designs with rounded corners and edges.
•    Lawn mowers have been restricted to a minimum weight to stop consumers using them as hedge trimmers
•    The sound of mobile phones now gradually increases to avoid 'acoustic shock'
This post is by Mark Heaven, CEO, TRaC

Recently I gave two presentations at our North American Partner, MET Laboratories, annual customer appreciation seminar in Baltimore.

The presentations, 'Global Wireless Approval Regimes' and 'ATEX - v - Hazloc - v - IECEX for the potentially explosive atmosphere markets', illustrated how to best address compliance for complex products in global markets.

Attendees at the seminar had access to speakers in the fields of EMC, Safety, Reliability and Energy Efficiency, reinforcing to me how much can be gained from attending a compliance seminar.  They are one of the best ways of connecting with experts who are up-to-date in the diverse fields associated with compliance.

This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

The New Legislative Framework (NLF) became effective on 1st January 2010 and has received a lot of publicity about its requirement for Member States to increase compliance with legislation by implementing stronger accreditation and market surveillance systems.

Although it's good that a more level playing field is being applied across the EU, perhaps it's the framework's New Approach to technical harmonisation that is going to have the greatest impact.
This post is by John Charters, Radio Product ManagerTRaC

The FCC recently imposed a $10,000.00 fine on a company that was selling a wireless remote control in the USA that didn't have FCC approval. In this case the company wasn't one that was wilfully ignoring the law, but rather they appear to have misunderstood the certification process and had wrongly thought that the product had been certified.

The company had started testing before the product was launched, and the failure to achieve certification was due to a lack of understanding and several staff leaving, but the FCC showed no sympathy. In fact they stated that:







This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

What the most important aspect of choosing an EMC test lab?

The EMC test market is very competitive but what is the main driver to engage with one company rather than another?



This post is by Joe Lomako, Business Development Manager, TRaC

Smartphones are becoming smarter and this is increasingly being recognised by the medical community.

We are seeing an increase in medical apps measuring body parameters such as body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure and the recently released Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) standard is rapidly gaining traction as one of the best ways to link these devices wirelessly to the phone.

This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC

Whilst EN55022:2006 is only a few months away from becoming mandatory for products covered within its scope, we now see the start of the product family standards being updated with the same types of modification.

The first of these standards, EN61000-6-3 (generic emission standard for domestic, commercial and light industrial) and EN61000-6-4 (generic emissions standard for industrial equipment) have been published in June 2011 and incorporate for the first time requirements above 1GHz.

This post is by Simon Barrowcliff, Safety Director, TRaC

Few people know that the UK pioneered ensuring the safety of equipment in potentially explosive atmospheres. In fact, much of the basis data for all Ex standards throughout the world was obtained by the Health & Safety Labs in Buxton in the late 1940s.

Hazardous atmospheres occur when there are flammable gases (including vapours and mists) or dusts present. The flammable material is the fuel that, when combined with oxygen from the atmosphere and an ignition source, can cause a dangerous explosion. This can happen in a wide variety of locations, such as oil refineries, chemical plants, saw mills, paint spray shops, mines and even custard power factories!

Due to the common heritage of the research at Buxton, standards around the world have many similarities. The UK's ATEX certification and the international IECEx standards are very similar, with only minor points of difference.

This post is by Simon Barrowcliff, Safety Director, TRaC

When you're manufacturing products that are to be used in hazardous environments, it's pretty clear that manufacturing processes need to be tightly controlled to ensure that the product that is produced today is as safe as the initial design that could have been developed several years ago. However, there are many things that can impact on a product's safety, including obsolescence or changes to components used in the product; purchasing from different sources; changes to the manufacturing process; and maintenance of production equipment.

So it's not surprising that certification doesn't end with achieving a Quality Assurance Notification (QAN) for ATEX certifications, a Quality Assurance Report (QAR) for IECEx or any other similar certification. The bodies awarding the certifications will also conduct factory inspections on a regular basis to ensure quality is maintained.







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Author Profiles

Jonathan Harros, ZigBee Business Manager, TRaC
Jonathan Harros, ZigBee Business Manager, TRaCAfter obtaining his Bachelor's degree in engineering, Jonathan worked for a number of engineering companies prior to obtaining a teaching role at the University of Hull (England). In 1995 he joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Digital Group specialising in regulatory requirements for digital telecommunications equipment. During his time at the company he has, among other things, been appointed as Senior Protocol Engineer, and Approvals and Homologation Group Manager. Jonathan has actively participated in various technical working groups for the ZigBee Allianceâ and is currently the ZigBee Qualification Group (ZQG) Lead Technical Editor.

Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC
Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaCSteve is Managing Director for the EMC and Safety business of TRaC and has been involved in EMC and product approvals for 19 years. In addition to the day to day running of the business, Steve is actively involved in EMC standardisation both in commercial and defence areas. In addition to being the UK Principal expert on EMC standardisation of Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) products he is also the convenor of CISPR/B/WG1 who has the responsibility of writing the International standard, CISPR 11. Steve wrote the CE marking annex to the UK's defence EMC standard as well as being co-convenor of CENELEC TC210/WG9, responsible for writing a guide on approval of military systems with commercial (CE Marking) requirements.

Joe Lomako, Telecoms & Radio Business Development Manager, TRaC
Joe Lomako, Telecoms & Radio Business Development Manager, TRaCJoe Lomako MSc is the Business Development Manager of Telecoms and Radio at TRaC. He has been involved in the testing and compliance industry for over 15 years. Prior to joining TRaC Joe specialised in EMC, EMF Exposure and Radio compliance.

Chris Stone, Test Manager TRaC Environmental & Analysis
Chris Stone, Test Manager TRaC Environmental & AnalysisAppointed Test Manager in 2007, following three years as Projects Manager at TRaC, having previously worked as Head of Environmental Testing at another UKAS accredited test house. Over 20 years' experience of modelling, testing and measurement in the structural dynamics and seismic fields.

Chris Rouse, Safety Product Manager, TRaC
Chris Rouse, Safety Product Manager, TRaCChris has worked in electrical safety compliance for over 17 years. Having previously worked for BSI, he joined TRaC in 1996, progressing through a number of testing roles before becoming Safety Product Manager in 2006.

Graham Andrews, Analysis Commercial Manager, TRaC
Graham Andrews, Analysis Commercial Manager, TRaCAppointed Commercial Manager - Analysis in November 2009. Prior to joining TRaC, he was the Business Development Manager at Onward Technologies, an engineering services company based in India. Graham has spent over 20 years working in the CAD / CAE domain selling both engineering services and engineering systems.

Stephen Tait, Senior Telecoms Engineer, TRaC
Stephen Tait, Senior Telecoms Engineer, TRaCStephen Tait joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Telecom Group specialising in telecommunications product testing for worldwide approvals. Stephen is also responsible for the Telecoms commercial activities within the TRaC group.

Simon Barrowcliff BEng CEng MIET MBA, ATEX Director, TRaC
Simon Barrowcliff BEng CEng MIET MBA, ATEX DirectorSimon Barrowcliff is the Director of the ATEX Notified Body at TRaC. He set up TRaC's Lancashire-based, ATEX business in 2002 and has been heavily involved in EX testing and compliance since then. Simon also runs TRaC's certification schemes for electrical safety under the IECEE CB scheme. He is a chartered electrical engineer with more than 20 years experience of product compliance for electrical and mechanical equipment.

Stuart Brown, Environmental Managing Director, TRaC
Stuart Brown, Environmental Managing DirectorAppointed Managing Director in November 2007. Previously he was Test Facilities Manager for Flight Refuelling, part of the Cobham group, and spent his early career in the Environmental Engineering Department of British Aerospace at Stevenage.

Brendan Wall, CEng IMechE, Sales Director, TRaC
Brendan Wall, CEng IMechE, Sales Director, TRaCBrendan was appointed Sales Director in August 2009. He joined the group in 2005 as Business Development Manager for environmental test services. Before joining TRaC he spent five years in Application Engineering and Technical Sales roles for automotive test equipment. He studied Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity College Dublin.

John Charters, Radio Product Manager, TRaC
John has been involved in regulatory testing and certification for 16 years. During this time he has run TRaC North West EMC lab and he took over as Radio Product Manager in September 2008. He has worked on all types of transmitter receivers and transceivers ranging from 600kW broadcast transmitters to 1nW short range devices, from both a regulatory and developmental point of view.

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