Power Line Communication Limits and methods of measurement draft Part 1

Draft standard EN 50561-1 Power line communication apparatus used in low voltage installations up for public inquiry. The following links point to further information on this upcoming test specification.

http://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/Home/Project/201100247

http://iaru-r1.org/pipermail/wg_iaru-r1.org/attachments/20110204/9a94f73f/attachment-0007.doc

http://www.cenelec.eu/dyn/www/f?p=104:110:1624662092856985::::FSP_PROJECT,FSP_LANG_ID:23145,25

---Correction 7/21/11

This draft European Standard is submitted to CENELEC members for formal vote, not public inquiry. Deadline for voting: 2011-08-26.

The standard has a  +6 month date of announcement, a +12 month date of publication, and a +36 month date of withdrawal . The +36 month dow  is subject to change during voting.

---

By: J Klinger

Radio interference from LED lighting

Image via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2007-07-24_High-power_light_emitting_diodes_(Luxeon,_Lumiled).jpg

Interference reports suspecting LED lighting products, emitting electromagnetic energy, causing problems with VHF radios and other receivers are nothing new, just do a Google search and you’ll find complaints of such problems. These complaints are few and scattered, possibly due to the lack of mainstream adoption of LED lighting, but that is all about to change.

Many regions have, or are adopting, rules aimed at reducing waste from lighting products, from toxic substances such as mercury, as well as overall power consumption reduction of lighting products. A growing trend around the globe is the general phase-out of incandescent bulbs.

While CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) are far more efficient in terms of power consumption than traditional incandescent lighting, like all fluorescent lights, they contain mercury, a toxic substance, thus complicating disposal and presenting an environmental hazard.

An alternative to CFL is LED lighting, or Light Emitting Diode. Newer LED technology has the benefit of much lower power consumption compared to traditional lighting, as well as the reduced environmental impact, and, compared to several years ago; they are becoming increasingly more affordable. It has been stated that more than 50% of our electricity consumption for lighting would be saved if the efficacy reached 200 lm/W (lumen per Watt). LED efficacy reached 100 lm/W in 2010, and continuing the trend, they will easily hit the 200 lm/W mark by 2020 as predicted. Some companies claim that they have already attained this level of efficacy.

However, although today’s LEDs are capable of long life, and delivering high light output levels with very little power consumption, most need to be paired with a drive circuit to provide constant current sourcing to operate in our homes and offices, and that’s where the problem comes in. These switching drive circuits operate at increasingly higher frequencies, and in order to maintain the highest efficiency, and highest LED longevity possible, they also need to maintain very high slew rates. These factors contribute to the overall unwanted emissions from each individual lighting element, increasing the Electromagnetic background noise.

Electromagnetic Interference or EMI mitigation inevitably increases the overall cost of products by adding additional components to a design, or requiring a more complicated and expensive design and layout, and for low price consumer electronics, with very small profit margins, every penny counts. As EMI mitigation is considered by some as an unnecessary expense, it is often overlooked or simply disregarded. Proper operation and safety concerns also make engineering a quiet design more difficult and expensive. So the cheaper LED lighting will potentially be the most problematic in terms of interference, but they will also be the preferred choice for the average consumer, and therefore the most prevalent.

Couple the added costs with the lack of regulatory enforcement and oversight governing the EMI of these devices and you can see the potential problem this poses. Most of the interference may be caused by very high frequency emissions, typically in the 30 – 300 MHz range, and possibly higher.

In the US, most products capable of causing interference that may be used in the home and office fall under FCC Part 15 rules governing the amount of unwanted electromagnetic energy that products can produce, both conducted on the power lines, and radiated from the products themselves, to prevent interference to radio receivers and for the overall protection of the radio spectrum. For most products, compliance with these rules however is primarily based on the honor system, and requires that manufacturers be knowledgeable in the application of the rules and proper test methods. Common misinterpretation of the rules, may lead manufacturers of LED lighting to address only the lower frequency conducted disturbance, or possibly to consider themselves exempt from the rules altogether. This may only be addressed by the FCC when problem reports become widespread.

Europe has addressed, and continues to monitor, some of these issues, with the amendment of standards covering lighting product emissions, such as EN 55015:2006, adding emission measurement requirements from 30-300MHz. Confusion may still exist on the proper application of the harmonized standards, possibly leading to improper evaluation of electromagnetic emissions, and it’s questionable if the frequency range is high enough to cover some products found on the market today.

In New Zealand, a report issued in the summer of 2010 warns of the potential interference that LED lighting products could pose, and urges reports of any interference problems to the Radio Spectrum Management.
As LED lighting products enjoy mass adoption, it is possible that mysterious failures of everyday things we have come to depend upon such as remote controllers, baby monitors, radio receivers, garage door openers, security systems, just to name a few, may be just around the corner. This doesn’t need to be the case however, as the problems are preventable with careful consideration and a desire to do so.


By: J Klinger

Do you mind turning off your RF device please?

Image by James Provost via Flickr

According to a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) report issued May 6, 2011, “waiting for high level scientific and clinical proof that electromagnetic fields emanating from high frequency sources such as radar, telecommunications and mobile phones may lead to very high health and economic costs”.
PACE will be meeting in Kyiv on May 27th, and hold a debate, and intends to adopt a resolution on the issues raised in the report.
The report invokes heath concerns, in particular using examples of asbestos, lead, and tobacco, as mistakes made in the past when dealing with unknown health risks. The report also likens the potential consequences on the environment by electromagnetic fields with licensing of medication, chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals and genetically modified organisms.
The report recommends that an “as low as reasonably achievable” approach be adopted when setting standards or threshold values for emissions of electromagnetic fields of all types and frequencies. The report urges that particular attention should be given to protecting children, and “electrosensitive” persons suffering from a syndrome of intolerance to EM fields with a call to protect them from the unknown effects of electromagnetic waves by the creation of “Wave-free” areas not covered by wireless networks.
Mobile phones, DECT phones, WiFi, WLAN and WIMAX come under focus in the reports, with the call for microwave long-term exposure thresholds of not to exceed 0.6 v/m and in the medium term reduced to 0.2 v/m. The report also makes recommendations to; undertake risk-assessments prior to licensing new types of devices, calls for additional labeling and indications of health risks, produce warnings and recommendations to use a wired alternative due to the “unknown” dangers of electromagnetic fields..
The report proposes the ban of all mobile phones and wireless networking devices from schools and classrooms.

By: J Klinger

US Mexico MRA

Image via Wikipedia

A new US-Mexico Telecom MRA was signed May 26th 2011, indicated in a press release from the United States Trade Representative.

The agreement is for the recognition of testing laboratories and acceptance of test reports. Mexico will only recognize 3rd party labs. The agreement does not cover recognition of certification bodies. The agreement includes a transition period. Seven accepted  technical regulations (NOMS) are listed in Annex I of the MRA text.

The FCC OET is conducting 1st workshop for TV band database administrators

 

The Federal Communication Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology is conducting the first mandatory workshop for TV band database administrators. The workshop will be held on March 10^th, 2011, at the FCC lab in Columbia, Maryland.

Nine entities are on the list of conditionally designated administrators - Comsearch, Frequency Finder Inc., Google Inc., KB Enterprises LLC and LS Telcom, Key Bridge Global LLC, Neustar Inc., Spectrum Bridge Inc., Telcordia Technologies, and WSdb LLC. While all nine entities are required to attend, the workshop is open to other interested parties, the number of attendees will be limited however, and all parties attending must register in advance.

The workshop topics include 1) the construction of the database(s), including its contents, 2) sharing of information among the databases, and 3) the determination of available channels. In addition, information will be provided on the required security provisions and the database trial periods.

TV Bands Devices are unlicensed devices that will operate in the space between TV channels, at locations where channels are not being used for authorized services, or as is commonly referred to as the White space.

The Laboratory Division of the OET released an Initial evaluation of prototype TV bands “White Space Devices” in 2007, following up with a Phase II evaluation in 2008. The FCC first adopted rules for the unlicensed use of “White Space” devices in November of 2008, under a document titled FCC-08-260A1, Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order, in particular this addressed unlicensed operation in the TV broadcast bands and additional spectrum for unlicensed devices below 900 MHz and in the 3 GHz band, these rules were amended by a Second Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC-10-174A1, in September of 2010.

The rules require that all fixed and Mode II (portable devices with Geo Location capabilities built in) TV bands devices access a database to obtain information on the available channels at their location and require that all unlicensed fixed TV bands devices register their operations in this database. The databases will be privately owned and operated, currently by the nine entities listed above. Which database the device will use will be determined by the user or manufacturer of the particular device(s)

For updates to current FCC rules and requirements, please visit Compatible Electronics, Inc. on the web at http://CElectronics.com, or subscribe to the feed.

References

· DA-11-404A1 · DA-07-3457A1 · FCC-08-260A1 · FCC-10-174A1

· http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2010/12/06/2010-30184/unlicensed-operation-in-the-tv-broadcast-bands

FCC reminds the public that radio jammers are illegal to operate in the United States, and warns would-be violators of the consequences of selling or using them

Image by G0SUB via Flickr

In a News Release titled “FCC ENFORCEMENT BUREAU STEPS UP EDUCATION AND ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS AGAINST CELLPHONE AND GPS JAMMING.”  The FCC warns and reminds consumers that it is a violation of federal law to use a cell jammer or similar device that would intentionally block, jam, or interfere with authorized radio communications.

In a kind of public outreach, the news release by the FCC Enforcement Bureau explains what can happen if you use a cell jammer, why jammers are prohibited, and information on how to file a complaint alerting the FCC to illegal jamming device usage. A copy can be downloaded at http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0209/DOC-304575A2.pdf.

Additionally, the FCC Enforcement Bureau released a public notice in the form  of an FCC Enforcement advisory. The public notice warns of the strict penalties for marketing or selling jamming devices. Among the penalties, a fine of up to $112,500 can be issued for a single violation. A complete list of jammer enforcement activity can be found at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/jammerenforcement/ A copy of the FCC Public Notice can be downloaded at http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0209/DA-11-249A1.pdf

Compatible Electronics, Inc. operates a fully certified telecommunication certification body for radio device approvals in accordance with FCC rules, please visit our site at http://www.celectronics.com/us.htm or contact us with your questions about the wireless device approvals process and regulations.

By: J Klinger

IEEE EMC Society Standards Development Committee Withdraws as Cosponsor of IEEE BPL EMC Standard

http://www.arrl.org/news/ieee-emc-society-standards-development-committee-withdraws-as-cosponsor-of-ieee-bpl-emc-standard