Government Shutdown impact on FCC certifications

Closed Sign in Yellowstone (Photo credit: bmills)

Preparations are being made at the FCC for the potential of yet another imminent Federal government shutdown if a funding bill agreement can’t be reached by Sept. 30th.

The FCC has indicated that in the unlikely event of a government shutdown, that access to all FCC systems will be suspended.

The Equipment Authorization system, used by the FCC and Telecommunication Certification Bodies (TCB) to process certifications and issue grants of equipment authorizations will be among such systems to go off line, thus having the potential to delay or halt pending product certifications and preventing manufacturers from marketing and selling affected product.

Google granted FCC approval for TV bands database system

The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has granted operational approval for Google’s TV bands database system, to provide service to the public.

The TV bands database system is designed to protect broadcast TV stations, fixed broadcast auxiliary service (BAS) links, Multichannel video programing distributors (MVPDs), private land mobile and commercial mobile radio service, offshore radio telephone service, radio astronomy at specific sites and low power auxiliary service.

Some operators must specifically register to receive protection from TV band devices, such as, MVPD receive sites, wireless microphone users and temporary BAS links.

Google’s spectrum database can be found at http://www.google.org/spectrum/whitespace/index.html

REF:

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0628/DA-13-1472A1.pdf

5 GHz band rules comment period extended

80211a-5-ghz-spectrum (Photo credit: sam_churchill)

FCC has extended the commenting period to July 24^th, 2013 on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) - Revision of Part 15 of the Commission’s Rules to Permit Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) Devices in the 5 GHz Band.

The above rulemaking will have a significant impact on unlicensed device spectrum use and affect devices that operate in the 5 GHz band, devices that use wide band data transmission techniques such as the emerging  802.11ac wireless standard for example. The complexity of the technologies embedded in such systems to deal with the spectrum utilization requirements can have a direct impact on the cost of such devices.

For a briefing on some of the proposed changes in the NPRM, see http://www.emcrules.com/2013/02/fcc-opens-more-5ghz-spectrum.html

The request for extension was made by IEEE 802 Committee and the WiFi Alliance to enable more time for review and commenting on technical and policy issues.  The FCC noted that comment extensions are not a routine practice, but given the importance of this proceeding, they found it appropriate for the development of a full and complete record.

REF:

ORDER Extended Reply Comment Date: July 24, 2013

EU EMC update Spring 2013

European Union as a single entity and the stars from the Flag of Europe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

EMC directive

New directive acceptance is taking longer than expected. Legal adoption is expected around October. With allowances for editorial and administrative action, the new EMC directive can be expected to be operational by year’s end. The “Blue Guide” is undergoing an update due to the changes and to take the New Legislative Framework (NLF) into account.

Power Line Communications

EU EMC consultant indicated that prEN 50412-4 is not recommended for listing in the Official Journal of the European Union at this time, and Notified Bodies are cautioned against using this draft standard for their assessment.  For history on this subject and background see An update on PLT, Power Line Telecommunications, in Europe and The last word on Power Line telecom (PLT) in the EU, EN 55022:2006 applies in full, maybe….

EMC Market surveillance campaign

On first analyses the EMC ADCO’s 2012 5^th market surveillance shows worse results than previous campaigns. Reports indicated; of the items sampled 1 out of 2 Information Technology Equipment switching power supplies fail the EMC technical requirements. The full report should be released soon, typically reports are produced in January of the following year and then posted to the Europa web site. The report on the bilateral Table PC campaign conducted by the Netherlands and Germany is also expected soon.

Next candidates on the list for EMC market surveillance are;

Power Assist Bicycles, Inverter or optimizer for solar panels, High Definition (HD) video recorder, and potentially a new LED lighting campaign to assess improvements over the 4^th market surveillance campaign.

(EMC ADCO) – is the European Administrative Co-operation Working Group http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/electrical/documents/emc/guidance/

What power should be considered “Rated Power”

When assessing product under 61000-3-2, “Harmonic Current Emissions”, what power is considered as the rated power, the one actually measured at the lab or the one mentioned on the product data plate? When EMC ADCO was asked this question, the following statement was provided;

Up to a power consumption of 75 W no limits for harmonic current emissions apply to most devices (lighting equipment excepted).

If the rated power is nearly (but below) 75 W procedure is stated in the standard EN 61000-3-2:2006 + A1:2009 + A2:2009 Clause 6.2.2:

“The value of the power found by measurement during emission tests other than the original manufacturer’s conformity assessment test, measured according to the terms of this clause, shall not be less than 90 % nor greater than 110 % of the value for power specified by the manufacturer in the test report (see 6.2.3.4). In the event that the measured value is outside of this tolerance band around the specified value, the measured power shall be used to establish the limits.”

ADCO CONCLUSION

Rated power below 75 W, measured value of rated power is within 90 to 110% of the displayed rated power of the manufacturer

Take rated power from data plate

Rated power below 75 W, rated power not stated at data plate or measured value of rated power is outside 90 to 110%

Take measured rated power from test laboratory

EMC Standards

CISPR 32 has now been published. EN55032 could become mandatory mid 2017

EN55022 and EN 55024 2010 mandatory December 2013

New FCC ID format could make searching IDs difficult

Starting tomorrow, May 1^st, 2013, the FCC will begin issuing new grantee codes as five character codes. Existing 3 character codes will still be valid, but new codes as of tomorrow will be in the 5 character format.  An earlier post describes why the change to the 5 character system. See FCC running out of Grantee codes.

Now that grantee codes could be both 3 character and 5 character, for those who use the Equipment Authorization Database search to lookup FCC IDs, it could be difficult at first getting use to the new system. How do you know if it’s a 3 character code or a 5 character code just by looking at the ID?

Example;

FCC ID: 2AA567SAMPL

FCC ID: G777SAMPLE500

Here’s a tip.

3 or 5 character grantee code? To tell;

1. if it starts with a number, it’s a 5 character code

2. if it starts with a letter, it’s a 3 character code.

The use of 1 and 0 is excluded, to avoid confusion with the letters i and o.

I don’t know if this visual would work the same for you, but what I do is picture a telephone keypad, it kind of looks like a # symbol with the number 5 in the middle;

 

 

# = Number so 5 starts with number. Silly, but it works for me.

So for the example above; 2AA56 is the 5 character code (starts with a #) and G77 is the 3 character code (starts with a letter).

REF:

Released: 04/09/2013. OFFICE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY TO BEGIN ISSUING FIVE-CHARACTER GRANTEE CODES FOR CERTIFIED RADIOFREQUENCY EQUIPMENT. (DA No. 13-669)

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-13-669A1.pdf

Many new FCC draft publications released this week

Preceding the spring TCB training session this week, the FCC released a number of draft publications that will have an impact on a wide range of product. Links to the drafts can be found at https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/kdb/reports/PublishedDocumentList.cfm

941225 D07 UMPC Mini Tablet Devices v01r01 DR09-41372
941225 D06 Hot Spot SAR v01r01 DR08-41372
941225 D05 SAR for LTE Devices v02r02 DR07-41372
941225 D02 Guidance for 3GPP R6 and R7 HSPA v02r02 DR06-41372
935210 D02 Signal Boosters Certification v01 DR02-41372
935210 D01 Signal Booster Definitions v01 DR01-41372
971168 D01 Power Meas License Digital Systems v02 DR02-41372
680106 D01 RF Exposure Wireless Charging Apps v02 DR02-41372
865664 D02 SAR Reporting v01r01 DR05-41372
865664 D01 SAR measurement 3 to 6 GHz v01r01 DR04-41372
662911 D01 Appendix I of D01 Multiple Transmitter Output v01 DR03-41372
662911 D01 Multiple Transmitter Output v02 DR02-41372
648474 D03 Handset Wireless Battery Chargers v01r02 DR03-41372
648474 D04 SAR Handsets Multi Xmiter and Ant v01r01 DR04-41372
616217 SAR for laptop and tablets DR03-41368
447498 D01 General RF Exposure Guidance DR03-41369
200443 D02 Millimeter Wave Testing DR01-41369

Jamming employee cell phones can cost

The FCC issued several notices of apparent liability, in amounts exceeding $120,000 for illegal cell jammer use.

In the referenced Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL), anonymous complaints resulted in immediate investigation of companies employing cell jammers to block cellular communications. Upon investigation by FCC field agents, the companies were found to be using broadband cell signal jammers, illegally shipped from overseas. In one case it was noted the jammers had been installed following a "near miss" potential for an industrial accident, attributed to employee phone use on the job. The managers at the work sites confirmed that the jammers were installed to prevent employees from using cell phones while working.

The problem is noted that these jammers don't discriminate, blocking all cell traffic in and around the area including necessary emergency communications such as 9-1-1 calls.

In each of the cases, the jammers were surrendered to the FCC agents, along with any spare backup jammers. The FCC agents confirmed that the cell band interference had ceased after the jammers were removed.

In each case, the maximum forfeiture amount allowable by statute was proposed, however, the total amount was revised downward by 25%, due to the immediate voluntary surrender of the illegal jammers. It was acknowledged that the Commission has authority to confiscate illegal devices, however, the Commission recognizes the benefits of the voluntary cooperation, and would like to encourage similar conduct in the future.

Ref
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0409/FCC-13-47A1.pdf
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0409/FCC-13-46A1.pdf