Standards Development Organizations (SDO) exist in various parts of the world, and some are involved in writing EMC standards. The two major organizations writing standards upon which other standards are based are the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) C63® in the United States and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
C63® is most notably responsible for C63.4, the American National Standard for Methods of Measurement of Radio-Noise Emissions from Low-Voltage Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the Range of 9 kHz to 40 GHz. C63® is also responsible for a number of other American national standards that cover a variety of EMC matters.
The IEC, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has a number of Technical Committees (TC), Subcommittees (SC), and special committees (Comité International Spécial des Perturbations Radioélectriques—CISPR) that generate EMC standards. The most noteworthy of these are CISPR and TC77 (and its subcommittees—SC77A, SC77B, and SC77C). These TCs, SCs, and special committees write the basic standards and product family standards that are then incorporated into various national standards and referenced in national regulations. For example, CISPR SC I has published CISPR 32, Electromagnetic Compatibility of Multimedia Equipment-Emission Requirements, and CISPR 35, Electromagnetic Compatibility of Multimedia Equipment-Immunity Requirements. CISPR 35 then uses a number of basic standards written and published by SC77B to describe how the various immunity tests are to be performed.
In the European Union, the standards used for EMC are largely written by CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. CENELEC generally creates its standards in parallel with work in the IEC and votes on their standards at the same time as CISPR (parallel voting). Thus, Euro norms such as EN 55032 are oftentimes identical to IEC standards—in this case, CISPR 32. Any differences are included in the EN document as common modifications and shall be implemented when the EN is used for compliance with European regulations.
Japan, although active in CISPR and other IEC committees, writes its own EMC requirements documents through the VCCI Council. VCCI is a trade association, not a governmental body. Its standards are very similar those of CISPR but are not necessarily identical. Being a trade association, their “regulatory” impact is a bit different. In order to place the VCCI mark on a product, a manufacturer must be a member of the VCCI, and members are obligated to place the mark on all products they market in Japan. Non-VCCI members may not use the mark on their products.
Finally, the IEEE also writes standards relating to EMC. IEEE has dual publishing agreements with the IEC so that an IEEE standard that addresses a subject not covered by an IEC standard can have the standard marked as both an IEEE and an IEC standard. IEEE standards without both marks are still available as voluntary standards for use throughout the world. Most, but not all, IEEE standards dealing with EMC are products of the IEEE EMC Society.
Ghery S. Pettit received the BSEE degree from Washington State University in 1975. He has worked in the areas of TEMPEST and EMC for the past 40 years, starting at the Naval Electronic Systems Engineering Center, Vallejo, where he joined the Field TEMPEST Team. In this position he performed instrumented TEMPEST surveys on ships and shore installations for the US Navy. In the fall of 1979 he joined Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace where he worked on what became the Peacekeeper missile system, as well as other projects, providing TEMPEST and EMC design and analysis support. In October 1983 he joined Tandem Computers in Cupertino, California. While at Tandem he provided EMC design, troubleshooting and EMC compliance testing services to a number of projects. He oversaw the construction of Tandem’s 30 meter Open Area Test Site (OATS) and 10 meter RF semi-anechoic chamber while also providing full EMC support for Tandem’s new top end mainframe system, the Nonstop Cyclone. In early 1995 Ghery took a position with Intel Corporation. Initially this was in Oregon where he aided in the construction of Intel’s first 3 meter RF semi-anechoic chamber and oversaw the design and construction of a 10 meter OATS facility. While in Oregon he led the work to design and build Intel’s EMC test facilities (a 3 meter RF semi-anechoic chamber and 10 meter OATS) in DuPont, Washington. He moved to DuPont in 1996 and served as the lead engineer in the laboratory until moving to the Corporate Product Regulations and Standards (CPRS) department in 2000. While in CPRS he served as the focal point within Intel for EMC standards and regulations, represented the company on various industry committees and national and international standards development organizations, provided EMC design and troubleshooting support for various business units in the company and, when needed, made trips to customer sites around the world to aid in resolving EMC problems with customer designs that utilized Intel silicon products. Since retiring from Intel he is now continuing his work on national and international standards development organizations and consulting in the areas of EMC design, troubleshooting, testing, standards interpretations and laboratory design.
Mr. Pettit is presently serving as Chair of CISPR SC I. He was a member of the USNC IEC / CISPR G TAG from 1998 until Subcommittee G (ITE) was merged with Subcommittee E (broadcast receivers) to form Subcommittee I (multimedia equipment) in 2001 whereupon he became a member of the USNC IEC / CISPR I TAG, on which group he continues to serve. He was a member of the US delegation to the CISPR G and CISPR I meetings from 2000 to 2015. He is also a member of the USNC IEC / SC77B TAG. He is a member of CISPR SC I WG2 (emissions standards) and CISPR SC I WG4 (immunity standards). Ghery was a member of CISPR SC I WG3 from the formation of SC I in 2001 until WG3 was dissolved at the end of 2012. He served as the Convener (chairman) of this WG from 2007 through the end of 2012. He is also a member of ASC C63® SC 1. Ghery served as the Chairman of the Information Technology Industry Council’s (ITI) committee on EMC (TC5) from 1999 until he retired from Intel in 2015. He served as a member of that committee first as a representative from Tandem Computers and then Intel Corporation starting in the late 1980s. From 1999 to 2005 he served on the Panel for Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Board on Assessment of NIST Programs for the National Research Council, reviewing and reporting on the activities of the RF laboratory at NIST in Boulder, Colorado.
Ghery has been active in the IEEE EMC Society for over 30 years. He has served as a chapter officer in three chapters, Littleton Colorado, Santa Clara Valley and Seattle. He served as an officer in the Santa Clara Valley Section of the IEEE from 1991 through 1995. He served on the Board of Directors of the IEEE EMC Society as a Director at Large from 1999 to 2004 and 2006 to 2011. During this time he served as the Chapter Coordinator from 1999 to 2005. From 2003 to 2008 he was the Vice President for Communications Services. In 2009 and 2010 he was the Vice President for Conference Services. He served as President Elect for the IEEE EMC Society in 2011, President in 2012 and 2013 and Immediate Past President in 2014 and 2015.
Ghery has written 8 papers and articles for publication and contributed a chapter for the 2nd Edition of the ARRL’s Radio Frequency Interference Handbook. He is a member of the dB Society and serves as a Technical Advisor for the ARRL in the area of EMC.