The Berlin offices of Verband der Elektrotechnik, Elektronik und Informationstechnik (VDE) hosted last 21-22 May a meeting of TC210 of the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC), the European body responsible for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standardisation.
The status of standard EN50561-1 and its delayed publication were discussed. The decision will be made by the head of the Enterprise Directorate-General. If the decision is negative the standard is still published, but without the informative appendix regarding the scope of coverage of the essential requirements, in this case that of electromagnetic compatibility. A decision was made to draft a text to send to the Technical Board (BT), summarising improvements made to the standard (fixed notch filters, dynamic notch filters, power control and switch-off) and encouraging its listing as a harmonised standard. The report on interference, by Gerhard Bartak, concluded that the band below 150 kHz was very congested and impossible to manage, and that its use was therefore not recommended.
The matter of digital dividend in the UHF band was discussed, with the following EMC standards involved: EN55020 (immunity standard for broadcasting receivers), parallel to the future EN55035 (immunity standard for multimedia equipment), and EN50083 (cable network standard for TV signals, audio signals and interactive services). A suggestion was made to focus on current interference cases and find solutions at the shielding and filtering level. Work must also be carried out at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) regarding long term evolution (LTE), out-of-band emissions and idle mode, and it will be necessary to cooperate with the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC).
A decision was made to reactivate the working group (WG10) and joint working group (JWG) between the technical committees (TC210 and TC209) and ETSI, with a view to describing the new radio environment resulting from the new distribution of digital dividend frequencies (174-230 MHz and 470-862 MHz) for amplifiers and active antennas, besides receiver tuners. It will examine in-band tuner requirements as well as adjacent channel rejection (specifically in channels 60 and 59).
The question of ready-made connecting devices was again considered, with Norway recommending that manufacturers start declaring the type of cable to use and the standard applied, given that the EMC Directive is not applicable (cables are passive) and systems of the Kabel Keur type do not resolve EMC problems, as they are qualitative and not compulsory.
The TV receiver manufacturers expressed their concern about implementation of the database envisaged in the scope of the mandate to standardise reconfigurable radio devices. The alert will be given at International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) level, with respect to the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR35). The possibility of extending the shielding efficiency trial to all digital video broadcasting (DVB) tuner bands will be analysed, along with representativeness of the 80 percent amplitude modulated (AM) sinusoidal signal to simulate the LTE idle mode. Adjustment of signal levels in the trial within the tuned channel will also be examined.
Bearing in mind the revision of Directive 2004/104(EC (Automotive), replaced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) R10, EN50498 (product family standard for aftermarket electronic equipment in vehicles) will have to be revised. It was proposed that the radio equipment definition should include all ITEs in the scope of revision of Directive 1999/5/EC (R&TTE).
The next meeting will be held in Brussels on 3-14 December 2013 and the following one on 13-14 May 2014.
