SAR Technical Requirement In Europe, SAR Testing is one of several approaches to determining compliance with EU Council Recommendation (1999/519/EC) of 12 July 1999 on the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 Hz to 300 GHz). The recommendation does not determine directly how RF exposure is measured or calculated.
SAR Technical Requirement For products falling under the scope of the R&TTE Directive, Article 3.1(a) covers safety aspects (including RF exposure). For certain product groups harmonised standards have been produced, which cover SAR testing. Harmonised Standards within Europe tend to be divided into Basic and Product Standards. Basic Standards contain the basic test methodology required to perform tests. Product standards contain specific details relating to a particular type of product as well as limits appropriate to that product type.
SAR Technical Requirement In addition to these, there are generic standards, which are used where no product specific standard exists. The test methodology contained within the product standards tends to be specific to the product being assessed.
SAR Technical Requirement The basic test methodology is however being aligned towards the following standards: EN 62209-1, which is the European numbered IEC62209-1 for equipment used near the head EN 62209-2, which is the European numbered IEC62209-2 for equipment used near the body. However presently no product standards reference EN62209-2
SAR Required RF devices Originally SAR in Europe only covered mobile and cordless phone handsets. Following on from EN 50360 additional product standards have been developed for example: EN 50385 for Telecommunication Base stations EN 50364 for RFID devices EN 62233 for Household electrical Appliances
SAR Required RF devices Due to the increase in low power licence exempt devices in Europe a new exposure standard, EN50371, was introduced which was designed to cover such devices. In addition due to the large increase in differing RF technologies being place on the market it was decided in 2004 to issue a generic standard for RF exposure namely EN 50392 EN50392 applies to electronic and electrical apparatus for which no dedicated product- or product family standard regarding human exposure to electromagnetic fields applies. This generic standard does not cover equipment, which fulfils the requirements given in EN 50371 or is medical equipment as defined in the Council Directive 93/42/EEC of 14 June 1993 concerning medical devices. In 2008 EN 62311 was published, which replaced EN 50392. The scope of EN 62311 is the same as EN 50392, however there is no longer a reference to medical equipment.
SAR Required RF devices EN 62311 allows for a variety of methods to be used to determine compliance including SAR testing These test methods are described in Section 7.2 and Annex E of the standard Details of the test method are contained within the Annexes of the standard
SAR Testing Method SAR testing in Europe is based on harmonised EN standards Development of test standards for the EU for RF exposure is mandated to European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC). Within CENELEC, RF exposure standards are produced by Technical Committee TC106X. Member states have Mirror Committees which provide input to the CENELEC committee, for example the United Kingdom has Committee GEL/106.
SAR Testing Method The basic test standards are based on IEC62209-1 and IEC62209-2 which have been adopted as EN62209-1 and EN62209-2 respectively EN 62209-1 contains information such as: The definition of the test phantoms especially the SAM phantom Definition of the tissue dielectrics and the measurement of them Definition of the test probes Calibration of the test system Determining measurement uncertainty
SAR Testing Method EN 62209-2 contains information such as: The definition of the test phantoms especially the Flat phantom Definition of the tissue dielectrics and the measurement of them Definition of the test probes Calibration of the test system Determining measurement uncertainty
SAR Testing Method Presently EN62209-2 is not referenced by any product standard issued by CENELC. This is due to some aspects of this standard which have still not been accepted by members of the standards committees.
Future Developments in Europe In addition to standards development there is a lot of work ongoing in the technical committee regarding the use of numerical modeling techniques in place of SAR testing. The advantage of numerical modeling is that allows the assessment of new types of device without the time and expense of developing new test phantoms and probes.
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