1. The University of New South Wales
School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications
ELEC3017 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN
CHAPTER 15: STANDARDS
AND THEIR IMPORTANCE IN
DESIGN
Lecture Notes Prepared by
Mr R Lions1, Dr H.S. Blanks2 and Assoc. Prof. W.H. Holmes
1
Group Manager, Information and Communications, Standards Australia
2
Consultant
SUMMARY
Standards are at the same time a help to the designer and a constraint on his or her work.
It is essential that the designer be fully aware of all the standards which are relevant to
the product being designed. This may vary with the places in which the product is to be
sold or used.
This chapter looks at the types and purposes of standards, at the organizations which
write and issue standards and at the relations between national and international
standardization. It briefly discusses some particular standardization organizations and
also gives guidance on how to search for the existence of, and obtain copies of, relevant
standards.
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2. 1. PURPOSES OF STANDARDS
Standards generally have one or more of the following purposes:
1. To cover requirements for the prevention of accidents or to minimize their
effects (e.g. cycle helmets).
2. To establish agreed unit systems, common terminology and common formats
of data presentation.
3. To define methods to control and measure the quality of design, products and
services.
4. To facilitate interchangeability and interconnectivity of products (e.g. bolts
and nuts, plugs and sockets, input and output impedances of cascaded stages).
5. To minimize unwanted side effects and by-products, e.g. Electro-Magnetic
Interference (EMI), and to ensure that resources are used optimally (e.g.
frequency band allocations in communications).
6. To specify the composition or construction of materials or types of products,
and to specify methods by which compliance can be demonstrated.
7. To preserve individual and public health, e.g. in the workplace, or in
connection with food, medication, building materials, radiation from
equipment, etc.
8. To minimize needless diversity, e.g. through the establishment of preferred
component values, standardized dimensions and configurations. This
facilitates the interchangeability of products having essentially the same
function.
9. To establish methods of measurement, calibration, testing and inspection
which lead to reproducibility and are acceptable both nationally and
internationally.
10. To provide guidance on the performance of specific tasks, including sound
working practices and the management of quality and reliability programs.
11. To allocate resources optimally and to avoid interference in the use of
resources, e.g. frequency band allocation in communication systems.
2. TYPES OF STANDARDS
Standards can be divided into two broad categories:
1. Mandatory Standards
These are standards that are made mandatory either by being called up in
legislation or by being called up in a specific contract between supplier and
customer.
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3. Examples are standards dealing with safety and health or preserving important
aspects of the public good, such as protection of the environment or
compatibility of communications systems and channels.
Even where a standard is not mandatory by legislation, adherence can be made
mandatory if it is called up in the customer’s contract. Compliance with the
mandatory standards is not only sensible, but non-adherence may result in
higher penalties in the event of subsequent litigation arising from inadequate
performance or reliability of the product, or from an accident caused by a
defect or failure.
When incorporated in legislation, the method of enforcement is generally
that the product, or any item or system in which it is incorporated or
installed, is not permitted to be used, sold, connected or licensed if it
does not meet the standard. Examples are materials which do not
conform to safety or health standards or which do not meet radio
emission or interference standards.
Legislative requirements can usually be satisfied if the supplier can
produce test results demonstrating that the product meets the test criteria
laid down in the standard. Testing, which was traditionally done in
government test laboratories, is moving to the private sector because of
the increasing trend of governments to privatize services they formerly
provided. Thus it may well be done in the manufacturer’s own
accredited laboratory or by an independent laboratory. Such test results
are also able to be provided where the standard is only mandatory in the
supplier/buyer contract.
Note that standards compliance may not be enough to avoid legal
liability – the manufacturer may still be held to be liable for death, injury
or financial losses caused by a faulty or defective product. However,
standards compliance could still be a legal defence even in such cases.
2. Guidance Standards
These standards provide guidance and information. Examples include:
• Glossaries of terms
• Standards giving information about material properties
• Guides for component selection, de-rating and environmental stress
protection
• Guides on how to conduct a reliability assurance program
• Recommended methods of product performance measurement
• And guides on what constitutes good workmanship
Many guidance standards describe industry and market consensus or
expectations, such as standards giving preferred component parameter values
or industry-agreed “standard” dimensions and configurations, etc.
The guidance standards, now tending to be called guides, codes of practice or
handbooks, are meant to encourage quality, promote good practices and
facilitate uniformity and interchangeability. They assist designers by providing
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4. valuable ancillary information about such matters as good design practice,
good workmanship and the backgrounds of the standards.
They may be written by a company or organization for its own internal use or
for use by its suppliers, or by a Trade Association to improve the performance
and marketing effectiveness of its members, or by a government, semi-
government or other national body (such as a Standards Association), to
promote the social or economic welfare of the community.
Standards are often written in several parts, with the first part containing minimum
mandatory requirements and suitable for calling up in legislation or contracts. A second
part may then contain the recommendations and good practice guidance which helps
considerably with the application of the mandatory rules of the first part (the “deemed
to comply” solutions). Another part might contain specifications for performance above
the bare minimum which could be useful in special circumstances.
Note that no standard is “set in concrete”, but must be recognized as representing the
best state of the art at the time of publication, and is subject to change if circumstances
render it necessary.
3. THE IMPORTANCE OF STANDARDS TO DESIGN
ENGINEERS
Even when a product is designed in response to a customer’s specification, it cannot be
assumed that the customer knows all the statutory or other requirements, or that these
will be stated in the initial specification.
It is one of the essential initial tasks of a designer, in the Product Definition Phase, to
identify all standards relevant to the product which are mandatory by legislation in all
the places where the product will be made, sold or used. Compliance with these
standards then becomes part of the product specification. This is particularly important
if the product being designed is for the general market (i.e. not in response to a
particular customer).
It is also important to meet the industry/market consensus standards, since it will be
difficult to sell a product which does not meet the market expectations or which,
because of non-standard dimensions, configuration, energy supply requirements, etc.,
does not have interchangeability with competing products already on the market or
cannot be connected into existing systems or transported or used in existing
environments. (An example would be a refrigerator or washing machine too wide to fit
through standard door openings.)
Finally, the guidance standards are often very useful design aids, dealing as they do with
defined good practice, good workmanship etc. The quality standards are particularly
relevant in this connection.
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5. 4. PRODUCT AND QUALITY STANDARDS
PRODUCT STANDARDS
Product standards are common forms of standards. They can state their requirements in
two ways:
1. Performance Specification
This defines the performance which the product is expected to provide and
indicates the tests which it must pass before being considered suitable for the
purpose.
For example, a sample set of circuit breakers may have to show that they can
switch full load several thousand times, break an overload of six times full load
fifty times, and operate a few times with a short circuit on their output and a
supply source capable of providing several thousand amps. Along with these
and other tests, the sample group must still operate correctly at the end of the
test period!
However, the designer is free to make the circuit breaker in any way and using
any overload sensing system which it is felt can be manufactured economically.
A standard may specify several levels of performance which are necessary for
various categories of performance. Users should be sure that they indicate
which specific level is required whenever they call up the use of the standard.
2. Prescriptive Specification
This defines such matters as the materials and dimensions etc. which must be
used in the product. Thus, a specification which calls for a galvanized
weatherproof enclosure prevents the use of newer products such as stainless
steel or engineering plastics which might provide superior service at a lower
cost.
In some cases, there may be a need to specify dimensions etc. to ensure that the
product is interchangeable or compatible with other devices.
In practice, most standards contain elements of both prescriptive and performance
requirements. However, most modern standards, wherever possible, are written as
performance specifications, whereas in the past they tended to be written in a
prescriptive way.
Performance specifications have several advantages, the most important of which is that
product innovation is not stifled. If a manufacturer can meet the performance
requirements using new materials or a novel manufacturing technique, while still
meeting the performance requirements of the standard (and presumably at a cost
advantage), he then has a market edge which he can exploit.
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6. QUALITY STANDARDS
One area attracting a great deal of attention in recent years is the establishment of
standards for quality systems. Quality standards exist for the design process (both
hardware and software), as well as for manufacturing processes and products. The most
important quality standards are the ISO9000 to ISO9004 series for design and
manufacturing, which have also been adopted as Australian standards with the numbers
AS3900 to AS3904, and AS3563 for software.
Quality management is really just applied common sense, but since a properly
implemented quality system is now essential if a manufacturer wishes to stay in
business, most industries are very interested in them.
It should be borne in mind that quality management standards address the management
of the process and as such are generic. They indicate a number of specific areas where
management action must be considered. There is need thereafter to adapt them to the
organization to achieve a working quality system. Quality systems can be implemented
in a number of stages and the standards provide guidance for implementation.
A manufacturer or service provider can have their quality system audited by an external
auditor, who will certify that it complies with the appropriate standard. This may permit
them to use certain “standards marks” or may be an essential prerequisite to doing
business with an increasing number of quality-conscious customers.
Third party quality assurance auditing is provided on a commercial, competitive basis
by a number of organizations including Quality Assurance Services (a wholly owned
subsidiary of Standards Australia), Lloyds of London, Det Norske Veritas of Norway,
Underwriters Laboratories (UL), NATA, etc.
An important facet of the IEC activities (see below) is the IECQ Scheme of
Electronic Components of Assessed Quality. According to this scheme,
component data sheets are written in standardized formats, and reliability data
must also be provided in a standard form. Component quality is assured through
the fact that component manufacturers who participate in the scheme must have
their manufacturing quality system approved by a National Inspectorate, which
itself must be approved by the IECQ Management Committee. Standards
Australia has been approved as the Australian National Inspectorate.
Unfortunately there is virtually no electronic component manufacturing industry
left in Australia. Designers should however be aware of the scheme and that
IECQ approved components can be purchased overseas.
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7. 5. NATIONAL STANDARDS ORGANIZATIONS
STANDARDS AUSTRALIA
Within Australia, Standards Australia is recognized as the peak national standards
writing organization. Standards Australia is an independent non-profit body,
incorporated by Royal Charter, funded largely by the sale of publications,
membership dues, fees for licensing of the use of the Standards “marks”, and a
small contribution from the Commonwealth government.
Standards are prepared covering a huge range of subjects, generally in response to
specific requests or a survey of interested parties. Committees are established to
provide a wide and balanced range of representation, with members drawn from
users, suppliers, regulators and manufacturers. This provides a transparent
consensus process.
When an Australian standard is being prepared, the committee will consider
several working drafts. After a reasonable draft standard has been prepared, it is
sent to draft review (“Public Comment”), and any comments are then taken into
account prior to preparation of the final draft. This, after a committee ballot, is
published as a standard and put into the public domain.
There is an increasing tendency, particularly in the technology areas, not to create
specific Australian standards. Australia participates in the work of the
international standards bodies and then adopts the international standard (with an
Australian standards number). This is partly to ensure global compatibility and
assist Australian exporters, but also because it generally represents international
best practice. It is Australian government policy that if at all possible there should
be no inconsistencies between Australian standards and those of the ISO and IEC,
so that differences in standards should not constitute a barrier to international
trade.
However, the adoption of international standards as Australian standards does
alter the local methods of operation, in that there often doesn’t appear to be a
great deal happening in Australia, but suddenly there is a new Australian standard!
Further, if new work is started in Australia, the first committee task is to see what
is available from international sources or other countries. Where no such foreign
work exists, and the work starts in Australia on “a clean sheet”, it is now normal
to offer the work to an appropriate international committee as soon as it has
reached a reasonably mature stage.
However, there are some needs in Australia which are not recognized in
international work. For example, seat belt webbing must pass an ultra-violet test
in Australia, since solar conditions tend to be tougher here and some materials
which are otherwise acceptable will degrade too quickly in the Australian sun.
Standards Australia is the Australian member of two of the most important
international standards bodies, The International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) and The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). These are
discussed further below.
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8. Standards Australia has an active cooperation agreement with New Zealand,
whereby the standards development capabilities of the two countries are
combined to produce joint Australia/New Zealand standards wherever feasible.
Standards Australia also provides a comprehensive information service which is
available to assist in finding out about standards, both nationally and in other
countries. The use of this facility is discussed later.
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY (ACA)
The Australian Communications Authority (ACA), was formed on 1 July 1997 as
a merger between AUSTEL, the Australian Telecommunications Authority, which
was the telecommunications industry regulator, and SMA, the Spectrum
Management Agency, which was responsible for radiofrequency spectrum
management and radiocommunications licensing.
OTHER AUSTRALIAN ORGANIZATIONS
The Department of Defence, the Electricity Supply Association and the
Commonwealth Department of Transport are other organizations involved in
standards activities in Australia.
STANDARDS ORGANIZATIONS IN THE USA
The main national standards body in the USA is the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), which does not develop its own standards but acts
as a clearing house for other standards. It coordinates the efforts of groups which
have grown out of the learned societies, such as the IEEE, or trade associations
such as the EIA (The Electronic Industries Association), and will endorse as
American national standards those documents which have been developed by a
proper consensus process.
In addition to ANSI standards, many standards from organizations such as the
IEEE (see below) have become regarded as international standards in their own
right.
Other important standards organizations in the USA include:
• Underwriters Laboratories (UL). This is probably the most widely
known civilian standards writing and testing organization in the USA. Its
standards apply to materials and devices and are intended to prevent loss
of life and property through fire, accidents etc.
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC is active in
the fields of frequency allocation, radio frequency interference,
electromagnetic compatibility and communications systems. For
example, it licenses radio stations in the US.
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9. The FCC’s approval is also required for radio and telecommunication
equipment and equipment with the potential for producing interference
with communication systems. This includes most electronic products.
• US Department of Defense. Of great importance for equipment going
into US government service are the standards and handbooks issued by
the US DoD in the form of the so-called MIL standards, bearing
identification numbers MILSTD... or MILHDBK... These standards and
guidance handbooks are also widely used in the USA and elsewhere for
non-government procurement.
• Electronic Industries Association (EIA). This association produces a
very extensive range of standards and guidance publications relevant to
electronics, covering general, consumer electronics, telecommunications,
passive components, solid state products, electronic displays and tubes,
government electronics and industrial automation. Included are the
EIA’s Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) solid state
component standards and publications.
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE
issues standards in several fields, including electronics, software
engineering and power systems.
• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Produces
standards on the characteristics and performance of materials.
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). One of its standards is
the National Electrical Code (NEC), which is accepted as the standard
for installation of electrical equipment in most areas of the USA.
NATIONAL STANDARDS ORGANIZATIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES
There are similar bodies to Standards Australia in many other countries, including
the British Standards Institute (BSI) in the UK, DIN in Germany and JIS in Japan.
Other countries have standards bodies with differing methods of operation and
differing ownership, ranging from fully government to independent.
6. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ORGANIZATIONS
The need for international standards was discovered very early, in 1865, when the
International Telegraph Union (ITU) was formed to provide for the interconnection of
the various national telegraph networks. In time there have come to be three major
organizations, each of which is now run under the auspices of the United Nations and is
headquartered in Geneva:
THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION (ITU)
With a slight change of name to reflect changes in technology, but retaining the
acronym “ITU”, the ITU is now the pre-eminent standards setting organization for
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10. telecommunications. The fact that you can pick up a phone somewhere and dial
any of the hundreds of millions of other phones around the world is a testament to
their ability to create viable standards. Before 1993, ITU had two divisions:
• CCIR, the International Radio Consultative Committee, which looked
after radio and mobile services.
• CCITT, the International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative
Committee, which looked after fixed services such as telephony and data.
Following a major reorganization at the beginning of 1993, two new divisions
were created to replace these:
• ITU-T, the telecommunications standardization sector, which looks after
all the systems aspects of communications systems, whether or not they
involve radio techniques.
• ITU-R, which looks after radio transmission, propagation, frequency
allocation and interference aspects of global radio services.
THE INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION (IEC)
This organization was formed to coordinate the safety and use of electricity.
During its life, its role has expanded and the IEC now produces standards not only
for electrical products but also for electronic components (including PC boards),
and also publishes CISPR standards for electromagnetic compatibility and
interference etc. They also publish the CIE lighting standards. Much of their
work involves definitions, methods of test, and standard sizes and profiles for
items such as motors which need to be interchangeable.
THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION (ISO)
This group grew from the needs of the manufacturing community, who wanted
interchangeable screw threads, standard manufacturing tolerances and many other
standardized items, so they could be traded. It has grown over the years and now
covers a huge range of subjects.
The IEC and ISO complement each other, in the sense that there is no overlap of
standards produced by them. Both are organized into “Technical Committees” dealing
with particular fields. These committees in turn have “Working Groups” to prepare
specific standards. Most industrialized countries, including Australia, are members of
ISO and IEC, and provide input to the working groups.
7. THE STANDARDS PROCESS
Standards are produced in many ways, generally by establishing from experience the
best options from all those that have been tried in a non-standard environment. This is
great for slowly developing industries such as bolts and plumbing, but modern industry
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11. is demanding faster delivery of relevant standards, particularly as the cost of being non-
standard can be so expensive.
Another way of setting a standard can involve market power, where a dominant supplier
(or the now very popular variant, the ad hoc industry consortium) sets a standard which
others tend to follow. These include such entities as ISA, X-Open, OMG, OSF and the
ATM Forum. Such standards bodies tend to get going, produce one or two standards
fairly quickly, and then fade away within a few years. Who will maintain the standards
they set?
However, the tried and best used method for creating lasting standards is the consensus
process, i.e. with no negative votes. This requires all stakeholders to be involved in the
development of the standard, and gives them a feeling of ownership of the final output.
All parties get an opportunity to contribute input, and although the result will generally
be that of a clear majority rather than unanimous, most participants are happy with the
outcome.
The major problem with this process is speed. Because of the number of people
involved, information must be disseminated, and comments prepared, collated and
distributed several times before a document can be finalized. Where the process
involves the participation of people from all over the globe who also have other jobs to
attend to, there can be significant delays built into the system which makes the process
slow.
This problem is currently being studied by most national and international standards
bodies and one would hope that over the next few years a process, somewhat like the
Internet RFC (Request for Comments) process, can be established for international
standards development. Even this system requires a group to bring order into the chaos
by sitting down and sorting out the good ideas from all the comments which may be
received. Certainly it can cut down on postal and other delays and on the quantities of
paper used, and can provide for an extensive, interactive global discussion.
8. INFORMATION ABOUT STANDARDS
Standards writing organizations are generally happy to supply catalogues of their
standards free of charge. Several maintain World Wide Web sites, and standards can be
downloaded (for a price). For example, the ITU address is http://www.itu.ch/.
Design Engineers should build up a library of catalogues and standards relevant to the
products or systems they may have to design in the future.
Standards Australia provides major information centres in Sydney and Melbourne
which can assist in locating most national and international standards. It has a library of
about 60,000 standards from national and international standards organizations around
the world, and also has data bases of much of the other material to assist in a search.
One problem is the difficulty of obtaining and keeping up-to-date details of proprietary
and industry standards which are not endorsed as national standards. However, in many
instances Standards Australia will know where these can be obtained.
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12. Standards Australia endeavours to obtain distribution right for all these documents, so
that searchers can not only inspect the standards, but if necessary also purchase copies
of them. One side benefit of adopting international standards is that the documents are
then available “off the shelf” in Australia at a price about a third of the price of the
international version.
Standards Australia also publishes useful collections of standards in particular areas, as
well as simplified guides, student versions, etc.
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