WASHINGTON-The International Electrotechnical Commission, a Geneva-based group, has published the first global standard for testing mobile-phone compliance with radiation safety guidelines.
“Until now, there hasn’t been a single, globally accepted standardized measurement method for products that must adhere to SAR [specific absorption rate] limits,” said the IEC. “This meant that radio-frequency emissions from similar devices varied from one manufacturer to another and that customers could not be sure that the products they bought operated within safe SAR limits.”
SAR limits in the United States are set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and in other countries by the German-based International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation. The new IEC standard applies only to measurement methods only, and does not establish new SAR limits.
The standard-IEC 62209-1-was developed jointly by the IEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization and the IEEE. Cell phone SAR can be measured directly by using body phantoms, robot arms, and associated test equipment, or it can be mathematically modeled. The latter process takes more time, however.
The IEA measurement standard is phantom based and is the first of a multi-part series of standards. It covers devices, such as mobile phones, with a frequency range of 300 MHz to 3 GHz.
IEC Technical Officer Remy Baillif said there has been high demand from manufacturers for a global standard to measure SAR limits. Manufacturers of mobile phones, specialized test laboratories, telecommunications regulators and health officials are expected to be the largest user group of the new standard, according to the IEC.
