International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 106

IEC Technical Committee 106 (TC106) was established in 1999 to develop international standards for the assessment of human exposure to electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields.  The task includes: characterization of electromagnetic environments with regard to human exposure; measurement methods, instrumentation and procedures; calculation methods; assessment methods for exposure produced by specific sources (in so far as this task is not carried out by specific IEC product committees); basic standards for other sources; assessment of uncertainties. It covers the frequency range of 0 Hz to 300 GHz.  Although TC106 standards may be used to assess compliance with basic restrictions and derived limits of international safety standards and guidelines, such as those developed by committees of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), TC106 does not develop exposure limits—nor does it establish mitigation methods, which have to be dealt with by the relevant IEC product committees.

Representatives of the national committees of 26 countries participate on TC106; 6 additional countries are observers.  Canada is the Secretariat, the chairman is from the USA, the secretary and assistant secretary are from Canada and Germany, respectively.  TC106 contains 5 working groups; WG1 develops standards for the measurement and calculation of electric and magnetic fields and induced currents over the frequency range of 0 to approximately 100 kHz (horizontal standards), WG2 develops standards for the characterization of electric and magnetic fields from specific devices over the same frequency range (vertical standards), WG3 and WG4 develop horizontal and vertical standards, respectively, over the frequency range of approximately 100 kHz to 300 GHz, and WG5 develops generic standards (general applications and practices) over the entire frequency range.

Within each working group are one or more project teams, each of which is responsible for the development of a specific standard within the scope of the working group.  The WG4 project teams should be of particular interest to CITEL, particularly PT62209 (Human exposure to radio frequency fields from hand-held and body-mounted wireless communication devices – Human models, instrumentation, and procedures; Part 1: Hand-held mobile wireless communication devices, and Part 2:Procedure to determine the SAR for two-way radios, wireless palmtop terminals, wireless desktop terminals, and wireless body-mounted devices including accessories and multiple         transmitters in the frequency band 30 MHz - 6 GHz.)  Part 1 was published in 2005 as an international standard (but only extends to 3 GHz), Part 2 is now in committee draft form and expected to be published sometime during the next two years as is the extension of Part 1 to 6 GHz. 

The work of WG4 PT62232 (Determination of RF fields in the vicinity of mobile communication base stations for the purpose of evaluating human exposure) should also be of interest.  This draft standard describes measurement and calculation methods used to evaluate RF fields from mobile radio base stations (RBS) with the objective of evaluating compliance of these installations with appropriate international standards, guidelines, and regulations that limit human exposure to RF fields.  Part 1 describes measurement methods and analytical techniques for assessing the levels of RF fields from a single RBS with one or more antennas used for wireless telecommunications—it does not include measurement and computation methods for multiple RBS locations nor for other RF transmitters that may be present at the point of observation.  These will be addressed in future parts to the standard.  The standard will enable assessments based on worst-case parameters such as maximum radiated power during the peak of wireless transmission activity and over an extended period of time where such maximum conditions might occur.  The objective is to provide appropriate information to communicate to the public in order to address concerns about such installations, and also a means for evaluating field strength to facilitate comparison with relevant compliance limits.  Sections are included that address the selection of an appropriate strategy based on the purpose of the survey (e.g., community driven, compliance), the accuracy and availability of source data, where/when to evaluate, and based on the situation whether measurements or calculations are appropriate.  Measurement methods (broadband, narrowband) are discussed as are computational methods including ray-tracing, the cylindrical model, and full-wave analysis, including the applicability, strength and weaknesses of each method. 

In conclusion, IEC TC106 develops standards for assessing human exposure to electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields over the frequency range of 0 Hz to 300 GHz. The standards address products not covered by other IEC standards and generic standards that can be used for conformity assessment with regard to the basic restrictions and derived limits of contemporary RF safety standards, guidelines and regulations.  The committee works closely with other international committees to ensure harmonization.  Detailed information about IEC TC106 can be found at Internet site: http://www.iec.ch/cgi-bin/procgi.pl/www/iecwww.p?wwwlang=E&wwwprog=TCboard.p&committee=SC&TC=106&submit=Submit

R. C. Petersen
Chairman
IEC TC106