Wi-fi know-how, resembling cellphones, health trackers, and medical gadgets, has develop into ubiquitous. Earlier than a wi-fi machine is manufactured and offered, its know-how is examined by compliance engineering laboratories to make sure it adheres to technical requirements established by organizations together with the IEEE Requirements Affiliation.
Within the United States, the Federal Communications Fee oversees laws for all wi-fi gadgets, whereas the Meals and Drug Administration focuses on medical know-how. The 2 organizations usually work collectively.
RF Security Laboratory
Founder:
Steve Liu
Based:
2023
Headquarters:
Catonsville, Md.
Staff:
8
To assist tech corporations get their wi-fi gadgets licensed, IEEE Member Steve Liu based RF Security Laboratory in 2023. The startup, primarily based in Catonsville, Md., focuses on particular absorption fee (SAR) testing, nerve stimulation testing, and measuring energy density ranges of charging docks, surgical instruments, tablets, and different merchandise. SAR testing measures the quantity of RF power absorbed by the human physique from a wi-fi machine. Nerve stimulation and energy density exams measure the instantaneous results on an individual’s nervous system.
Liu says most of the lab’s shoppers, who’re primarily based in Japan, South Korea, and the US, need to promote their merchandise in Canada and the US, which have the strictest, most troublesome laws to navigate.
The lab focuses on making certain wi-fi gadgets are certifiably protected, offering shoppers with peace of thoughts.
“Not everybody is aware of SAR ranges are publicly obtainable on the FCC web site,” Liu says.
Many product builders don’t notice that when integrating Wi-Fi or 5G into a tool, they should embody shielding towards radiation of their designs to guard people from extra radiation, Liu says.
“Startups and new designers of wi-fi know-how in these nations don’t notice they’ll’t simply make a tool after which count on to have the ability to export it to North America,” he says. “Most of the time, these corporations solely discover this out after they’ve already begun to market their merchandise to shoppers, inflicting them to be held by customs and border safety.”
If a product is discovered to be noncompliant with laws, the corporate can face important fines and authorized actions, and the machine could be recalled.
From testing engineer to startup founder
Liu isn’t any stranger to technical requirements and laws. After graduating with a bachelor’s diploma in biomedical and electrical engineering in 2000 from Johns Hopkins College, in Baltimore, he joined PCTest Engineering Laboratory, in Columbia, Md. The corporate, now a part of Aspect, was created to supply regulatory and testing providers to the wi-fi, electronics, and telecommunications industries.
As a testing engineer, Liu assessed merchandise’ electromagnetic compatibility, RF publicity ranges, and hearing-aid compatibility. He additionally served as a member of the Telecommunication Certification Physique, which assesses gear. He labored his method up the profession ladder and, in 2018, was promoted to vice president of engineering, overseeing world compliance.
“Being an IEEE member has undoubtedly paid off for me.”
“I’ve licensed greater than 4,000 merchandise for corporations together with Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, and Rivian,” Liu says. “It was a very superior expertise to be engaged with such massive corporations and an enormous portfolio of merchandise, though we have been a small-scale operation simply doing regulatory electromagnetic compatibility and RF safety-type testing.”
In 2020 the corporate was acquired by Aspect, a London-based supplier of critical-materials testing, product qualification testing, inspection, and certification providers. New bosses meant a brand new tradition and a distinct method of working.
“Though the brand new administration was supportive and it was a superb expertise, I felt that I couldn’t spend the time and power I wished to on fixing issues, serving to clients, or mentoring my staff,” Liu says. After 23 years, he left in 2023 to begin his personal firm, utilizing a few of his retirement financial savings. Six of his colleagues joined his enterprise.
The RF Security Laboratory group in 2023 [from left]: Mark Biros (head of operations), Phuong Nguyen (technical supervisor), Kaitlin O’Keefe (head of engineering), Steve Liu (president), former worker, Burcu Derkunt (head of enterprise growth), and Bich Nguyen (director of engineering).
RF Security Laboratory
How wi-fi tech will get assessed
To get licensed, new wi-fi merchandise are examined towards established requirements resembling IEEE 802.11 to make sure they meet necessities for efficiency and safety. When an organization develops a tool, it sends the know-how to an approved check lab, the place technicians decide if the product is passable.
If the machine is licensed, the corporate can transfer ahead with manufacturing and distribution. If it doesn’t move muster, the corporate can cease engaged on it or repair the issue and resubmit the machine for certification.
When merchandise fail testing, corporations retain organizations resembling RF Security Lab to determine out what needs to be completed to be licensed, Liu says.
Though the startup works with massive corporations together with Belkin, Google, and Sony, he says, most of its shoppers are new designers and small companies.
“Lots of massive, tier-one corporations have already got the expertise crucial to repair points discovered throughout regulatory testing, in order that they don’t encounter severe roadblocks except they’re creating a novel know-how,” he says. “However we’re seeing that a whole lot of new designers will not be conscious of the laws, so they arrive to us for assist.
“Many instances they only must be educated on the laws and instructed what paperwork they should provide to get their machine licensed,” he says, including that “there are circumstances the place we have to run our personal exams and assessments to find out how the product can adjust to laws.”
After the lab evaluates the product, it compiles a report with its findings together with suggestions on how you can treatment any failures. Corrective measures can embody altering energy ranges, redesigning an antenna, and updating software program parameters to affect an antenna’s habits.
Liu says that considered one of his most difficult initiatives was a wi-fi endoscope developed by a gaggle of docs from Illinois. An endoscope is a skinny, versatile instrument with a digicam on the tip, used to look contained in the human physique. Though small, it’s related through a wire to a monitor, which the surgeon can view throughout the process. And working rooms have quite a few different machines with wires along with endoscopes.
The Illinois docs wished to lower the variety of wires in working rooms, in order that they developed a wi-fi endoscope that makes use of a high-frequency 60-gigahertz RF transmitter, which shows high-resolution photos on a monitor.
“They constructed this fascinating machine however didn’t know how you can get it licensed and the influence that testing might have on the ultimate design,” Liu says.
“Like many corporations, the designers have been resourceful and bought the transmitter elements at a low price from a producer abroad,” he says. “For a regulatory certification, you have got to have the ability to configure gadgets for sure testing functions, so the group and I needed to do a deep dive to seek out directions on how the transmitter labored and the way it was made.” He says it was significantly difficult as a result of the transmitter wasn’t the one off-the-shelf half the designers used.
Getting the machine prepared for certification required a whole lot of collaboration among the many designers, the numerous half producers, and regulatory businesses.
The method took a number of months to finish because of the product’s excessive frequency, which required preapproval steerage with the FCC.
“It was a really enjoyable expertise and a rewarding venture for the group,” Liu says. “We had fun seeing that venture via.”
RF Security Lab is increasing its attain and serving to corporations get their gadgets compliance-ready to be offered within the European Union. It is also engaged on getting merchandise to fulfill world cybersecurity laws.
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