Wi-fi know-how, corresponding to cellphones, fitness trackers, and medical devices, has change into ubiquitous. Before a wireless device is manufactured and sold, its know-how is examined by compliance engineering laboratories to make sure it adheres to technical standards established by organizations together with the IEEE Standards Association.
Within the United States, the Federal Communications Commission oversees rules for all wi-fi gadgets, whereas the Food and Drug Administration focuses on medical technology. The 2 organizations typically 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 Safety Laboratory in 2023. The startup, based mostly in Catonsville, Md., makes a speciality of particular absorption charge (SAR) testing, nerve stimulation testing, and measuring power density ranges of charging docks, surgical tools, tablets, and different merchandise. SAR testing measures the quantity of RF vitality 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 lots of the lab’s shoppers, who’re based mostly in Japan, South Korea, and the US, wish to promote their merchandise in Canada and the US, which have the strictest, most tough rules to navigate.
The lab makes a speciality of guaranteeing wi-fi gadgets are certifiably protected, offering customers with peace of thoughts.
“Not everybody is aware of SAR ranges are publicly out there on the FCC web site,” Liu says.
Many product developers don’t notice that when integrating Wi-Fi or 5G into a tool, they should embrace 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 international locations don’t notice they’ll’t simply make a tool after which anticipate to have the ability to export it to North America,” he says. “As a rule, these corporations solely discover this out after they’ve already begun to market their merchandise to customers, inflicting them to be held by customs and border safety.”
If a product is discovered to be noncompliant with rules, the corporate can face important fines and authorized actions, and the machine may be recalled.
From testing engineer to startup founder
Liu is not any stranger to technical standards and rules. After graduating with a bachelor’s diploma in biomedical and electrical engineering in 2000 from Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, he joined PCTest Engineering Laboratory, in Columbia, Md. The corporate, now a part of Element, 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 Body, which assesses tools. He labored his manner up the profession ladder and, in 2018, was promoted to vp of engineering, overseeing world compliance.
“Being an IEEE member has positively 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 extremely superior expertise to be engaged with such massive corporations and an enormous portfolio of merchandise, though we had been a small-scale operation simply doing regulatory electromagnetic compatibility and RF safety-type testing.”
In 2020 the corporate was acquired by Ingredient, a London-based supplier of critical-materials testing, product qualification testing, inspection, and certification providers. New bosses meant a brand new tradition and a unique manner of working.
“Though the brand new administration was supportive and it was a great expertise, I felt that I couldn’t spend the time and vitality I needed to on fixing issues, serving to prospects, or mentoring my workers,” 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 workforce 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 corresponding to IEEE 802.11 to make sure they meet necessities for efficiency and security. When an organization develops a tool, it sends the know-how to an authorized test 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 cross 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 corresponding to RF Security Lab to determine what must be carried out 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.
“Loads of massive, tier-one corporations have already got the expertise vital 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 numerous new designers are usually not conscious of the rules, so they arrive to us for assist.
“Many instances they only should be educated on the rules and advised what paperwork they should provide to get their machine licensed,” he says, including that “there are instances the place we have to run our personal exams and assessments to find out how the product can adjust to rules.”
After the lab evaluates the product, it compiles a report with its findings together with suggestions on find out how to treatment any failures. Corrective measures can embrace altering energy ranges, redesigning an antenna, and updating software parameters to affect an antenna’s conduct.
Liu says that one in all his most difficult tasks was a wi-fi endoscope developed by a bunch of docs from Illinois. An endoscope is a skinny, versatile instrument with a digicam on the top, used to look contained in the human physique. Though small, it’s linked by way of a wire to a monitor, which the surgeon can view through the process. And operating rooms have quite a few different machines with wires along with endoscopes.
The Illinois docs needed 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 displays high-resolution photographs on a monitor.
“They constructed this fascinating machine however didn’t know find out how to get it licensed and the affect that testing might have on the ultimate design,” Liu says.
“Like many corporations, the designers had been resourceful and bought the transmitter components at a low value from a producer abroad,” he says. “For a regulatory certification, you’ve gotten to have the ability to configure gadgets for sure testing functions, so the workforce 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 numerous collaboration among the many designers, the various 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 workforce,” 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 bought within the European Union. It is also engaged on getting merchandise to fulfill world cybersecurity rules.
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