The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization Volume 2, No. 10, October 2005, ISSN 1729-8709

Aerospace : the new frontier

ISO 22000 for safe food supply chains • The ISO Survey •

Contents 1

Comment Alan Bryden, ISO Secretary-General Aeronautics and space : high on ISO’s agenda

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World Scene Highlights of events from around the world

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ISO Scene Highlights of news and developments from ISO members

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Guest View Robert S. Dickman, Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

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a year (single issue : July-August). It is available in English. Annual subscription 158 Swiss Francs Individual copies 16 Swiss Francs

Main Focus

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ISO Focus is published 11 times

Aerospace : the new frontier

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Manager : Anke Varcin Editor : Elizabeth Gasiorowski-Denis Artwork : Pascal Krieger and Pierre Granier ISO Update : Dominique Chevaux Subscription enquiries : Sonia Rosas ISO Central Secretariat Telephone + 41 22 749 03 36 Fax + 41 22 749 09 47 E-mail [email protected] © ISO, 2005. All rights reserved. The contents of ISO Focus are copyright and may not, whether in whole or in part, be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission of the Editor.

ISSN 1729-8709 Printed in Switzerland Cover photo : ISO. ISO Focus October 2005

• Space technologies in accident detection and warning of natural disasters • Meeting the needs of the space technology industry • Reducing orbiting space debris • Space systems – Safety requirements • The launch business: Standard formats for launch vehicle – spacecraft interface documents • International collaboration makes a deep impact in space • ISO standards as a launch pad • Standards for the evolving market of air cargo and aircraft ground equipment • Aircraft hydraulic systems • More electrical power please • Airbus : flying high with ISO standards

38 Developments and Initiatives • Workshop advances ISO 9001:2000 guidelines for local government • Vamas contributing to international standards in the materials sector

42 New this month • ISO 22000 / The ISO Survey 2004 / New ISO members

45 Coming up

Comment Aeronautics and space : high on ISO’s agenda T

“ By encouraging all possible users of ISO standards to participate in our work, we will be able to obtain optimal efficiency in the development of better telecommunications, weather prediction or satellite-based air navigation.” It is a source of pride for ISO that International Standards are at the heart of this activity. Globalization drives the demand for standards, and the aerospace industry was in the vanguard of globalization. The scope of standards involved ranges from the technical relating to interoperability, quality and safety of components and equipment to management systems and environmental impact. Beyond the function of International Standards to facilitate fair and equitable trade and to remove technical barriers, in the specialized atmosphere of the aerospace industry, harmonized standards are quite as necessary to ensure that products and parts can be

produced and integrated in a reliable and cost-effective manner. Vital, too, in a market-driven commercial environment of airline alliances, and working with an imperative of passenger safety, is the interchangeability and interoperability of equipment, the smooth interface of systems and the facilitation of maintenance. ISO technical committee ISO/ TC 20, Aircraft and space vehicles, provides a resource-effective way of monitoring standards activities across the aerospace industry through stakeholders’ participation in its activities. From the International Civil Aviation Organization, International Air Transport Association, Airports Council International, to the World Meteorological Organization, TC 20 maintains close ties with 19 organizations representing users/customers, service providers, researchers and regulators, in addition to the air and space vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. By encouraging all possible users of ISO standards to participate in our work, we will be able to obtain optimal efficiency in the development of better telecommunications, weather prediction or satellite-based air navigation. We will be able to ensure the reliable integration of international space programmes in a cost-effective manner, and to obtain increased all-round quality from the optimization of the supply chain as a result of international harmonization of technical and process standards, where the best expertise in the world has been taken into account. The December 2004 tsunami disaster, for example, demonstrated the extent that space technologies can contribute to emergency response and disaster reduction. The use of such technologies has been proven useful in the risk assessment, mitigation and preparedness phases of disaster management. As the global community – from

the United Nations to the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) – learnt from the tsunami event, space technologies have also a central role to play in providing early warning to communities that are at risk. Indeed, ISO/TC 20 has a pivotal role to play in this development and, to this end, must continue its good dialogue and cooperation with Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and UN organizations in the effective use of space technology. Our world continues to hold high expectations of aerospace and demands ever more. The aviation and space industries, as well as their relevant stakeholders and users, continue to set their own high standards. This issue of ISO Focus shows how innovation through standardization is actually working, and how it helps to cross new technological frontiers in safety and quality. An exciting programme, which will remain high on ISO’s agenda !

© P. Krieger, ISO

he very success and prodigious achievements of the international aerospace industry have made high expectations the norm. The aviation industry doubles in size every 10 years in terms of air travel and aerospace IT provides a whole new generation of products every three or four years. Aeroplanes may have more than one million parts and may be priced in excess of USD 150 million and can have a design life of 30-plus years. In the realm of space, a deep-solar system orbiter or lander provides crystal-sharp images on cue from distances of up to a staggering 1 500 million kilometres.

Alan Bryden ISO Secretary-General

ISO Focus October 2005

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World Scene World Space Week

a 35-page reform document establishing a new Peacebuilding Commission.

Around 50 nations are participating in World Space Week (WSW), the largest public space event, from 4-10 October 2005.

This year’s theme, “ Discovery and Imagination ”, chosen by the Spaceweek International Association in coordination with the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, is dedicated to science and astronomy and imagination.

Strategies for people with disabilities ISO was represented at the sixth session of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities in August 2005. The Ad Hoc Committee reached its goal of discussing issues related to children with disabilities, education, accessibility and personal mobility and developed a draft convention spelling out a detailed code of implementation. Other issues covered included the right to health, rehabilitation and work, social security and adequate standards of living, and participation in political, public and cultural life, as well as leisure and sport. The committee called for stronger inter-agency cooperation from the UN system and the organizations in attendance.

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ISO Focus October 2005

ISO submitted a report on its work relating to persons with disabilities, including International Standards work such as ISO/IEC Guide 71:2001, Guidelines for standards developers to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities.

A free copy can be downloaded at www. consumersinternational. org

Millennium Summit + 5 World leaders concluded the largest summit in United Nations history on 16 September 2005, resolving to take action on a wide range of global issues, from boosting development in poor countries through debt relief and lowering of trade barriers, to peace and security.

For more information : www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/

Trade, standards and the consumer Consumers International (CI) recently published the report “ Decision Making in the Global Market: Trade, Standards and the Consumer ”, the result of a two-year research project to better understand the decisionmaking processes in trade and standard setting.

Some 150 Heads of State attending the three-day gathering in New York pledged to give a new momentum to achieving the millennium development goals set by the UN five years ago, of halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.

It states that the focus behind this process has shifted towards increasing trade or avoiding trade disputes, rather than protecting the consumer’s interests.

Though an additional USD 50 billion a year to fight poverty was pledged for Africa’s special needs and for integrating its countries in the international trading system, there was no commitment that rich countries should meet the 0.7% of GDP aid target.

CI believes that international standards are essential for the global market to benefit all and aims to improve the understanding of the roles played by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and ISO. The research examines CI’s participation in ISO and IEC, analyzing their roles within the context of other international bodies such as WTO, and assesses the possible impact of ISO’s expanding scope, that remit to include the environment,

Acknowledging that peace, security, development and human rights were central pillars of the UN, the summit adopted

For information : www.un.org/summit2005 © ISO

Tackling the ‘ digital divide ’ From 16-18 November 2005, Tunis will host phase 2 of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). This next phase of WSIS will focus on bridging the so-called “digital divide” and through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), help achieve social and economic goals in developing nations, in line with the UN millennium development goal of building an IT society accessible to all. More than 100 national delegations and numerous other stakeholders, including international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and business entities, are expected to attend the summit, which will additionally allow Tunisia the chance to show what it has to offer as a location for IT outsourcing. The role of International Standards in contributing to the development of a global Information Society was acknowledged at the first phase of WSIS, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 2003. It is expected that the importance of International Standards will also emerge at the second phase in Tunis. For more information : www.itu.int/wsis/

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For more information : www.spaceweek.org

ISO’s Committee on Consumer Policy (COPOLCO) is dedicated to improving and increasing consumer participation in the national and international standardization process. To ensure that the voice of the consumer is heard in the development of ISO standards, COPOLCO channels consolidated views from consumers both on current projects and on proposals for new work in areas of interest to them.

It also highlighted the need for effective mechanisms to promote and monitor implementation on an international level that meets the needs of all countries.

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The importance of science and space technology and ISO’s role in this area is emphasized in this month’s Main Focus (see page 7).

social responsibility, e-commerce and complaints handling.

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Since WSW was inaugurated in 1999 by the United Nations, the annual event has celebrated science and technology and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition.

Several ISO technical committees and subcommittees develop standards that can contribute to implementing the millennium development goals, including ISO/ TC 224, Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems, ISO/TC 207, Environmental management as well as the ISO working group responsible for developing guidelines on social responsibility.

ISO Scene

The inaugural meeting of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 229, Nanotechnologies, the engineering of tiny machines on the nanometer scale (usually 0.1-100nm), will be held 9-11 November 2005 in London, United Kingdom. The meeting is being organized by the British Standards Institution (BSI), which holds the Chair and Secretariat of ISO/TC 229, with support from the United Kingdom Government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Key note speeches at the opening ceremony will be made by Lord Sainsbury, the Minister for Science and Innovation, Mike Low, Director of BSI British Standards, and Professor Mark Welland, of the Royal Society. According to the committee’s scope, ISO/TC 229 will produce standards for classification, terminology and nomenclature, basic metrology, calibration and certification, and environmental issues. Test methods will focus on physical, chemical, structural, and biological properties of materials or devices whose performance is critically dependent on one or more dimension less than 100 nm. “ The work of TC 229 will have such a significant impact on the way we all live and a major influence on commerce, helping business to act responsibly,” says Mike Low, in the introduction to the meeting brochure. This is the first time that international delegates of ISO/ TC 229 will come together since the committee was established by the ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) at its June 2005 meeting. For more information : www.bsi-global.com

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DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung, ISO member for Germany, has taken on the role of lead manager in the joint project “ Standard : IS Service standards in successful internationalization strategies ”. This research project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), and has a total budget of EUR 1 730 000, including research funding worth EUR 1 010 000, and will run for three years. It is the goal of the BMBF research programme “ Export potential and internationalization of services ” to help the German services sector become as successful as the German manufacturing industry in the export market. To date, international trade in services has grown by only 9,2 %, while exports of goods grew by 44,3 %. Services account for 13,3 % of all exports from Germany, whereas they make up 25 % of all exports from the USA. Standardization plays an essential role in internationalization strategies, and should similarly help service providers compete for a share of the global market.

Security, mechanical seals and 45-foot containers ISO technical committee ISO/ TC 104, Freight containers, held its annual plenary meeting earlier this year in London, United Kingdom. The main topics for discussion included security of container transportation, the publication of a new version of ISO/PAS 17712 on mechanical seals for freight containers, and the introduction of 45-foot containers – used for intermodal transport – into the existing standards. In a subsequent interview, Chair of ISO/TC 104 Michael Bohlman said of the successful meeting that “ the most significant of decisions were those that will lead to the inclusion of the 45-foot containers in the ISO Series 1 series of containers.” ISO freight container standards are recognized worldwide by a number of organizations including the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association (ICHCA). Michael Bohlman, who is also Vice Chair of ICHCA International’s International Safety Panel, will attend the Association’s 28 th Cargo Handling Conference in March 2006 in Singapore. The theme of the Conference, “ Cargo Handling in the Globalized Marketplace”, will focus on the growth in containerized trade in Asia and the implications for change in cargo handling methods, procedures and equipment this growth engenders. For more information : www.ichcainternational.co.uk/

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Nanotechnologies – inaugural meeting

Conformity assessment for sustainable development and trade

“ Standard:IS ” encourages businesses or standards organizations to use standardization work to support the internationalization of service industries and to increase their export potential. For more information : www2.din.de

ISO and its member for Japan, the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC), sponsored a workshop on conformity assessment for sustainable development and trade in Manila, Philippines, on 1-2 August 2005. The workshop provided information on the updated International Standards and guides that set out the internationally agreed practices for conformity assessment activities, and targeted among others, senior trade policy specialists, economists, standardization officials and certification bodies from members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The workshop was attended by key figures from industry and organizations involved in the conformity assessment process, including the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry for the Philippines, one of the workshop host bodies. Following the workshop, ISO President Prof. Masami Tanaka made a speech at a meeting of the ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) in Manila, where he emphasized the fact that “ ISO’s role in facilitating world trade is increasingly expanding ”. He also praised the “great efforts made by ASEAN members to harmonize national and International Standards, in order to reach a conformity assessment with end goal of ‘ one standard, one test, accepted everywhere’ ”. For more information : contact Joyce Bleeker, Project Manager, ISO Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) : [email protected]

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Service standards research project

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Guest View © AIAA

Robert S. Dickman R

obert S. Dickman is the Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a professional membership technical society with more than 35 000 members in 79 countries. He is the third Executive Director since AIAA’s formation in 1963. Mr. Dickman was born in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in New Jersey and entered the Air Force in 1966 from the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programme at Union College, Schenectady, New York. His career spans the space business from basic research in particle physics to command of the 45 Space Wing and Director of the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He served as the Department of Defense Space Architect and the senior military officer at the National Reconnaissance Office. He retired from active duty in 2000 as a major general. From 2002 to 2005, he was Deputy for Military Space in the Office of the Undersecretary of the Air Force. Mr. Dickman has graduate degrees in Space Physics and Management and is a distinguished graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Naval War College. He has received the Defense and Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, the Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service award, the National Reconnaissance Office Gold Medal, was the National Space Club’s Astronautics Engineer of the Year and selected as one of Space News “100 Who Made a Difference.”

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ISO Focus October 2005

“ ISO provides the most widely recognized mechanism for promulgating standards among nations.” ISO Focus : How has the mission of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), with nearly 75 years of history, evolved to meet the needs of today’s global aerospace industry ? What set of goals would you like to accomplish in your term as Executive Director of AIAA? Robert S. Dickman : AIAA has a well deserved reputation for being the focal point for aerospace technology topics, issues and practices. Our 35 000-plus members in 65 regional sections and 79 countries are drawn from all levels of industry, academia, private research organizations, and government. It is a compelling fact : every major achievement in aerospace history can be linked to an AIAA member.

As the industry shifts from a focus on “ higher, faster, farther ” to creating greater value in a wide variety of sectors, AIAA is relating to a more diverse community of professionals. However, our core role, as codified in our new mission statement, is still to advance the state of aerospace science, engineering, and technological leadership. We are by no means abandoning our core technical strengths. Rather, we are broadening our scope to include today’s professionals in emerging fields. Our 20-plus conferences per year range from fundamental aerospace science to systems of systems applications and public policy forums. Our publications are changing. We’ve launched our first all-electronic journal, called Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information and Communication. We want to create awareness of the value of aerospace technology in new applications and markets. My goals are pretty straightforward, although it will take the best efforts of our volunteer members and our staff to achieve them. And, obviously, they are aligned to achieve the broader goals established by our Board of Directors. First, we must remain the vehicle of choice for aerospace and related professionals to exchange information, largely through our conferences, sympo-

Finally, I believe we need to grow – in members, in international scope, in diversity and in skill sets. We can’t continue to lead unless our membership mirrors the changes we’re seeing in this evolving profession.

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ISO Focus : Besides operating extensive standard setting activities for space applications in its own right, why does AIAA participate in the ISO standards-making process ? Can you please comment on the benefits of participation in ISO ?

sia, standards committees, books, journals, our magazine and our public policy initiatives.

AIAA recognizes that the aerospace industry in all of its sectors is becoming more international in scope. Technology is being exchanged in many ways as this process moves along. Standardization is one of the leading methods for recognizing shared technology among business partners. It is also one of the safest means for accomplishing a goal that industrial partners and govern-

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Second, we must provide the resources for aerospace professionals and the profession to grow – those in the profession now, and those youngsters that we help attract to the profession.

lished group deals with standardization aimed at reducing space debris generation and mitigating its impacts on the orbital environment.

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Third, we must be an articulate, credible, accessible voice of the profession, speaking out on issues that matter to our members and society.

Robert S. Dickman : In 1992, following a great deal of outreach and planning, ten space-faring nations around the world agreed to form an ISO committee dedicated to space systems and operations, ISO/TC 20/SC 14. These nations further recommended that AIAA manage the committee by serving as the Secretariat on behalf of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). For more than thirteen years AIAA has successfully led the effort to set the international space standards agenda. SC 14 currently has a work programme of over 100 projects, with more than seventy space standards already published. An eleventh nation has joined the committee as a participating member. Seven working groups have been established focusing on topics such as design engineering, operations, and programme management. The most recently estab-

ment agencies, both those who support the technology and those who regulate it, wish to reach. ISO provides the most widely recognized mechanism for promulgating standards among nations. There is a fine balance between competition and cooperation, especially in an industry that does not have large production or a broad customer base. Nevertheless, standardization has a vital role in the fields of safety, communications, test methods, material compatibility, system interfaces, and risk management. The ISO process offers an effective means for participating nations to exchange their respective needs on these topics and come to a result that is mutually beneficial and in which the public can have confidence. AIAA has found that the combination of an international standards programme blended with a national ISO Focus October 2005

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Guest View programme provides an ideal mechanism for advancing technology in an appropriate manner. The result of this approach has been a clearer path to the development and promulgation of shared methods and requirements. ISO Focus : In an Institute whose membership focuses on emerging technologies in aviation, space and defense, what do you see as being the right moment for the development of standards for new technologies ? Can standards act as a vehicle for the dissemination of innovation ? Are there areas for which standards can help the industry move forward ? Robert S. Dickman : Identifying the most appropriate moment to standardize around a given topic is highly dependant on the underlying technology. For instance, in the area of space data transfer (ISO/TC 20/SC 13) – which is rooted in fast-moving information technology – it is important to be constantly evolving to meet ever-growing communication demands on our spacecraft. Standardization based on current stateof-the-art information technology could result in obsolescence of the standard even before it can be deployed. With this in mind, SC 13 is in fact developing new space information technology in anticipation of both future international mission requirements and the future state of terrestrial information technology. In such a case, the standard and the mission requirements must evolve in parallel so that they are able to converge at the right time to match their terrestrial counterparts. A good example of this approach is the development of “ Space Internet ” capabilities. Standards development began in the mid-1990s and is expected to converge with missions that are launched in 2010 and beyond. Obviously, this approach requires a carefully conceived and planned long-term technology and standards development strategy to ensure adequate time for new, standardized approaches to be demonstrated and for appropriate infrastructure development.

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ISO Focus : What trends, challenges and issues do you see on the horizon for aerospace standards ? What standards would you like to see coming out of ISO to help the industry in its next frontier ?

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“ISO can serve to bridge the gap between technology sectors that contribute to successful aerospace initiatives and the aerospace industry itself.” In contrast, standards being developed for space systems hardware and operations (SC 14) tend to harmonize that which is already known about technologies that are slower to evolve. Such technologies are usually subjected to extensive periods of flight qualification and are used to the very limit of their ability to support mission requirements. SC 14 standards then, for the most part, focus on improving these existing technologies and methodologies by documenting lessons learned at the international level in their development and implementation. This type of standardization is equally as important to ensure future systems are built on a solid foundation of heritage knowledge that results in higher quality and reliability of the end product. Case in point, NASA’s recently unveiled exploration architecture will draw heavily on heritage hardware and techniques to achieve its goal. Current international standards can benefit this development cycle in that they have captured much of the knowledge gained from the earlier programmes while evolving to reflect the current state-of-the-art. Clearly, the nature of standardization itself has changed. Some standards follow the traditional model of codifying existing, well proven techniques while others stretch the limit of new technology so as to be current and relevant at the time of their deployment.

Robert S. Dickman : All effective international standardization must be led by the parties affected by it. They must be willing to identify the priorities as well as contribute to the technology for such documents to be written and reviewed. I believe that future commercial space will include more internationally cooperative programmes. The standards used in these programmes will not necessarily be developed specifically for the aerospace industry, but their role will be crucial. ISO can serve to bridge the gap between technology sectors that contribute to successful aerospace initiatives and the aerospace industry itself. For instance, current IT standards, such as IP and plug and play interface models will play an increasingly important role in future aerospace endeavours. The most beneficial standards will be those that contribute to cost control and system safety and robustness. Wherever common practices can be used in place of new technology, the cost of very expensive undertakings can be contained. We have already seen in recent entrepreneur-initiated space programmes the benefit of the use of established technology. Both re-examination and sharing of proven safety practices will assure the public that aerospace programmes can be conducted safely. While it is difficult and dangerous to attempt to predict the future course of aerospace, it is clear that parts of the industry are moving toward a more network-centric baseline. Such an approach requires standardization in order to ensure interoperability among disparate users. Robust standardization at the network layer provides a level playing field and allows industry to compete at the application layer. Whether the necessary standards are developed at the international level within ISO or other specialty standards development organizations (SDOs) will ultimately be determined by the requirements of the end user.

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Main Focus

Aerospace :

the new frontier Space technologies in accident detection and warning of natural disasters by François Abram, Technical Programme Manager, ISO Central Secretariat

T

he 26 th of December 2004 is a date that will remain engraved in every memory –the date of the terrible tsunami that swept through the whole of South-East Asia. The international community was deeply moved and efforts were widely mobilized to organize aid. At the same, people dis-

covered – or rediscovered – just how vulnerable the inhabitants of our planet are to natural disasters. The period since this date has been one of intense international diplomatic activity. On 19 January 2005, the UN General Assembly approved what might be described as an historic resolution, namely resolution 59/279 calling for the strengthening of emergency relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and prevention in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. In this resolution, the Assembly recognized not only the need to implement all possible actions to deal with this one specific catastrophe, but also the need to introduce programmes to predict and prepare for all catastrophes. In particular, the resolution refers to : “... the importance of the promotion of public education, awareness and community participation in disaster prevention and preparedness, particularly at local level, as well as the pressing need to develop and promote

national and regional capacity and access to technology and knowledge in building and managing a regional early warning system and in disaster management, through national and regional efforts as well as through international cooperation and partnership...”

“ An international study revealed that half the world’s population lives in a zone with a high probability of one or more major disasters.” During the period 18-22 January 2005, an important international conference on disaster reduction was organized at Kobe in Japan by the Inter-agency secretariat of the UN/ISDR. This meeting was attended by delegations from 160 countries and 184 organizations with a total of 2 900 delegates. ISO Focus October 2005

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© Geneva, December 2004, P. Krieger

Main Focus

An international study commissioned in March by the World Bank revealed that half the world’s population lives in a zone where there is a high probability of one or more major disasters, the most serious of these being floods and drought and, to a lesser degree, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, followed by volcanic eruptions, landslides and the like. On 30 June 2005, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO decided to set up an intergovernmental coordination group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS). The first meeting of the group was scheduled to be held in Perth, Australia, during the period 3-5 August 2005. At its meeting held at Gleneagles on 7 July 2005, the G8 also made a declaration on the question of the reduction of the risk of natural disasters, as well as expressing views on related top-

“ Space technologies can contribute much useful information for the monitoring, detection, observation and the organization of aid.”

ics such as climate change, clean energy and sustainable development, and development aid for Africa. The G8 took note of the relevant activities of various intergovernmental organizations, gave its advice on a number of issues and, in particular, affirmed the role of GEOSS (see box on page 9) as follows : • Early warning systems should cover as many hazards as possible, not just tsunamis, and they should build on existing systems at national and regional levels, and seek to fill any gaps. • We affirm the role of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), where key national and intergovernmental operators of earth observation systems as well as UN agencies, such as the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission participate to ensure a coordinated and compatible monitoring capacity, that balances the need to gather data on a global scale with the need for rapid and effective dissemination. A number of intergovernmental and other organizations are also involved, including particularly the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which is well known for its activities in connection with weather, climate and water. In a short article such as this, it is impossible to do justice to the work of all these organizations. ISO itself has set up a study group and reviewed its activities in this regard. Contributions are possible in various fields, such as personal identification (JTC1/SC 17), equipment for

fire protection and fire fighting (ISO/ TC 21), fire safety (ISO/TC 92), protective clothing and equipment (ISO/ TC 94), civil defence (ISO/TC 223) to mention but a few examples. Numerous standards are already available.

“ ISO and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems contribute by facilitating the capture, transmission and archiving of space data.” ISO also has a technical committee (ISO/TC 20) concerned with aerospace standards. Its work, for example relating to data gathering and transmission, appears to be very useful and it could be further promoted and developed. The object of this article is primarily to draw together information, thoughts and guidance relating to the use of aerospace technologies within the framework of actions connected with natural disasters.

International Charter – Space and Major Disasters Following the UNISPACE III conference held in Vienna, Austria in July 1999, the European and French space agencies (ESA and CNES) initiated the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters”, with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) signing the Charter on October 20, 2000. In September of 2001, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) also became members of the Charter. The Argentine Space Agency (CONAE) joined in July 2003. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) became a member in February 2005.

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The International Charter aims at providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters through authorized users. Each member agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter and thus is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property.

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ISO Focus October 2005

The International Charter was declared formally operational on November 1, 2000. www.disasterscharter.org/main_e.html

Aerospace : the new frontier

Group on Earth Observation

© National Geographic

On 31 July 2003, 33 nations plus the European Commission adopted a Declaration that signifies political commitment to move toward development of a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observation system(s). The Earth Observation Summit attracted a distinguished group of government dignitaries from around the world who are committed to significantly advancing our collective ability to gather Earth observation data. This summit, joined by 21 international organizations, recalled the commitments of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg 2002 (WSSD), as well as a meeting of the Heads of State of the Group of 8 Industrialized Countries Summit in June 2003 in Evian, France, both of which affirmed the importance of Earth Observation as a priority activity.

Detecting and giving warning of disasters It is most certainly necessary to uphold the G8 view that it is desirable to take into consideration all major disasters, i.e. not just so-called natural disasters but also those connected with human activities. This is a view that corresponds to the wishes of the international community. It is also supported by the activities of another organization called International Charter “ Space and Major Disasters ”. (see box on page 8) Thus, the catastrophes to be taken into account may concern not only natural disasters such as : • floods • droughts • hurricanes • volcanic eruptions • earthquakes • landslides • tsunamis • torrential rains • heat waves and cold spells • swarms of locusts

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The Earth Observation Summit established the ad hoc intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (ad hoc GEO), co-chaired by the European Commission, Japan, South Africa, and the USA, and tasked it with the development of an initial 10-Year Implementation Plan by February 2005. The ad hoc GEO established five technical subgroups and a small secretariat. A series of subgroup meetings and a plenary meeting led to a Framework Document, negotiated in Cape Town and adopted at the Second Earth Observation Summit in Tokyo in April 2004 by 43 countries and the European Commission, joined by 25 international organizations. The Framework defines the scope and intent of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). A small task team was charged by the ad hoc GEO with the drafting of the 10-Year Plan, building on inputs from the subgroups and other sources. The GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan establishes the intent, operating principles, and institutions relating to GEOSS. It is supported by a longer Reference Document, which is consistent with the Plan and provides substantive detail necessary for implementation. The Plan was negotiated by the ad hoc GEO in Ottawa in November 2004, and adopted at the third Earth Observation Summit in Brussels, in February 2005. The Reference Document was extensively reviewed by technical experts, countries, and international organizations. The Third Earth Observation Summit established the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Membership in GEO is open to all member States of the United Nations and to the European Commission. GEO welcomes as Participating Organizations intergovernmental, international, and regional organizations with a mandate in Earth observation or related activities, subject to approval by Members. GEO may invite other relevant entities to participate in its activities as observers. José Achache, Director of the GEO Secretariat For more information, contact : Secretariat Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Case postale 2300 CH-1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland

Telephone + 41 22 730 8505 Fax + 41 22 730 85 20 E-mail [email protected] http://earthobservations.org

• meteorites ISO Focus October 2005

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Main Focus but also risks such as : • forest fires • discharge of hazardous products or pollutants into the sea • explosions of dangerous materials Such disasters may be detected, depending on their nature : • by a national civil protection service • by UNESCO/IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) for tsunami early warning systems • by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CNTBTO) • by weather forecasting services • by space agencies, etc. Warnings can be transmitted quickly by Internet, mobile phone networks and the like. However, various questions arise. Who should be contacted (e.g. civil protection services, the public concerned or affected) ? What information should be communicated to avoid creating panic ? A meeting of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) will be held on this subject in Bonn (Germany) during the period 27-29 March 2006.

Space technologies : preparing for disasters Space technologies can contribute a great deal of useful information for the monitoring, detection, observation and the organization of aid. For example, in the case of eruptive volcanoes such as

About the author

© P. Krieger, ISO

François Abram, Technical Programme Manager, ISO Central Secretariat

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ISO Focus October 2005

“ The need to pool satellite resources for catastrophic events has led to the creation of the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’.” Pinatubo, radar observations made it possible to divert air traffic in good time and to warn the countries concerned of the arrival of clouds of ash. However, virtually no country has enough satellites of its own that are both suitable and sufficiently powerful. Depending on the case, it is necessary to rely on sightings, to use radar images for observations at night or through cloud, to measure ocean heights (tsunamis) or ground movements (volcanoes, earthquakes) or to obtain highly detailed images, or information with low polar orbit satellites in order to focus relief efforts in the case of floods, landslides and forest fires. To ensure continuous coverage of events, it is necessary to keep several satellites in orbit over the scene of the disaster. The perception of the need to pool satellite resources for catastrophic events has led to the creation of the International Charter “ Space and Major Disasters”. This Charter concerns the use of space technologies in the event of natural or man-made disasters and it presently combines the resources of seven space agencies and space operators (see box). Cooperation is available for the civil protection services of all countries through authorized users, which may be national or international organizations (United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), EU).

The Charter has been activated at least once for some fifty countries and it is sometimes activated for international zones. In the case of marine pollution, it was used in the Galapagos Islands (26 January 2001), in Lebanon (30 March 2001), in Denmark (30 March 2001), in the Gulf of Aden (6 October 2002) and in Spain on the coasts of Galicia (14 November 2002). It has been used for forest fires, floods, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, as well as for the train explosion at Ryonchon in North Korea (23 April 2004). Finally, the Charter was able to supply around 400 images for the tsunami in South-East Asia.

Mutual cooperation for improved disaster relief It is comforting to see that the international community broadly approves the aim of coming to the aid of people in distress in the wake of disasters. It is desirable to sustain this spirit of mutual cooperation and to respond by contributing logistical resources. ISO and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) make their contribution by facilitating the capture, transmission and archiving of space data. The use of these technologies depends on appropriate means of data reception (ftp sites, etc) and special preparation and training. The archive services can also assist by providing older data for purposes of comparison. The outcome of all this can be a better knowledge and evaluation of the impact and a greater control of human activities. The world has a vast fund of experience that can be pooled to alleviate human suffering and limit the damage caused by disasters. We can improve our methods by exchanging information and sharing experiences. The cooperation that already exists in Europe (for example, between various branches such as the emergency services, fire departments, coastguards and so on) is useful not only for the country which is the victim of the disaster but also for the country providing aid, by offering its own emergency services an occasion for live training in the field.

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Aerospace : the new frontier

Scope and breadth The names of the working groups are a good summary of the large scope and breadth of the topics currently being pursued. The specific subcommittee working groups are : SC 13, Space Data and Information Transfer Systems : 1. Systems Engineering 2. Mission Operations & Information Management Services 3. Cross Support Services 4. Spacecraft Onboard Interfaces Services 5. Space Link Services 6. Space Internetworking Services

Meeting the needs of the space technology industry by Gael F. Squibb, Chair, ISO/TC 20/SC 14, Space Systems and Operations

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hen compared to other more mature and established industries, such as the aircraft sector, space business is still in the very beginning of its development. A look at current industry projects on space-technology.com reveals news of nine different civil satellites, five ground stations, eight launch systems and locations, five military satellites and 17 highly specialized and very different spacecraft. This is the sort of heterogeneity combined with small scale which characterized civil aviation in its infancy. Space related systems and components are still not commonplace, nor do we mass produce spacecraft. Each spacecraft still has unique components, but by finding common functions that can be standardized, ISO is serving the

industries that are part of the international space community. That community embraces a dynamic and exciting industry which experiences growth and changes each and every year.

SC 14, Space Systems and Operations :

Immunity with rapid response

3. Operations and Ground Support

The principal challenge is to be able to develop standards that are relatively immune to the rapidly changing technology and mission mix of the space industry. The standardization management structure must enable rapid response to the needs of the space community. For instance, new standards were rapidly put in place to support recent Mars missions so that orbiting spacecraft and landed rovers operated by different organizations could interoperate over “proximity link” communications paths. ISO/TC 20/SC 13 and SC 14 are the principal bodies for ISO space standards development. SC 13 develops standards related to space data and information transfer systems, while SC 14 develops standards related to space systems and operations. Between the two subcommittees, virtually all of the standards relative to space systems design, operations and communications are produced.

5. Programme Management

1. Design Engineering & Production 2. Interfaces, Integration, and Test

4. Space Environment

6. Materials and Processes 7. Orbital Debris

“ ISO is serving the industries that are part of the international space community.” The current programme of work for these groups can be referenced under TC 20/SC 13 and TC 20/SC 14 on the ISO Web site. Together they have generated and published well over 100 ISO standards. The subcommittees have started having joint meetings at the working group level during the last few years in order to more closely align their work. To further integrate and enhance their effectiveness, SC 13 and SC 14 have jointly generated a draft ISO Business Plan. ISO Focus October 2005

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Main Focus cessive spacecraft have common features that are inefficient to redesign from scratch each time one is needed, plus each has a relatively high cost when compared with a more traditional industrial production. In the area of space-to-ground communications, the use of International Standards brings the additional benefit of interoperability between spacecraft and ground systems operated by different organizations. This has important safety and reliability implications and has even led to one organization recovering a faulty spacecraft on behalf of another.

A strong suite of standards ISO is actively involved in supporting the space community with a strong suite of space related standards. The two ISO “ space ” subcommittees are established, healthy and growing. They have generated an impressive number of useful standards.

Global market, global savings The scope of the market covered by the two subcommittees includes the entire spectrum of the space systems industry and covers the complete life cycle of a space project or programme (i.e. from concept development, through implementation, testing, launch, operation and asset disposal). The global market, includes satellite systems, launch systems, ground systems, manufacturing and the service sector which supports these commodities. From 2001 to 2003, it was estimated that the annual market grew by 15.3 percent per year – a remarkable achievement during an economic period which is acknowledged as being “ sluggish ”. A 2004 analysis by the Satellite Industry Association suggests that the world market for space systems is now between USD 91 billion and USD 196 billion per annum. Each one percent saving on those figures is thus equivalent to at least around USD 1 billion – the cost of a medium-sized space mis-

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ISO Focus October 2005

“Space missions benefit greatly by standardizing systems that are required by multiple spacecraft and ground systems.” sion – so reducing development and operations cost by the application of standards produces a direct and quantitative benefit.

Standardization has wider effect However, space standardization has an effect that is much wider than simple cost reduction, such as the involvement of many more countries in space enterprises and the establishment of educational space projects. It has long been realized that as international enterprises, space missions benefit greatly by standardizing systems that are required by multiple spacecraft and ground systems. This is not because there is a market for millions of identical items. Instead, suc-

For more information on the draft business plan or information regarding either subcommittee contact Mr. Craig Day, [email protected].

About the author Gael F. Squibb is Chair of ISO/ TC 20/SC 14, Space Systems and Operations. Mr. Squibb is an internationally recognized expert in the field of space operations and space operations standards. He managed the NASA Deep Space Network and all NASA deep space missions in their flight phase while at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL – the leading US center for robotic exploration of the solar system). Mr. Squibb also worked at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) on the ISO project for two years and managed the Chandra Science Centre at the Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics from 1991 to 1993.

Aerospace : the new frontier

Reducing orbiting space debris by Dr. Emma Taylor, United Kingdom lead, ISO/TC 20/SC 14, Orbital Debris Coordination Working Group

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rbital space debris is created when an orbiting space object or part of a space object is no longer functioning. Examples include fragments produced by a satellite launcher upper stage (“ rocket body”) explosion, typically caused by residual on-board energetic propellants. In most Earth orbital regions, orbiting space debris created as a by-product of space activities remains in orbit for a long period of time (typically more than 25-50 years). It is generally perceived that orbiting space debris does not pose a substantial hazard to satellite operations, and therefore, does not need to be considered as a major risk. At this time, very few operational satellites have failed as a proven result of debris impact, and most do not carry out collision avoid-

ance manoeuvres against large debris objects. However, each satellite that is left in orbit once it has finished operations becomes a potentially significant source of many new orbiting space debris objects. Debris mitigation measures need to be implemented before the number of objects reaches a level such that satellite operations are threatened, because, once objects have been generated in orbit, they have long orbital lifetimes and cannot be easily removed.

tions have been agreed. In particular, through the efforts of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Co-ordination Committee (IADC) – which represents ten national space agencies and the European Space Agency – consensus was reached in 2002 on guidelines containing measures to be taken to reduce the growth of orbiting space debris. These measures are based on the four general mitigation principles :

Debris mitigation measures


Minimize the potential for on-orbit break-ups ;

The need for preventative action towards mitigation of orbital space debris has been recognized at national and international level by a number of organizations, including the United Nations (UN). Whilst binding agreements on measures to be implemented have not yet been signed, a number of voluntary guidelines and recommenda-


Disposal of post-mission satellites and satellite launchers ; and,


Limit debris during normal operations ;


Prevention of on-orbit collisions. The United Nations discussions on this topic now include these IADC guidelines. At this time, as member states look to ensure that their industries will not be disadvantaged by any new binding ISO Focus October 2005

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ISO/TC 20/SC 14

Main Focus ISO technical committee ISO/ TC 20, Aircraft and space vehicles, subcommittee SC 14, Space systems and operations, has been engaged in the development of standards since 1992, covering all aspects of space system manufacture and operation. Since the publication of the first SC 14 standard in 1994, nearly 75 new space standards have been developed. There are currently more than 30 new standards under development. This level of productivity is maintained by the strong participation of technical experts from 11 of the world’s leading space-faring nations. Since 2003, ISO/TC 20/SC 14 has been engaged with the development of standards to address mitigation of orbiting space debris. The first debris mitigation standards are expected in 2008, with more International Standards, technical specifications or technical reports expected to be published through to 2011-2012.

agreements, and that they will be able to continue space operations of national importance, a number of issues remain to be resolved. At a national level, measures have already been implemented on a caseby-case basis by ISO space-faring member states in line with the measures stated in the IADC guidelines. This push has partly been motivated by the fact that member states are liable (unlimited liability, as defined by a UN treaty) for the damage caused by objects (generally satellites and rockets) launched by them, and registered by them with the UN (again required by UN treaty). Some member states licence space activities, others rely on the implementation of appropriate measures by relevant agencies, who are often guided by agency or government policies. These non-binding guidelines have raised awareness worldwide of the issue, and actions linked to them have reduced the number of new orbiting space debris objects created. However, they do not define mandatory rules (requirements)

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ISO Focus October 2005

“ An internationally-agreed set of ISO documents… is needed to provide a common global framework for interpretation and implementation of debris mitigation measures.”

that must be followed. ISO members can therefore choose to interpret and implement these guidelines at a national level. It is also difficult to judge the likely outcome of the current round of discussions at the United Nations. This can lead to uncertainty when establishing costs and risks for those in the commercial space sector. An internationally-agreed set of ISO documents (International Standards, technical specifications and technical reports) is needed to provide a common global framework for interpretation and implementation of these debris mitigation measures. These documents need to provide a clear and concise framework of design and operational requirements, management and reporting processes, and supporting technical databases of tools, models and reference information.

represent internationally agreed practices for a particular aspect of debris mitigation (e.g. disposal from the geostationary orbit). The ISO/TC 20/SC 14 ODCWG has also been developing liaisons with external agencies involved in debris mitigation, as part of the process of building consensus between all parties, including potential users of the standards. This also helps the standards

“ We will be able to deliver a series of practical and pragmatic standards to address the space sector user needs on debris mitigation.” About the author

Building a common global framework Since 2003, ISO technical committee ISO/TC 20, Aircraft and space vehicles, subcommittee SC 14, Space systems and operations, has been leading the development of standards to interpret and implement these debris mitigation measures. Activities within SC 14 have been planned and coordinated by a new working group, the orbital debris coordination working group (ODCWG). By defining the scope of these standards to be consistent with existing agreed measures, it is anticipated that both ISO members and space sector industry members will use these standards. Each of these standards will

Dr. Emma A. Taylor is a member of the United Kingdom delegation to ISO/TC 20, Aircraft and space vehicles, SC 14, Space systems and operations. She is a consultant to the British National Space Centre on debris standards development, and the Project Lead for one of the current projects on debris mitigation. Dr. Taylor is also a faculty member at the UK’s Open University’s Centre for Earth Planetary Space and Astronomical Research. Her research field is in hypervelocity impact physics.

Aerospace : the new frontier

developers to identify the current level of understanding on the debris environment and effects, and available information on current industry best practice. As of August 2005, two projects have been agreed (scope covering implementation of debris mitigation satellite disposal requirements through the project, including preparation of debris mitigation plans, and also satellite propellant measurement and management in orbit to achieve debris mitigation), and four more new work item proposals (on the topics of satellite disposal from orbit to a graveyard orbit or by re-entry to the Earth’s surface, collision avoidance and information exchange between operators) are currently out for vote. Based on the current schedule, the first International Standard on this topic will be published in 2008, and followed by up to fifteen more International Standards, technical specifications or technical reports, through to 20112012. As a number of topics are not yet mature enough (e.g. supported by current industry best practice) to be developed as standards, it is difficult to estimate at this early stage what the final number of successful projects will be. Building on the excellent working relationships, developed over more than ten years of preparing standards in ISO/ TC 20/SC 14, Space systems and operations, our team members are confident that we will be able to deliver to the ISO community a series of practical and pragmatic standards to address the space sector user needs on debris mitigation.

Space systems – Safety requirements by Henri Baccini, Safety senior expert, CNES, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales

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pace activities, carried out within the framework of outer space treaties adopted by the United Nations, may cause harm to people and damage to public and private property and the earth’s environment. International treaties define the liabilities for damage related to space activities. The variety of professional disciplines linked to space activities and the legal liabilities facing “space” countries require international regulations to protect the earth’s population against the consequences of possible mishaps caused by these activities. Thus, participating countries need to harmonize safety rules, processes, methods and procedures, and to use a common language for safety, to ensure a coherent approach between nations. That is the objective of the series of ISO 14620 standards, under the general title Space systems – Safety requirements.

Basic principles All three International Standards in the series are the result of good team work. All three provide the basic principles to enable any operator to implement its own safety methods, tools, and procedures, to ensure the safety of people and personnel, public and private property, and the earth environment, in a consistent and uniform manner. The standards are intended to be applied by any country, by any international organization, whether intergovernmental or not, and by any agency or operator, undertaking space activities within the framework of outer space treaties adopted by the United Nations.

Compliance with ISO safety policy Part 1, System safety, deals with the overall safety of any space system. It defines the safety programme and the technical safety requirements to be implemented, in order to comply with the safety policy as defined in ISO 14300-2. When applied to space programmes and projects, it is intended to protect flight and ground personnel, the general public, public and private property, the launch vehicle, associated payloads, ground support equipment and the earth environment, from hazard. ISO Focus October 2005

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Main Focus Compliance with the safety policy requires a system safety programme, supported by risk assessment, which can be summarized as follows : • System and environmental hazards in nominal and non-nominal modes (including failure mode) are identified and progressively evaluated by iteratively performing systematic safety analyses • Associated potential hazards are subjected to a hazard elimination and reduction sequence whereby : •

Hazards are eliminated from the system design and operations, as far as possible ;

•

Residual hazards are minimized ;

•

Residual hazard controls are defined, applied and verified.

“ The adequacy of the hazard and risk control measures applied is formally verified in order to support safety validation and risk acceptance.” Remaining risks after the elimination and reduction process are progressively assessed and subjected to risk assessment, in order to : – Show compliance with safety targets – Support design trades – Identify and rank risk contributors – Support apportionment of project resources for risk reduction – Assess risk reduction progress – Support the safety and project decision-making process (e.g. residual risk acceptance, waiver approval). The adequacy of the hazard and risk control measures applied is formally verified in order to support safety validation and risk acceptance.

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ISO Focus October 2005

Safety compliance is assessed by the space project, and safety approval obtained from the relevant authorities.

The launch site Part 2, Launch site operations, establishes the overall safety requirements to be observed on a launch site for pre-launch (integration, test, checking, preparation), and launch operations of a space object. Re-entry operations are excluded. It is intended to be applied by agency, enterprise, manufacturer, customer, designer, operator, facility authority, launch service provider, etc., participating in the activities carried out on or from a launch site, unless more restrictive requirements are imposed by the national regulations in effect on the launch site.

The actual launch Part 3, Flight safety system, relates to the measures to be defined in order to obtain an acceptable safety level during the launch phase of a space vehicle. It sets out the minimum requirements for flight safety systems, including flight termination systems (externally controlled systems or on-board automatic systems), tracking systems, and telemetry data transmitting systems for commercial or non commercial launch activities of orbital or suborbital, unmanned space vehicles. The intent is to minimize the risk of injury or damage to persons, property or the earth environment. One of the benefits of using such standards is that the safety level should be at a comparable value whatever the country, the launch site and the launcher. So, it should become possible to compare the objectives and the results obtained by each country in space safety. Another benefit of using such standards is saving money, essentially by using Part 3. For example, a space project compliant with ISO 14620-3 can use the ground equipment of a foreign country during the launch phase of its space vehicle.

A re-entry standard ? At this time, the series of ISO standards related to safety requirements for space systems is limited to the launch phase of a space vehicle. Because some of those vehicles are designed to perform re-entry, it will be useful to draw on a specific International Standard related to the safety requirements for re-entry. Such a standard should be very close to Part 2 of ISO 14620 due to the analogous nature of the international liability of each country.

“… it will be useful to draw on a specific International Standard related to the safety requirements for re-entry.” With this fourth safety standard, the series of ISO standards related to the safety requirements for space systems will be complete. The international space community should perform space activities with even higher levels of safety.

About the author Henri Baccini is a mathematics graduate of Toulouse University in France and a safety expert. Since 1974 he has worked at CNES, the French Space Agency, during successive Ariane rocket launches. He is in charge of the new central safety department in CNES, a function that he set up in 2003. It includes ground, flight, and earth environment safety, but also space debris and planetary protection.

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Aerospace : the new frontier

The launch business: Standard formats for launch vehicle – spacecraft interface documents by Philippe Boland, Head of French Delegation and Project Leader, TC 20/SC 14, Space Systems and Operations, WG 2, Interfaces, Integration and Tests

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launch vehicle provides the velocity needed by a spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity and set it on its course. The present major commercial launch service providers belong to Europe, Russia and the USA. However, China (very active in the business in the past), Japan and more recently, India, have acquired the technical and organizational capability of performing commercial launches. Agencies operating telecommunications spacecraft needing a new bird in orbit generally contact several launch vehicle service providers, with the intention of selecting an offer that meets their criteria. Spacecraft manufacturers are subsequently bound by launch contracts to the various agencies according to the choice of their respective customers. They are accustomed to exchanging technical information, writing relevant

Glossary Launch : the process of putting a satellite in orbit. Launch vehicle : a rocket used to launch a satellite or spacecraft. Launch vehicle authority : representative(s) of a launch vehicle service provider entitled to take technical or programmatic initiatives concerning the launch vehicle to spacecraft interfaces. Launch system capabilities : performances of the launch vehicle and associated ground facilities in terms of launch campaign efficiency and delivered orbit (payload mass and orbital characteristics). Launch vehicle contractor : representative(s) of a launch vehicle service provider bound by contract with a customer for the launch of a spacecraft. (Continued overleaf)

Glossary (continued)

Main Focus documents, and conducting ground and flight operations, together with international launch teams, whose professional background, training and experience may be considerably different. Additionally, the technology associated with the various vehicles, infrastructures and facilities may vary according to the launch site. For example, ground based launch pads near the equator, or at 45° latitude, or floating platforms in the middle of the ocean, require quite different procedures. Spacecraft teams may have to adapt ground support hardware, change integration procedures and update the associated documentation in order to accommodate the actual situation.

Spacecraft contractor : representative(s) vis-à-vis the launch vehicle contractor of the spacecraft customer (or of the spacecraft manufacturer acting for the customer). Spacecraft interfaces : all technical aspects related to the interaction between spacecraft and launch systems for the following phases addressed in a launch contract : spacecraft preparation with resulting verification analyses and tests, ground operations, launch and flight until separation of the spacecraft from the launch vehicle.

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The need for standardization of interfaces between launch vehicles and spacecraft is convincingly demonstrated by the above description of the overall context associated with spacecraft launches. In order to keep up with the increasing number of launch vehicle agencies working from quite independent technical backgrounds, the first step is to facilitate the exchange of technical information between spacecraft and launch vehicle teams.

“ With only one standard document, spacecraft operators can address launch requests to several launch agencies at the same time.”

Interfacing a spacecraft with a launch vehicle At first, the launch vehicle – spacecraft combination only exists on paper. The spacecraft manufacturer starts by writing a launch request on the basis of the technical information provided in the launch vehicle user’s manual. The launch service provider then comes up with the interface control document, a key document that defines and controls all technical interfaces between the spacecraft and the launch vehicle. The interfacing activity materializes when a series of spacecraft tests dedicated to interfaces with the launch vehicle starts. Usually the testing phase takes place in the few months prior to the transport of the spacecraft to the launch range. This activity includes the qualification tests of the spacecraft to the launch vehicle environment and, possibly, the verification of mechanical and electrical interfaces. Most cases require the participation of launch vehicle experts. The interfacing process happens a few weeks before launch when the spacecraft is being integrated in dedicated facilities located in the vicinity of the launch site and peaks when the spacecraft is finally mated with the launch vehicle. In general, spacecraft operations conducted on the launch base involve both spacecraft and launch vehicle teams.

The need for standardization

All pictures included in this box (pages 17 and 18), © Courtesy of Arianespace

“ A launch vehicle provides the velocity needed by a spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity and set it on its course.”

This objective can be achieved by harmonizing the format of presentation of the various technical documents used in common by launch vehicle and spacecraft people. In practice, a standard table of content is adopted for major documents with an exhaustive list of necessary subjects to be treated and a clear definition of related terms. The objective is to specify the type of information required in relation to a given subject and the way it is presented. In a subsequent step, it is possible to standardize appropriate technical specifications and procedures in such areas as testing or integration. As an example, ISO 15864:2004, General test standard for spacecraft, subsystems and units, defines baseline requirements for testing unmanned spacecraft at system, subsystem or unit level. Finally, it is feasible to define some standards for pieces of hardware or physical interfaces. This last step has not materialized yet in terms of an ISO standard. Specific examples of standards already published or still in progress are provided in the standard formatting process to illustrate how practices of the launch business that were established independently on several continents can merge into a single approach.

Aerospace : the new frontier

Standard format for interface documents A series of three documents proposes a standard presentation format of the overall procedure necessary to define the respective technical requirements of spacecraft and launch vehicle contractors when launching commercial or scientific spacecraft by means of any of the existing commercial launch systems. These standards, though dealing with similar topics, are very complementary because they are each treated from a different perspective. A detailed description of this series was published in the ISO Focus March 2004, and is summarized below. The main subjects incorporate mechanical, electrical, radio frequency and electromagnetic interfaces, launch vehicle and spacecraft mission characteristics, verification analyses and tests, and launch range operations. The information should be provided in drawings and in tabular or narrative format with figures. ISO 14303:2002, Launch vehicle to spacecraft interfaces, includes a comprehensive presentation of the major topics that are usually incorporated in a launch vehicle user’s manual. Written by the launch vehicle authority and intended for use by customers, it contains: a general description of the launch vehicle and launch base char-

About the author Philippe Boland, a member of TC 20/SC 14, Space systems and operations, WG 2, Interfaces, integration and tests is Head of the French Delegation and Project Leader, and studied as a Physicist Engineer and Doctor in Applied Mathematics at the University of Louvain, Belgium. He has worked as a visiting scientist at the University of California San Diego (1974), a research affiliate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena (1975), Attitude control & mission analysis specialist for European Space Agency (1976-1981) and a System studies specialist : Arianespace (1982-mid 2004). Philippe Boland, now retired from Arianespace, is an Expert for the BNAE (Bureau de Normalisation de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace).

acteristics, a detailed presentation of the launch vehicle to spacecraft interfaces and launch facilities to spacecraft interfaces, and an inventory of the launch services. It clearly defines the launch system capabilities and limitations and explains the resulting potential constraints imposed by the launch system on the spacecraft design or integration procedure. ISO 17401:2004, Spacecraft interface requirements document for launch vehicle services, includes the overall requirements of the spacecraft customer for a specific mission, in relation to the launch facilities and services offered by the launch agency as described in the corresponding user’s manual. It is presented in the form of a questionnaire that the space contractor must fill in. The latter will provide a general description of the spacecraft and related mission, detailed information about the spacecraft to launch vehicle and spacecraft to ground facilities interfaces, and the list of requested launch services. ISO 15863:2003, Spacecraft-tolaunch-vehicle interface control document, is the contractual document that verifies and controls the compatibility between the spacecraft and the launch vehicle for a specific mission. It is written by the launch vehicle contractor in response to the interface requirement document submitted by the spacecraft contractor, revised periodically by both parties and amended on the basis of a common agreement. This document specifies the customer dedicated launch vehicle mission, establishes the spacecraft to launch vehicle and spacecraft to launch facilities interfaces, and defines the launch services required in relation to the preparation of the spacecraft and its integration on the launch vehicle.

Standard format for test reports ISO/CD 19933, Format for spacecraft launch environment test report, is at the committee draft stage. It is devoted to launch vehicle agencies for assessment of SC qualification to the launch environmental conditions. The specified format of presentation has been applied satisfactorily for many years by most of the commercial launch vehicle systems in agreement with the worldwide community of spacecraft manufacturers. This document is focused on the definition of the format of test result presentation in order to provide a comprehensive test report within the scope of the launch environment qualification process. In this respect, the definition of test specifications and test requirements is left to launch vehicle user’s manuals. Only those test results that have the major objective of demonstrating the compliance of a given spacecraft design with its launch vehicle environment are taken into consideration.

“ ISO meetings remind us permanently that the scientific language is universal.” The major subjects included in this standard are the following: description of test article physical and functional configurations including deviations from flight configuration; description of test facility configuration including possible constraints and limitations; description of test sequence and methodology, test flow, supporting analyses, input parameters, tolerances, limits, instrumentation and success criteria. The format of presentation of test results is, in general, very specific to the type of test in question. In this context, the format of the test results section is divided in several subsections, corresponding to the common tests that are generally required to qualify spacecraft to the launch vehicle flight environment. Each section contains the format of appropriate tables with a thorough description of the associated parameters. ISO Focus October 2005

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Main Focus The following series of typical tests are considered : static load, modal survey, sine vibration, acoustic noise, random vibration, shock and electromagnetic compatibility. Note that the architecture of the format of ISO/CD 19933 is in line with the overall guidelines of ISO/CD 17566, General test documentation, with the objective of generating a self-contained document. This latter document specifies the format of presentation of spacecraft test plan, test specification, procedure and report. These topics are combined in ISO/CD 19933 to form the comprehensive and compact launch environmental test report requested by launch vehicle service providers.

The benefits of standard formats ISO meetings remind us permanently that the scientific language is universal. Despite their various technical cultures and backgrounds, launch vehicle and spacecraft experts from Brazil, China, Europe, Japan, Russia and the USA have always come to a consensus on the many technical subjects that are discussed at length during the working group meetings. The group first raises the issues of common concepts and similar methods and then examines specificities from individual entities, in order to decide to what extent they can be integrated in future standards. This technique enables standard formats to be adopted on a worldwide basis as they are published. As a result, spacecraft operators and manufacturers have a very efficient way of exchanging technical information with launch vehicle service providers. With only one standard document, spacecraft operators can address launch requests to several launch agencies at the same time, whereas with a unique standard format, spacecraft manufacturers are in a position to control technical interfaces with the various launch service providers they are working with. Obviously this process results in a substantial reduction of workload and associated cost for everyone, and also minimizes the risk of errors, omissions and misunderstandings.

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International collaboration makes a deep impact in space by Dr. John D. Kelley, NASA Headquarters Program Executive for Communications and Data Standards in the Office of Space Operations

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n July 4th of this year, space enthusiasts around the world scanned televisions, computer monitors and the sky hoping to catch a glimpse of NASA’s Deep Impact, the kind of action-packed event in space that most of us here on Earth have only seen in a movie theatre. But as onlookers awaited a sign that the mission’s Volkswagen Beetle-sized impactor had indeed met its target comet, they, along with ISO and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), were making a bit of history themselves. Individuals on the ground, a fleet of space telescopes, and dozens of ground observatories located worldwide made Deep Impact one of the world’s largest astronomical observation campaigns ever. Observers with communications enhanced by ISOCCSDS standards included the Deep

(Top) ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. (Insert) Deep impact from Rosetta. © Courtesy of NASA

Impact spacecraft, space telescopes Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, and SWAS, NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), and even the European Space Agency’s own comet chaser Rosetta. The use of CCSDS-developed standards on these missions, and on others recording the event, also made Deep Impact the most standardized, CCSDS-intensive event in space to date. CCSDS was established in 1982 by ten of the world’s most influential space agencies as a multi-national forum focused on the discussion of common space communications issues. A pathfinder in international collaboration in space since its inception, CCSDS quickly grew into a global organization dedicated to the development of space data communications solutions. As international cooperation in space has grown over the years, so has the need for international standardization. To meet this need, subcommittee SC 13, Space data and information transfer

Aerospace : the new frontier

systems, of ISO’s technical committee ISO/TC 20, Aircraft and space vehicles, was formed to address the standardization of data/information systems associated with space instruments, vehicles and supporting ground facilities. CCSDS has maintained a close working relationship with ISO through TC 20 / SC 13. The value of this relationship is measured in part by the success of multi-mission, multi-agency space events like the one focused on NASA’s Deep Impact mission, and the influence of the relationship evidenced by the increasing number of CCSDS-compatible products developed by the commercial space industry. But perhaps the most important indicator of the success of this relationship thus far is the steady rise in acceptance of ISO-CCSDS standards by mission planners worldwide. To date mission planners on more than 300 national and multinational missions to space have chosen to fly using these standards, including NASA’s Deep Impact mission, ESA’s Rosetta mission, and every spacecraft

associated with the exploration of Mars. CCSDS has produced more than thirty ISO standards, with another sixteen currently under review. This ongoing cooperative relationship between ISO and CCSDS provides a valuable mechanism that ensures information sharing on space communications technologies continues to occur on a global scale. This month, ISO/TC 20/SC 13 and the CCSDS Management Council will convene their bi-annual meetings in Washington, D.C. on the heels of a historic summer in space for both NASA and the world. While countless onlookers hoped to witness Deep Impact, the history-making event with the Hollywood name, only a privileged few saw the bright flash of light that also appeared on the

“CCSDS has produced more than thirty ISO standards, with another sixteen currently under review.”

screens of the control room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California at 5:52:24 Universal Time. The European Space Agency’s comet chaser Rosetta was one of those with a front row seat in space. To help alleviate the concern that flying debris from the collision might put at risk valuable data collected by the Deep Impact spacecraft, many of the world’s space agencies collaborated on a network of both space and groundbased observatories to record the Deep Impact event. Enabled by some of the same ISO-CCSDS standards, key observer Rosetta and the Deep Impact spacecraft were able to send data back to Earth in near-real time during the event. But it was Rosetta with its powerful remotesensing instruments that was best able to monitor the target comet continuously over an extended period of time, providing researchers with some of the pre-impact and follow-up observations essential to a successful scientific out-

Artist Pat Rawlings gives us a look at the moment of impact and the forming of the crater.

© Courtesy of NASA/JPL/UMD Artwork by Pat Rawlings

ISO Focus October 2005

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Main Focus come for the Deep Impact mission. Currently on its own 7.1 billion kilometre journey to Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta is one of ESA’s most demanding missions in terms of ground station requirements. During critical mission phases, Rosetta uses the data communications services of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world. DSN stations use ISO-accepted CCSDS Space Link Extension (SLE) services to facilitate interoperability for both NASA user facilities and international customers alike. They also require that spacecraft they support, like Rosetta, use the same standards for both forward and return data traffic. In the past, tracking, telemetry and command cross-support between ESA and NASA meant installing and operating user equipment on the provider side, which was time consuming

About the author Dr. John D. Kelley is the NASA Headquarters Program Executive for Communications and Data Standards in the Office of Space Operations. With decades of leadership experience in the development of information systems and operations programmes for scientific data, communications and engineering, Dr. Kelley serves in dual roles within the CCSDS as both the Chair of its Management Council and as its Secretariat. In addition, Dr. Kelley is the Secretariat of ISO TC 20 / SC 13. As the NASA and United States representative for Data and Information Standards, he heads a delegation focused on space communications standards that enhance interoperability, reduce costs and promote the use of shared space applications. Dr. Kelley holds a PhD in Public Administration, a Masters of Public Administration and a Masters of Science from the University of Southern California, as well as a Bachelors of Science from the U.S. Naval Academy.

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ISO Focus October 2005

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD

This image shows the initial ejecta that resulted when NASA’s Deep Impact probe collided with comet Tempel 1 at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4) .

and costly. SLE services extend existing CCSDS-developed ISO standards for space links to include the exchange of spacecraft data between ground elements, and offer cost savings potential through the use of common equipment at ground stations as well as a standard user interface. International partners collaborating through CCSDS first looked at the development of SLE services in the early 1990s. As development of the recommendation matured in the mid-1990s, a groundbreaking decision was made by the ESA INTEGRAL mission to adopt SLE for cross-support from NASA’s DSN stations, which accelerated SLErelated activities within CCSDS to completion. Eventually, NASA’s CONTOUR mission, developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, would be the first mission to launch using SLE services in July 2002. But since that first pioneering step towards the use of CCSDS SLE by the INTEGRAL mission, SLE has become the predominant international standard supporting interoperability between mission user facilities and ground station facilities owned and managed by different organizations. By facilitating cross-support between missions and agencies, SLE is a truly international standard in both development and use. It has allowed NASA’s DSN to play an important role in the success of ESA’s Rosetta mission, and in turn, has allowed ESA’s Rosetta mission to play an important role in the success of NASA’s Deep Impact. The July 4 th impact certainly marked a high point in a seven-year engineering and navigation effort put

forth by NASA’s Deep Impact team, but much of the scientific story may still lie in the gigabytes of data sent back by Rosetta and other observers. In particular, an analysis of data sent back from the Deep Impact spacecraft may reveal what lies beneath the surface of the comet and perhaps even shed light on the origins of the Solar System. To minimize the risk of losing this valuable data and to ensure a reliable bidirectional flow of data occurred, the Deep Impact mission chose to use one of CCSDS’ newest internationally accepted standards, the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP).

The Deep Impact icon shows the partnership among the University of Maryland, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. © NASA

The world’s leading space communications experts working within CCSDS collaborated at bi-annual working group sessions, similar to those that took place last month in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), to first standardize CFDP. They defined the protocol according to space file transfer requirements articulated by CCSDS participating space agencies, including those of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the British National Space Centre (BNSC), the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The first US mission to commit to this technology was the NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory MESSENGER mission to the planet Mercury, but Deep Impact was the first NASA JPL mission to use CFDP for data transfer from ground to spacecraft (uplink) and from spacecraft to ground (downlink).

Aerospace : the new frontier

The decision to use CFDP paid off. During Deep Impact’s cruise phase, CFDP uplinked thousands of files to the spacecraft, including new flight software loads, commands and tables. CFDP also successfully downlinked well over a hundred thousand files during this time. During the encounter phase, CFDP downlinked approximately 10 206 files from the Deep Impact spacecraft, or about 2.4 Gigabytes of data and images. Files were uplinked in “ reliable ” mode, which ensured a complete and accurate file transfer. Files were downlinked from both spacecraft in “unreliable” mode to save bandwidth due to the large volume. CFDP enabled the bidirectional flow of this important data between Deep Impact spacecraft and Earth using powerful forward error correction coding that minimizes data loss in communication across deep space. CFDP also supports optional “ acknowledged ” modes of operation during which data loss is automatically detected and a retransmission of the lost data is automatically requested. This design allows CFDP to function reliably despite the long data propagation delays and frequent, lengthy interruptions in connectivity experienced in deep space by missions like Deep Impact.

With space programmes around the world facing budget cuts and resource allocation, CFDP, like SLE discussed previously, also benefits missions by providing cost savings potential. CFDP allows an instrument to record an observation in a file and transmit the file to earth without having to consider whether or not physical transmission is possible at that time. Sequestering outbound data management and transmission planning functions within CFDP can simplify flight and ground software, which reduces mission costs – an important benefit to today’s lower cost missions. Nevertheless, the most striking benefit remains CFDP’s ability to maintain high data transfer reliability even across interplanetary distances which

“Through its partnership with ISO, CCSDS will move forward in supporting the efforts of NASA, ESA, and other space agencies.”

This artist’s animation depicts one of the most widely accepted theories pertaining to the origin of comets.

While NASA JPL’s CFDP team worked closely with the flight software team to ensure that CFDP performed correctly, CFDP was also integrated into NASA JPL’s multi-mission ground system for use by future missions. Incorporating an internationally-accepted standard file transfer protocol, like CFDP, into NASA JPL’s multi-mission ground system provides missions with a way to get data, like large image files for example, faster and more reliably than by having to develop their own software in order to create products from the telemetry stream, as required in the past.

makes it critical to successful communications on deep space missions like Deep Impact, and will make it highly applicable to future lunar exploration missions and missions to Mars. The CCSDS became a pioneer in international cooperation in space by providing an environment that fosters collaboration and information-sharing between the world’s space agencies. Now a model of international collaboration, CCSDS participation includes space communications experts from 32 space agencies and 28 countries, all committed to developing the best engineered space communications recommendations in the world.

The Deep Impact poster.

© NASA

© NASA/JPL-Caltech

Comet Tempel’s silhouette – This false-colour image shows comet Tempel 1 about 50 minutes after Deep Impact’s probe smashed into its surface.

Through its partnership with ISO, CCSDS will move forward in supporting the efforts of NASA, ESA, and other space agencies in using joint communications assets for future missions through the continued development of new protocols that advance both commercial and governmental interoperability in space. New possibilities for cooperation will continue to emerge as delegates to both TC 20/SC 13 and the CCSDS Management Council remain committed to growing strong relations between their respective national space agencies and those of other delegates.

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD

ISO Focus October 2005

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© ISO

Main Focus

ISO standards as a launch pad by Stéphane Dubet, civil aviation engineer in the French General Directorate for Civil Aviation (DGAC)

V

ital efforts to enhance air safety and efficiency result from efforts to improve pilots’ situational awareness. To this end, on-board applications relying on terrain, obstacle and airport databases are increasingly being developed : terrain awareness warning systems, runway incursion prevention systems, and more generally synthetic vision systems. The underlying philosophy is to make additional but relevant information available to pilots to assist them in their decisionmaking process.

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ISO Focus October 2005

Data quality is critical However, the performance of such applications is highly dependent upon the quality of the terrain, obstacle and aerodrome data. The standardization of the provision and exchange of supporting data, and the definition of appropriate data quality specifications are of paramount importance in order to guarantee the expected benefits of these applications. This standardization process was carried out within a joint EUROCAE (WG 44) and RTCA (SC-193) Working Group, involving the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), EUROCONTROL, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the French General Directorate for Civil Aviation (DGAC), aircraft manufacturers (Airbus and Boeing), and airlines, avionics manufacturers, data originators and integrators. This international effort led to the publication in 2001 of two documents: user requirements for terrain and obstacle data (ED-98 / DO-276) and user requirements for aerodrome mapping information (ED-99 / DO-272). These standards define the minimum user

requirements applicable to the origination and publication of airport mapping, terrain, and obstacle (AMTO) data from creation through the entire life cycle of the data. They also provide guidance to assess compliance and determination of the levels of confidence that need to be reached to support the types of user application.

Data interchange standards But these standards were not in themselves sufficient. The operational use of accurate, reliable and up-to-date data also implies an interchange process between data originators, integrators, and users based on common agreed information interchange standards. These standards would then be a foundation upon which the tailored end-user applications may be built. So EUROCAE WG-44 / RTCA SC-193 was asked to develop interchange standards for AMTO data. It decided to use the ISO 19100 framework, because this standard specifies methods, tools and services for data management, processing,

Aerospace : the new frontier

accessing, presenting and transferring digital geo-spatial information between different users, systems and locations. The interchange standard for AMTO data, also known as EUROCAE ED-119 / RCTA DO-291, was written as a Data Product Specification and followed the structure provided by ISO 19131, Geographic Information, Data Product Specification. Application schemas were developed, including the definition of geometrical representations, metadata and a feature catalogue according to the relevant ISO 19100 standards. The standards were used as guidelines to create an ISO 19100 profile for AMTO databases.

This approach provides the required levels of data interchange and sharing as defined by EUROCAE and RTCA, since interoperability among different physical formats will be assured by complying with this standard.

Depiction of ATLANTA airport database on a Geographic Information System.

Work facilitated by ISO 19100 standards The use of the ISO 19100 standards greatly facilitated the progress of the Working Group, since there were not enough aviation-specific requirements for geo-spatial metadata and geometry definitions to create them as stand-alone standards. Moreover, at the implementation level, the standards can be directly used to create applications based on common industry implementation specifications such as the Geography Mark-up Language (GML), enabling the re-usage of non-specific software components for AMTO information.

Perspective map display with traffic and route information.

About the author Stéphane Dubet is a civil aviation engineer in the French General Directorate for Civil Aviation (DGAC). Currently Head of Research and Development in the Aeronautical Information Service (SIA) of France’s Air Navigation Services Directorate, he has been involved in several international standardization activities (ICAO, EUROCONTROL, etc.). Since 2001, he has chaired Working Group 44 of EUROCAE, covering terrain, obstacle and airport mapping databases.

Plan view map display.

Map display with runway incursion alerting on final approach.

The standards developed by EUROCAE (see box on page 27) and RTCA (see box on page 26) provide the basis for AMTO data bases to be directly loaded in airborne systems. An example of this process is currently occurring for airport navigation systems ; today, taxiing within airports is one of the most critical phases of flight. Flight crews receive taxi guidance instructions and traffic advisories via radio communications with air traffic control. In order to find their way on the airport surface, they try to match the received information with what is plotted on the airport charts and airport taxi signage. This method of guidance generally is adequate during clear weather. However, as weather conditions deteriorate, at night, or under high workload conditions, maintaining positional awareness with regard to obstacles, active runways and other traffic on the surface becomes increasingly difficult. In these situations, uncertainties can arise that, in the best case, reduce flow rates, and in the worst case, increase the likelihood of a surface accident and/or a runway incursion.

Runway incursions have been deadly Runway incursions, defined as an authorized entry by an aircraft or vehicle into protected areas surrounding active runways, have caused several severe accidents, including the largest accident ever in civil aviation : the collision of two B747s at Tenerife airport in 1977 with 583 casualties. Recently, ground collisions at Taipei in October 2000 and at Milan in 2001, with a large number of casualties, have reminded the public of the hazard potential of runway incursions. The United States’ National Transportation Safety Board records that the number of runway incursions increased by 71 percent from 1993 to 1999. Systems using aerodrome databases should help greatly to ease taxi operations on aircraft by providing an aircraft’s position overlaid on the airport map. Starting from 2006, the On-board Airport Navigation System will be fully integrated in the cockpit of the new ISO Focus October 2005

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RTCA

Main Focus

Instrument approach procedure surfaces overlaid with a digital terrain mode.

The on-board airport navigation system will be integrated in the Airbus A 380.

Airbus A380 using aerodrome databases according to an airborne airport database format (ARINC 816) derived from ED119 / DO-291. This airborne standard will define a single open encoding format for airport data bases to be directly loaded in airborne systems.

Airport data bases inside every aircraft When designed and implemented, it should enable a quick, economic and efficient use of airport data bases inside every aircraft. Because of the tight schedule to define this standard, a “re-use” policy regarding specifica-

“ The use of accurate data also implies an interchange between data originators and users based on common agreed information standards.” 26

ISO Focus October 2005

RTCA, Inc. is a private, not-for-profit corporation that develops consensus-based recommendations regarding communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management (CNS/ATM) system issues. RTCA functions as a Federal Advisory Committee. Its recommendations are used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as the basis for policy, programme, and regulatory decisions and by the private sector as the basis for development, investment and other business decisions. Organized in 1935 as the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, RTCA today includes roughly 250 government, industry and academic organizations from the United States and around the world. Member organizations represent all facets of the aviation community, including government organizations, airlines, airspace user and airport associations, labour unions, plus aviation service and equipment suppliers. A sampling of its domestic membership includes the Federal Aviation Administration, Air Line Pilots Association, Air Transport Association of America, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, ARINC Incorporated, Avwrite, The Boeing Company, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, GARMIN International, Honeywell International, Inc., The Johns Hopkins University, Lockheed Martin, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, MITRE/CAASD, NASA, National Business Aviation Association, and Raytheon. Because RTCA interests are international in scope, many non-US government and business organizations also belong to RTCA. They currently are supported by approximately 60 International Associates such as Airservices Australia, Airways Corporation of New Zealand, the Chinese Aeronautical Radio Electronics Research Institute (CARERI), EUROCONTROL, NAV Canada, Pilatus Aircraft Limited, Smiths Industries, Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies, Thales Avionics Limited, the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority and many more. RTCA has proven to be an excellent means for developing government/ industry consensus on contemporary CNS/ATM issues.

The same digital terrain model as on the left picture, embedded in a digital aerial photography.

Airport navigation function, arc view of Toulouse airport, range 0,5 NM.

tion was the obvious answer. The interchange standards for AMTO data, based on ISO documents, have thus become the applicable documents for this avionics standard. When ARINC 816 is achieved, the complete airport database process will be guaranteed through standardized documents. This will allow competition between several data base vendors, without adverse impact on the airborne system. Indeed, the application of the ISO 19000 series of standards has led to a data base processing chain fully free from any proprietary techniques. The global standardization framework for geographic information provided by ISO has thus become a key enabler for a major situational awareness application to be implemented shortly aboard new generation aircraft such as the Airbus A380.

EUROCAE

Aerospace : the new frontier

The European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment was formed at LUCERNE on the 24th April, 1963. At that time, there was no regular forum in Europe where administrations, airlines and industry could meet to discuss technical problems. EUROCAE was created to fill this gap. EUROCAE started the preparation of minimum performance specifications for airborne electronic equipment. This work was noted and supported from 1967 by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). ECAC later proposed to European National Airworthiness Authorities to take EUROCAE specifications as the basis of their national regulations. Today, EUROCAE documents are considered by Joint Aviation Authorities as means of compliance to Joint Technical Standard Orders and other regulatory documents. EUROCAE has extended its activity from airborne equipment to complex CNS/ATM systems including their ground segment. The related documentation is also considered by Eurocontrol and by the European Commission. The main European administrations, aircraft manufacturers, equipment manufacturers and service providers are members of EUROCAE, and they actively participate in the working groups which prepare these documents. EUROCAE’s member countries are : Austria Belgium Canada Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Ireland

Italy Romania Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland The Netherlands United Kingdom USA

Standards for the evolving market of air cargo and aircraft ground equipment by Jean-Jacques Machon, Head, French delegation of ISO/TC 20/SC 9

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n the late 1960s the rapid growth in air transport ushered in by the jet age was given further impetus through the introduction of the first wide-body aircraft. It is no coincidence that ISO/TC 20/ SC 9, Air cargo and ground equipment, also started in the late 1960s when the essential task was defining the standards for all sorts of then totally new equipment needed to service the new breed of aeroplanes. Such a task, by its nature, is never totally completed. New aircraft are introduced, requiring new methods of handling. ISO Focus October 2005

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Main Focus

Existing aircraft have long lives, requiring validating existing methods and acquired experience. After dealing with technology changes in, for example, containers or aircraft towing, SC 9 has studied the introduction of regional aircraft – more regional jets are put into service each year than the total of larger aircraft. Its July 2004 meeting was in Dresden, at a company in the growing business of converting passenger aeroplanes to freighters ; it is now preparing standards to support entry into service of the A380, the first aircraft with three full length decks.

Aircraft on the ground While technology changed, the nature and organization of the industry were also changing, affecting the market for which standards are developed. SC 9 standardizes the interface between aircraft and their servicing equipment. The market includes several tiers, from the airframers – very few in number – to makers of airborne equipment such as cargo loading systems (CLS) and unit load devices (ULD) to servicing equipment that remains on

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ISO Focus October 2005

“ While technology changed, the nature and organization of the industry were also changing, affecting the market for which standards are developed.” the ground – ground support equipment (GSE). Manufacturers of CLS, ULD and GSE are more numerous than airframers, but are still concentrated in a few countries. The users of equipment – mainly airlines and airport handling services providers – can be in the thousands. And significant market changes have recently taken place :
Airport handling is, increasingly, subcontracted from airlines themselves to numerous service providers. Those providers do not necessarily share the same aeronautical culture.
Service providers and most airlines now purchase most of their equipment off-the-shelf. Thus, ISO stand-

ards must be primarily applied by equipment manufacturers.

Market evolution Such changes led SC 9 to adapt its standards to market evolution. Among the highlights :

About the author Jean-Jacques Machon, a graduate engineer of the French Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique, was responsible, for over 20 years, for worldwide technical cargo and ramp affairs in Air France, as aircraft handling manager then VP for aircraft and airports. He is a consultant in airline ground operations and cargo systems. He contributes to several European and USA standards organizations, and heads the French delegation to ISO/TC 20/SC 9.

Aerospace : the new frontier


Safety imperatives have always come first, particularly for airborne equipment such as ULD – containers, pallets and nets. But it became obvious over time that, in addition to properly designed equipment, the way it was used was essential for safety. So SC 9 started developing standards for operational use of equipment, increasingly referred to as technical guidance by civil aviation authorities and, sometimes, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). They aim to provide, through local services providers, the same standards at all airports.

Panel and, for GSE, Ramp Services Group), SAE 2) (AGE-2 committee with a scope equivalent to SC 9’s, and G-12 for de-icing), AEA3), and CEN 4)/TC 274 (airport equipment) in relation to all staff safety issues on GSE. It wishes to record its gratitude for the cooperation provided by these organizations.

“ Air cargo and ground equipment have become mature industries. They progress by incremental steps with each new generation of aircraft.” Technological development

Source : Airbus (computer generated images).

Recent or current SC 9 projects include all the latest technological developments affecting ground handling of aircraft and cargo:


For GSE there is no universal regulatory requirement. In order to meet the standardization objective without hampering technical creativity, SC 9 standards are expressed in functional and performance requirements, leaving open the variety of technical designs that can be used. Special attention is paid to aeroplane safety but also, increasingly, to airport staff safety requirements.
Considerable work takes place with other organizations, before anything is proposed as an ISO standard. Thus SC 9 cooperates with IATA1) (ULD


WG 1, aircraft de-icing, constantly updates standards concerning this essential function: one of its characteristics is that it is both a highly scientific area, with permanent laboratory testing going on, and a constantly changing one : details of methods and fluid specifications are revised every year based on operating experience for the past winter season as well as changing aerodynamic knowledge.
WG 2, airworthiness, undertook a large project, to replace the 40 yearold criteria used for certification of air cargo ULD by a modernized document, intended as a reference for civil aviation authorities’ approval procedures. It will be accompanied by a series of ancillary standards on test methods.
In the GSE area, standards were developed to address the new technology of towing aircraft without the use of tow bars and traditional tractors, while protecting aeroplane landing gear against any risk of damage.

A mature industry which still changes The future work programme remains solid, with new areas such as :
Standards for new GSE (passengers, catering, loaders) to safely reach the upper deck of A380s, more than 8 m. above ground level.
The implications of new technology research – which will become necessary with increased ground power and changed engine start requirements on aircraft such as the future “ all electric ” B787. Air cargo and ground equipment have become mature industries. They progress by incremental steps with each new generation of aircraft. TC 20/SC 9, together with its cooperating industry groups, will cope with the technology challenges. But some tougher challenges will go beyond the technical. Few countries have top level expertise in the areas concerned. And so, it is hoped that recent or new members such as Brazil or China, in the process of developing an active aviation industry, will take an increasing part. But the toughest challenge may be to enrol a new generation of experts to maintain the necessary work of SC 9. In this, the active involvement of all P-members will be required. Among the abiding technical questions, this will be a topic at the next TC 20/SC 9 November 2005 meeting in Colombo (Sri Lanka) where Amsafe is conducting, on its behalf, a long-term research programme on environmental testing of air cargo textile materials. 1) International Air Transport Association 2) Society of Automotive Engineers 3) Association of European Airlines 4) Comité Européen de Normalisation

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Main Focus

Aircraft hydraulic systems by Martin Hübner, Chair, ISO/TC 20/SC 10, Aerospace fluid systems and components

A

lmost all modern aircraft use hydraulic systems – generally, applied to flight controls and landing gear. Such applications, one assumes, were not imagined by the inventor of hydraulics, Ctesibius of Alexandria (285-222 BC) nor by their re-inventor Benedetto Castelli (1578-1643 AD), a student of Galileo Galilei.

“ A harmonized and reduced diversity of parts, achieved through International Standards, greatly improves the cost effectiveness of such customer support.” Aircraft engines produce the necessary pressure and flow which are transmitted, via thousands of metres of pipes, hoses and fittings, to actuators working on brake flaps or landing gear. For safety reasons two, three or four independent hydraulic circuits are installed on every aircraft. The architecture of these circuits ensures that a hydraulic failure in one of them leads only to the loss of some so-called “ redundancies ”. All the functions necessary for safe flight and landing remain available. Even in the event of total engine failure, vital hydraulic functions continue to work, taking their energy from a special propeller (Ram air turbine), in order to control the aircraft.

1) ASD is the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe 2) SAE is the Society of Automotive Engineers

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ISO Focus October 2005

Integrity under extreme conditions

Standardization and maintenance

Aircraft and spacecraft both have the highest requirements for the integrity and reliability of hydraulic systems, under extreme conditions of use. ISO/TC 20/SC 10, Aerospace fluid systems and components, has determined to fulfil those requirements by creating international rules, specifications and test methods. Its work programme recognizes the importance of including all involved parties such as airframe manufacturers, airlines, equipment suppliers and airworthiness authorities. Another vital aspect of aerospace standardization is to consider the whole product life cycle – from concept, through design, manufacture, maintenance and recycling. The development of standards requires close teamwork among specialists in a variety of specialist fields. Membership of SC 10 includes expert representatives from them all ; and SC 10 is in close contact with European and American standardization organizations such as ASD 1) (formally AECMA) and SAE 2).

International standardization is particularly important in relation to maintenance. Modern aircraft have a working life of several decades. That entails close attention to testing and replacement of components according to specified schedules and avoidance of any unnecessary ground time. An aircraft earns money only when it is flying. Worldwide customer support systems

About the author Martin Hübner has worked in the standardization department of Airbus Germany, since graduating from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 2001. He is responsible for mechanical standard parts. Mr. Hübner has chaired ISO/TC 20/SC 10 since 2003 and can be reached at [email protected]

Aerospace : the new frontier

to provide spare parts within hours are necessary to satisfy demands, whether they be in Tokyo, Sydney, New York or Düsseldorf – at very short notice, and for all parts of every aircraft currently in service. This implies a tremendous logistical effort. A harmonized and reduced diversity of parts, achieved through International Standards, greatly improves the cost effectiveness of such customer support. Many airlines fly a diversity of aircraft types. But close teamwork between competitors within the aircraft industry is still evident – and enhanced by the standardization process. Such harmonization is one goal of SC 10.

“ International standardization is particularly important in relation to maintenance.” Higher pressures will bring higher revenues Increased hydraulic pressure at 5 000 psi in the latest civil aircraft projects, versus 3 000 psi on today’s aircraft allows a significant weight saving, improves system reliability due to the smaller fittings and pipes, and eases equipment handling thanks to more compact components. It also saves volume on the aircraft, since less fluid is necessary. All this adds up to extra revenue payload. The interests of the airframe builder and those of the manufacturer of fittings, pipes and other equipment are merged within SC 10, in order to establish common, worldwide, accepted standards for this new higher-pressure technology.

Military metrics Hydraulic systems are a main topic for SC 10, but not the only one. It also handles fuel and water systems and standards for military applications. One big difference between military and civil aviation is that military aircraft are designed using the metric system whereas civil aircraft use the inch system. This

is an amazing, deplorable – and costly – anachronism.

Who’s who … The structure of TC 20/SC 10 is as follows : Chair, Martin Hübner (Germany), Secretary, Jürgen Schwindt (Germany)

Member countries of SC 10 are : France, Germany, USA, UK, Japan, China, Republic of Korea, Russia and Ukraine.

…and what’s what


WG 06, Couplings for rigid pipes – Oliver Harten (Germany)

Since its formation back in 1971, the main work of SC 10 has been the development of specifications, definitions and test methods for aerospace fluid systems. The text of its very first resolution was : “ The cord section previously stated in ISO/TC 20 Resolution 194 is amended to change the 7,1 mm size to 7 mm.” As a result of more than 30 years of work, today there are 68 ISO standards for aerospace fluid systems. Currently, 56 work items are in progress in SC 10. Its 2005 plenary was held in Forth Worth, Texas in conjunction with the SAE 2005 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition.


WG 08, Hydraulic fluids and cleanliness – Francois Cros (France)

Some of the standards developed by SC 10 :


WG 09, Hydraulic power and actuation equipment – Peter Keenan (UK)


ISO 6771:1987, Aerospace – Fluid systems and components – Pressure and temperature classifications


WG 14, Hose assemblies – Al Baer (USA).


ISO 11217:1993, Aerospace – Hydraulic system fluid contamination – Location of sampling points and criteria for sampling

Convenors :
WG 01, Seals and seal retainers – Keith Allen (UK)
WG 03, Tubing – Hans van der Velden (USA)
WG 04, Retaining devices for rigid and flexible tubes – Antony Olszak (UK)
WG 05, Miscellaneous fluid power and fuel systems – Terence Chin (USA)


ISO 11218:1993, Aerospace – Cleanliness classification for hydraulic fluid
ISO 12333:2000, Aerospace – Constant displacement hydraulic motors – General specification for 35 000 kPa systems
ISO 12334:2000, Aerospace – Hydraulic, pressure-compensated, variable delivery pumps – General requirement for 35 000 kPa systems
ISO 7169:1998, Aerospace – Separable tube fittings for fluid systems, 24 degrees cone – General specification

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More electrical power please by David T. Harrison, Chair, ISO/TC 20/SC 1, Aerospace electrical requirements

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ith every new aircraft introduced, the need for electrical power capacity increases. The age of the New Large Aircraft (NLA) and More Electric Aircraft (MEA) has arrived and research into the All Electric Aircraft (AEA) continues apace. The More Electric Aircraft (MEA) promises to be more efficient, more reliable, and more environmentally-friendly. It could even be relatively cheaper to manufacture than a conventional aircraft or engine. We also know that, even for those MEA at the threshold of the new technology, they will require to generate at least 500 KVA (kilovolt amperes) to operate successfully. There are now no systems on an aircraft that do not rely on electrical power for control or operation. In

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addition, the larger the aircraft and the longer its range, the more services each passenger will require at his/her seat or bed for working or relaxing. The aircraft industry is also the most regulated of the public transport methods emanating from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) at the international level and national regulatory authorities at the local levels. In the USA, the authority is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who issues the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). In Europe, the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) consisting of national regulatory authorities agreed the Joint Aviation Regulations (JARs). The JAA has recently been replaced by its successor organization, the European Air Safety Agency (EASA).

During the past decade the world’s regulators, led by the FAA and JAA, have been in the process of harmonizing the FARs and JARs. This task is nearing completion and will result in international regulations that benefit the whole aviation community. It should also be understood that the authorities did this in a way so as to make the highest requirement become the revised regulation.

Long-lasting airframes for modern aircraft Purchasing modern aircraft is a major commitment, and for operators to make a profit and afford to buy new aircraft, the airframe, engines and systems must have a long life cycle. Life extension programmes for the airframe have existed for many years, but for other components permanently fixed to the airframe, such as the Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS), similar programmes have not.

Aerospace : the new frontier

In the USA, the Aging Transport Systems Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ATSRAC) investigated whether this omission required addressing. The Transport Aircraft Intrusive Inspection Project, which analyzed the wire installations of six decommissioned aircraft, issued its report in December 2000, concluding that further action was required. Further international cooperation was followed by several committees being formed to implement the recommendations of the ATSRAC report, with its final version on revised regulations due to be published at the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006. Most of the airframes and engines manufactured today are international projects, as are the systems fitted to the aircraft, and the airlines that operate them cross many international borders each day.

Standards to reflect technology changes Against this background TC 20/ SC 1, Aerospace Electrical Requirements, has been producing standards which are relevant to international trade and enhance safety, reliability and interoperability, while recognizing changes to the regulations governing the design, construction and tests imposed by the regulatory authorities. To date, TC 20/ SC 1 has produced and maintains 54 standards.

“ With every new aircraft introduced the need for electrical power capacity increases.”

TC 20/SC 1 does not produce standards where other international bodies, such as IEC, have existing standards that satisfy or can be modified to meet aerospace requirements. Two such standards exist within IEC, one covering batteries and the other insulating sleeves. In the first case, the standard was modified to include aircraft requirements, and in the second TC 20/SC 1 produced a technical report to specify those sleeves in the IEC standard which met aircraft requirements. In a similar exercise, a proposal that SC 1 produce a test methods document for electrical connectors was held while a matrix was produced, comparing existing aerospace test methods with a similar IEC standard.

About the author David T. Harrison recently retired from British Airways where he was employed as an Avionic Standards Design Engineer. For most of his 46 years service, he was directly involved in component and materials standards, with particular responsibility for the electrical interconnection system on every aircraft and engine operated by BA. Mr. Harrison worked with many standards organizations including ISO, British Standards Institution, Society of British Aerospace Companies, Society of Automotive Engineers and ARINC, a company specializing in transportation communications and systems engineering, and was a member of the Aging Transport Systems Rulemaking Advisory Committee task group 6 dealing with the updating of Federal Aviation Regulations and the related acceptable means of compliance. He is currently Chair of the avionic committees of ISO/TC 20/SC 1, and BSI, ACE/6 and a member of the SBAC Engineering Standards Committee.

The secretariat is held by China (CARIS) and has seven participating members: China, France, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United Kingdom. It is also in liaison with eight subcommittees of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), European Association of Aerospace Industries – Standardization (AECMA-STAN) and the European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE).

The impact of changes on existing specifications As stated earlier, the changes being introduced to the electrical systems as a result of the development of the More Electrical Aircraft (MEA) are also changing the requirements in many existing specifications, which need to be updated in a timely manner. The airframe and engine manufacturers are the design authorities for ISO Focus October 2005

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Main Focus the platforms they produce and there are no rules which require them to provide similar solutions to the problems they encounter. They produce their own standards and processes, which maintainers and modifiers are required to follow. Only if the maintainers and modifiers are themselves an approved design organization, can they differ from the airframe/engine manufacturer’s standard practices and, in this case, they are required to prove the suitability of the method they wish to use to the regulatory authorities or get the approval of the original equipment manufacturer.

“ Best practice is not the prerogative of one manufacturer, organization or nation, but should be available to all.” Facing the challenges of aircraft electrical systems Best practice is not the prerogative of one manufacturer, organization or nation. It can result in enhanced safety and should be available to all. Several national documents exist on the subject and SC 1 has a project to harmonize these, taking into account the published regulatory documents as well as the recommendations and conclusions

Glossary

© Courtesy of Arianespace

ISO 1540, Characteristics of aircraft electrical systems, is an important document to all those who specify or intend to produce electrical systems or components for aircraft. It was recently updated to include 230 VAC (volts alternating current) systems. This is the voltage selected for a new platform intended for the civil aircraft market. At the same time, the working group proposed that the requirements for 270 VDC (volts direct current) systems be included. The committee turned that proposal down, as it was considered likely only to be required in specialized military applications and insufficient data would be available to produce an international standard. In addition the civil aircraft operators had objected to its use on health and safety grounds. It would appear that this decision was incorrect and that a civil platform is being developed which uses 270 VDC. The need for this system must be revisited.

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NLA A new large aircraft is one that can hold between 500 and 1 000 passengers and weighs in excess of 450 tonnes.

from Aging Transport Systems Rulemaking Advisory Committee. This is a major task that has already stalled on one occasion but has recently restarted. It will however require approximately two years to produce a draft document and, once published, will need a standing working group to maintain it. The More Electrical Aircraft (MEA) have also highlighted an existing problem that airframe manufacturers have been trying to control for a long time, that of the weight of the interconnection system that is required to distribute such large amounts of power. The airframe manufacturers when designing an aircraft require a radical rethink of how this power is to be distributed and the way in which the weight of the Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS) is to be limited. Higher operating voltages have already been mentioned, closer tolerance conductors are already common use and aluminium conductors – once limited to use only in the larger size power cables – are being developed for the smallest conductors used on present day aircraft. © Courtesy of Arianespace

MEA A more electrical aircraft is one moving towards replacing heavy equipment with lighter electrical systems, thereby allowing more passengers and fuel. AEA An all electrical aircraft envisages electrical power to move aircraft flight services, by replacing heavy, vulnerable systems such as hydraulic systems that use flammable liquids. KVA Kilovolt amperes. One ampere is a unit of electric current equal to a flow of one coulomb per second. VAC volts alternating current is a current which reverses direction at regular intervals. VDC volts direct current is a current which does not change direction. EWIS electrical wiring interconnection system is the electrical connection between two or more points, including the associated termination devices and necessary means for its installation and identification.

All these set new challenges for standards writers in the future of the aerospace electrical fields, but one thing is quite clear : International business needs International Standards.

Aerospace : the new frontier

© Airbus S.A.S 2005 – H. Goussé

Airbus : flying high with ISO standards by the Quality external affairs staff of Airbus

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irbus is always striving for the highest standards. Delivering aircraft on time, on cost and on quality – getting it right the first time – drives Airbus policy. Therefore it was natural that we should turn to ISO and look to meeting its International Standards where applicable. Currently we have ISO 9001:2000 and IAQS 9100 1) certification for our global operations with a scope of : marketing and sales, design and engineering, manufacturing, support functions, management of industrial partnership, procurement, after sales and in-service support of all aerospace products

and services in civil and military sectors (including spares, training, simulators, tests software and associated products). We are proud of this achievement that compliments our mandatory approvals granted by the various Aviation Authorities around the world including the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the USA and the China Administration of Civil Aviation (CAAC). However, this certification is only one major milestone in our continual desire for sustained improvement. It has been an extremely useful tool in respect of our organizational evolution, from a consortium-

“ The practicality of the ISO 9001:2000 model fits very well with our high customer focus and policy of continuous improvement.”

based consisting of Aerospatiale, Daimler Chrysler Aerospace, BAeSystems and CASA, to the current single company Airbus SAS.

Continual improvement The practicality of the ISO 9001:2000 model fits very well with our high customer focus and policy of continuous improvement. Airbus’ 1) During the Plenary Meeting of ISO/TC 20, held in Tokyo in 1997, aerospace industry representatives from Europe and the Americas proposed that a standard be drafted that would apply specifically to aerospace quality systems. This proposal involved simply adding specific industry requirements to ISO 9001:1994 without changing its original content. Working Group WG 11 was set up for this purpose and a final draft was agreed in 1999. This draft was referred to the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG), which had been established in 1998 with participation from most of the world’s manufacturers of aircrafts and engines for aircrafts, in order to facilitate the development of a standard to meet the needs of the industry. ISO Focus October 2005

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“ Safety, reliability, comfort and maintenance costs are key areas where quality is crucial in an airline’s judgment of an aircraft." When we review this process in terms of ISO 9001:2000, we can see how it reflects the standard from the deployment of a management policy (section 5 of ISO 9001:2000) taking due account of the customer requirements and through the various stages of product realization (section 7) to deliver the product that meets with customers’ satisfaction. To achieve consistency in our approach, we document our processes (section 4) and ensure that we have the correct resources required to deliver the product through a highly skilled workforce (section 6). Then through measurement analysis and improvement (section 8), coupled with management review (section 5), we can see that we have adopted a cycle of continuous improvement. Within the aerospace world, we have built on ISO 9001:2000 through the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) to take into account some of the particularities of our industry coming from the statutory Aviation regulations. The Aviation version EN/AS/SJAC 9100:2003 2) completely integrates ISO 9001:2000, our foundation standard.

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About Airbus I t b eg a n 3 5 years ago with the world’s first widebody twin-engine passenger jet, the A300. Today Airbus, headquartered in Toulouse, France, produces a comprehensive range of 12 aircraft – renowned for their fly-by-wire technology, commonality and extensive use of composites – and employs 52 000 people worldwide. Airbus, since 2001 a fully integrated single company, started life as a French-German consortium in 1970. Later it was joined by CASA of Spain and British Aerospace. Success grew with the widebody A300/A310 Family, the medium-range single aisle A320 Family and the long-range widebody A330/A340 Family. Today the product line includes the new 555-seat A380, the world’s biggest and most advanced passenger aircraft. Airbus also plans to build the A350, a longer-range twin-engine aircraft. The company’s 16 manufacturing sites in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom are formed into a range of Centres of Excellence covering all aspects of the aircraft design and production process and are complemented by subsidiaries in North America, China and Japan, as well as a joint engineering centre in Russia.

Environmental excellence Airbus is also committed to designing, building and supporting maintenance of aircraft in a way, which minimizes environmental effects throughout its life cycle. To benchmark our approach, we have chosen to go for ISO 14001:2004 certification. Airbus aims to achieve ISO 14001:2004 certification for all its European sites by mid-2006. Filton was the first to be certified in 2002 and five more at Broughton, Nordenham, Puerto Real, Toulouse Saint Eloi and Saint Nazaire were certified by the end of 2004. An additional step towards environmental excellence will be the achievement of a corporate certifica-

tion against ISO 14001:2004 by integrating both site and product aspects and embedding all Airbus activities by the end of 2006. This innovative environmental integrated approach, supported by the European Commission, aims to conciliate current product life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework, as well as the general guidelines pub-

2) IAQG agreed that, rather than publishing IAQS 9100 as the only standard common to all in the world, each area should be permitted to have its own version of the standard, but with the same content and standard identification number. This resulted in the publication in the Americas of SAE AS 9100, in Europe of AECMA EN 9100 and in Japan of SJAC 9100.

© Airbus S.A.S 2005 – P. Masclet

customers expect quality in the aircraft they buy. Safety, reliability, comfort and maintenance costs are key areas where quality is crucial in an airline’s judgment of an aircraft. To achieve the very highest standards in these and other aspects of an aircraft’s facets and performance, the question of quality is addressed by Airbus at every stage – from design to final assembly and beyond. Repeated checks are made. Tests are applied. Airbus ensures every supplier of parts meets the strictest standards on quality. Defective work, parts and materials are rejected.

© Airbus S.A.S 2005 – H. Goussé

Main Focus

lished by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) with the “ classical approach ” based on ISO 14001:2004. Through this approach, we will also build upon the synergies between both Quality and Environmental Systems. An obvious one is of course the audit process where we follow the ISO 19011 guidelines for our audit systems. In building a single audit system following the integration, the ISO 19011:2002, Guidelines for quality and/ or environmental management systems auditing, provided an extremely useful foundation, which was used to federate the various procedures from the old partners in the consortium. Without the common denominator of ISO 19011 against which we could benchmark our process, I am sure integration would have been longer. Today our procedures, training and required skills and competencies fully reflect the standards. In conclusion, we have used ISO standards as strong tools to help us integrate our quality system requirements as we have built the single Airbus Company. This has provided an international benchmark to help rationalize the various methods and systems coming from the legacy companies. From this benchmark, we are striving for continuous improvement.

© Airbus S.A.S 2005

Aerospace : the new frontier

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ISO Focus October 2005

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Developments and Initiatives Workshop advances ISO 9001:2000 guidelines for local government by Carlos Gadsden, ‘World-class’ IWA 4 Secretary governments n international The draft was workshop to the outcome of a prodevelop IWA 4, posal made jointly by Quality management DGN and COTENNSISsystems – Guidelines for CAL, and accepted by the application of ISO ISO in February 2005, 9001:2000 in local govstating : “ By securing ernment, held on 22-23 a high quality performMay 2005 in Veracruz, ance of the municipal Mexico, was attended by government, public pol83 delegates, representicies coming from othing local governments, er government levels universities, standardican be corrected and zation bodies, quality improved, allowing the management system whole system to specialists and users strengthen itself. This from 18 countries. Some of the 83 participants from 18 countries who worked together to advance ISO 9001:2000 is a new approach to Its objective was guidelines for local government. help building worldto prepare the second class governments, both draft of a guideline at local and global levels ”. document aimed at making it easier for In almost every human activity, local government authorities to implelocal governments have a direct or indiment quality management systems based rect, but always important role. Local govon the ISO 9001:2000 standard. ernments are the main service providers “ IWA” denotes an “ Internationto citizens all over the world and their al Workshop Agreement ” which is one The workshop was hosted by the efficient and reliable performance is vital of several types of deliverable offered ISO member for Mexico, DGN (Direcby ISO for cases where swift developto the lives of millions of people. ción General de Normas), supported ment and publication of an internationSuch services can include transby the National Standardization Techal agreement take priority. portation, water supply, waste collecnical Committee on Quality ManageArmando Espinosa, President of tion, sewage and drainage, public lightment Systems (COTENNSISCAL), the the Latin American Institute for Quality ing and civil protection. Schools ; clinMexican Institute of Standardization and (INLAC), chaired the workshop. Openics; roads; town and country planning: Certification (IMNC), INLAC and the ing the event, he underlined the need Organization of Interdisciplinary Servsecurity; cultural, historic and recreato improve quality management levels ices (OSI). tional affairs ; environmental care ; public in local government, while at the same Prior to the meeting, a first draft gardens ; road and river maintenance and time developing the human resource, developed by COTENNSISCAL and traffic; housing services ; the alleviation infrastructure and working environment circulated to more than 120 countries of poverty ; economic development and aspects of these organizations. for comment had generated some 230 promotion, and many more issues may In welcoming the IWA 4 initiaobservations for review by representadepend on local governments. tive, Senator Carlos Madrazo conveyed tives of the participating countries at VerFor this reason, there is a need to the Mexican Government’s determination acruz – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colomstandardize effective implementation of to improve the quality of the key public bia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, France, GuaISO 9001:2000 in local governments in services offered by local government, temala, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Salvasuch a way that acceptable conditions and thanked the national and internador, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Triniof quality management on upright local tional experts for their contributions to dad and Tobago, the United Kingdom governance are assured for all people the development of the guidelines. and the USA. present on their territory.

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“ This is a new approach to help building world-class governments.”

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ISO Focus October 2005

Task groups Participants were divided into four task groups (TG) convened by officers or experts of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176 to advance the clauses of the working draft, as follows: • TG 1, convened by Nigel Croft (Brazil-United Kingdom) and co-convened by Osama El-Meligy (Egypt), worked on upgrading Chapters 0-4 Introduction to quality management systems, and Annex A: Mapping processes.

Smith (Singapore), was responsible for progressing Chapter 8, Measurement, analysis and improvement, and Annex B: Check-up for reliable local governments. The workshop succeeded in producing a revised IWA 4 draft. At the end of the Veracruz workshop, many participants and organizations signed a voluntary declaration announcing their intention to develop a worldwide communication network focused on the promotion, dif-

ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden, and ISO Deputy Secretary-General Kevin McKinley at the ISO Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, by IWA 4 Vice-Chair, Senator Carlos Madrazo, the DGN representative to ISO, Juan Antonio Dorantes, and me, as IWA 4 Secretary.

“ There is a need to standardize effective implementation of ISO 9001:2000 in local governments.” We are proud that this Mexican initiative, which represents an important achievement in standardization, will provide an incentive for local governments worldwide to raise their standards of excellence, quality and reliability.

About the author

On 11 July 2005, a hard copy of the IWA 4 final draft was handed over to ISO at the organization’s Central Secretariat in Geneva : from left – ISO Deputy Secretary-General Kevin McKinley ; IWA 4 Secretary, Carlos Gadsden ; IWA 4 Vice-Chair, Senator Carlos Madrazo ; ISO Secretary-General, Alan Bryden, and the DGN representative to ISO, Juan Antonio Dorantes.

• TG 2, convened by Charles Corrie (United Kingdom) and co-convened by Tommie Johannson (Sweden), dealt with Chapters 5-6, Management responsibility and resource. • TG 3, convened by Richard de Grood (Holland) and co-convened by Marco Pardave (Mexico), was involved with Chapter 7, Product realization. • TG 4, convened by Rafael Arrascaeta (Argentina) and Hervé Mignot (France) and co-convened by Alan

fusion and evaluation of IWA 4, as well as training on its implementation. The purpose of this quality network for reliable government is to compile concrete experiences and results for the next IWA 4 meeting, to be held in three years’ time, when the document will be reviewed. After further editing and review, DGN submitted the document to ISO for final review and publication. On 11 July 2005, a hard copy of the IWA 4 final draft was presented to

Carlos Gadsden, of Mexico, is Secretary of the team that developed IWA 4. He is currently General Director of the Organization of Interdisciplinary Services (OSI). He has over 20 years of experience in local government issues and intergovernmental relations issues. As a quality management and organizational development consultant since 1981, he has worked with more than 100 enterprises and institutions. He is a former General Director of the National Institute for Federalism and Municipal Development, a Mexican Government institution which is in charge of the intergovernmental relations with the 2 434 municipal governments in the country. E-mail [email protected] Web www.osimx.com

ISO Focus October 2005

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Developments and Initiatives

VAMAS contributing to international standards in the materials sector and establishing agreement on nomenclature: items that are often required as a precursor to the drafting of standards. VAMAS activity emphasizes collaboration on pre-standards measurement research, inter-comparison of test results, and consolidation of existing views on priorities for standardization. As a result of these activities, VAMAS provides an internationally harmonized methodology that may be taken as recommendations to the standards development organizations, thereby fostering the development of agreed and workable standards for advanced materials.

by Martin Rides, Convenor of ISO/ TC 61/SC 5/WG 9, and Graham Sims, Convenor of ISO/TC 61/SC 2/WG 5

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aterials are literally the building blocks for technology. The efficient and effective design, manufacture and performance of products can best be achieved through having appropriate and reliable materials properties data. This itself, depends upon the availability of reliable, appropriate and validated standardized methods and procedures for materials testing.

“ Materials are literally the building blocks for technology.” VAMAS, the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards, has addressed the need for reliable materials properties data through pre-standardization research into materials for many years. Such work has fed into the development of many standards on testing of materials predominantly in ISO but also in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Significant contributions to ISO standardization have been made, for example, in the areas of surface chemical analysis, ceramics and low cycle fatigue testing. VAMAS has contributed to the development of standards for calibration of Auger-electron spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, hardness and fracture toughness testing of ceramics, and fatigue testing of metals and polymer composites, just to name a few. VAMAS has contributed to at least 77 standards, including: 36 ISO standards, 9 IEC standards, 13 CEN standards, 12 ASTM standards, and 7 national standards. In addition, there have been four ISO/IEC technology trends assessment

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ISO Focus October 2005

The first VAMAS distinguished service award being made to Dr. Martin Seah (left), ViceChair of TWA 2, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to VAMAS.

(TTA) reports published and four standard reference materials developed as a direct result of VAMAS activity.

Origins and objectives VAMAS’s origins date back to 1982 following an economic summit meeting held in Versailles, by the then G7 Heads of State and representatives from the European Community (EC). Subsequently, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, USA and the EC signed a memorandum of understanding to participate in VAMAS. Organizations from other countries are now encouraged to take part in the research activities. The main objective of VAMAS is to support trade through international collaborative projects aimed at providing the technical basis for harmonized measurements, testing, specifications, and standards for advanced materials. The scope of such collaboration embraces many aspects of measurement, including the development of test methods, participation in inter-comparisons, production of reference materials and materials databases,

Contributing to ISO Through a memorandum of understanding, VAMAS has liaison status with both ISO and IEC and consequently can have a (Category A) liaison with any technical committee (TC). This allows VAMAS to directly submit a new work item to a TC and thus initiate a new International Standard. It can participate in any TC working group thus allowing its members to directly participate in the development of an International Standard. Currently VAMAS has a liaison with the following technical committees (TC) :
ISO/TC 184/SC 4, Industrial data (TWA10) ;
ISO/TC 201, Surface chemical analysis (TWA 2) ;
ISO/TC 206, Fine Ceramics (TWA 3) ;
IEC/TC 90, Superconductivity (TWA 16). Strong relations with ISO also exist through active participation of members of other VAMAS technical working areas (TWAs) in other standards committees. Recently, the valuable and sustained contribution to standardization of Dr. Wada and members of his technical

working area on superconducting materials was acknowledged by the presentation of the IEC 1906 Award. VAMAS has made and continues to make a significant contribution to standardization for materials in a number of key areas. Its strength is in the many international collaborations established in its various (TWAs) resulting in greater international consensus prior to standardization. Currently, VAMAS is in discussion with Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (International Bureau of Weights and Measures, or BIPM) regarding increasing and formalizing the metrology content of the materials measurement research undertaken. For further information on VAMAS and participation in its pre-normative collaborations, visit www.vamas.org.

Current technical working areas in VAMAS :
Wear test methods ;
Surface chemical analysis ;
Ceramics for structural applications ;
Polymer composites ;
Computerised materials data ;
Low cycle fatigue ;
Superconducting materials ;
Cryogenic structural materials ;
Measurement of residual stress ;
Mechanical measurements for hard metals ;
Mechanical property ;
Measurement of thin films and coatings ;
Performance-related properties for electro-ceramics ;
Creep/fatigue crack growth in components ;
Characterization methods for ceramic powders and green bodies ;
Quantitative mass spectroscopy of synthetic polymers ; and,
Materials properties at the nanoscale. New TWAs are currently being established in tissue engineering and modulus measurement.

VAMAS Steering Committee delegates, 23-24 May 2005 outside Bushy House at NPL, United Kingdom.

About the authors Martin Rides is the past-secretary of VAMAS, Convenor of ISO/TC 61/ SC 5/WG 9 on polymer melt rheology and research scientist at NPL (National Physical Laboratory, UK) specializing in the measurement of materials properties relevant to polymer processing.

VAMAS Steering Committee members :
BSI Standards, United Kingdom
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und – Prüfung (BAM), Germany
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, France
Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade, Canada
Ecole des Mines de Saint-Etienne, France
ENEA, Italy
Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione (UNI), ITALY
Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Belgium
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan

Graham Sims is the past-Chair of VAMAS, Chair o f VA M A S TWA 5 on polymer composites, Convenor of ISO/TC 61/ SC 2/WG 5 on temperature dependent mechanical properties of plastics and CEN/TC 249/SC 2/WG 5 & 6 on structural properties of composites and pultruded profiles respectively, and research scientist and Knowledge Leader of the Division of Engineering and Process Control at the National Physical Laboratory, United Kingdom. The secretariat of VAMAS transferred to NIST in May 2005.


National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA
National Physical Laboratory (NPL), United Kingdom
National Research Council Canada (NRC), Canada
Università di Brescia, Italy

ISO Focus October 2005

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New this month ISO 22000 for safe food supply chains by Roger Frost, Press and Communication Manager, ISO Central Secretariat

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SO 22000 is a new International Standard designed to ensure safe food supply chains worldwide. ISO 22000:2005, Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain, provides a framework of internationally harmonized requirements for the global approach that is needed. The standard has been developed within ISO by experts from the food industry, along with representatives of specialized international organizations and in close cooperation with the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the body jointly established by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) to develop food standards. A major resulting benefit is that ISO 22000 will make it easier for organizations worldwide to implement the Codex HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) system for food hygiene in a harmonized way, which does not vary with the country or food product concerned. Food reaches consumers via supply chains that may link many different types of organization and that may stretch across multiple borders. One weak link can result in unsafe food that is dangerous to health – and when this happens, the hazards to consumers can be serious and the cost to food chain suppliers considerable. As food safety hazards can enter the food chain at any stage, adequate control throughout is essential. Food safety is a joint responsibility of all the actors in the food chain and requires their combined efforts. ISO 22000 is therefore designed to allow all types of organization within the food chain to implement a food safety management system. These range from feed producers, primary producers, food manufacturers, transport and stor-

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ISO Focus October 2005

age operators and subcontractors to retail and food service outlets – together with related organizations such as producers of equipment, packaging material, cleaning agents, additives and ingredients. The standard has become necessary because of the significant increase of illnesses caused by infected food in both developed and developing countries. For example, the annual economic cost of foodborne illnesses in the USA alone is estimated at several billion dollars (medical treatment, absence from work, etc.). ISO 22000, backed by international consensus, harmonizes the requirements for systematically managing safety in food supply chains and offers a unique solution for good practice on a worldwide basis. In addition, food safety management systems that conform to ISO 22000 can be certified – which answers the growing demand in the food sector for the certification of suppliers – although the standard can be implemented without certification of conformity, solely for the benefits it provides. Developed with the participation of food sector experts, ISO 22000 incorporates the principles of HACCP, and covers the requirements of key standards developed by various global food retailer syndicates, in a single document. “Public sector participation in the development of the ISO 22000 family is also significant,” ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden commented, “notably that of the FAO/WHO’s Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is responsible for the well-known HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) system for food hygiene. Thanks to the strong partnership between ISO and Codex, ISO 22000 will facilitate the implementation of HACCP and the food hygiene principles developed by this pre-eminent body in this field.” While ISO 22000 can be implemented on its own, it is designed to be fully compatible with ISO 9001:2000 and companies already certified to ISO 9001 will find it easy to extend this to certification to ISO 22000. To help users to do so, ISO 22000 includes a table showing the correspondence of its requirements with those of ISO 9001:2000. ISO 22000:2005 is the first in a family of standards that will include

the following documents: • ISO/TS 22004, Food safety management systems – Guidance on the application of ISO 22000:2005, which will be published by November 2005, provides important guidance that can assist organizations including small and mediumsized enterprises around the world. • ISO/TS 22003, Food safety management systems – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of food safety management systems, will give harmonized guidance for the accreditation (approval) of ISO 22000 certification bodies and define the rules for auditing a food safety management system as conforming to the standard. It will be published in the first quarter of 2006. • ISO 22005, Traceability in the feed and food chain – General principles and guidance for system design and development, will shortly be circulated as a Draft International Standard. In partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC) – the technical cooperation agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) – ISO is also preparing an easy-to-use check-list for small businesses and developing countries, entitled ISO 22000: Are you ready? ISO 22000:2005, Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain is available from ISO national member institutes and from ISO Central Secretariat ([email protected]).

Latest ISO Survey confirms integration of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 with world economy

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ISO 9001/2/3:1994

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Dec. 99

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he newly published latest edition of The ISO Survey of Certifications confirms the “thorough integration” of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 with the world economy. The survey also shows the success of the ISO 9001:2000 transition and reveals that the serWorldwide total of ISO 9001:2000 certificates vice sectors are now by far the bigDecember 2000 to December 2004 gest users of the standards. The annual survey, now in its 12 th year, provides a world- 700 000 wide panorama of certification to ISO’s quality and environmental 600 000 management system standards, 500 000 The latest edition reveals the situation at the end of 2004, the first 400 000 full year after the three-year period allowed for transition to the ISO 300 000 9001:2000 version. The worldwide total of cer- 200 000 tificates to the ISO 9001:2000 qual- 100 000 ity management systems standard at the end of 2004 was 670 399, an 0 increase of 35 % over the previous year and 64 % over 2000, the year before the transition to ISO Worldwide total of 9001:2000 began. Certificates had ISO 14001 certificates been issued in 154 countries com- December 1999 to December 2004 pared to 149 a year earlier. With 90 569 ISO 14001 90 000 certificates at the end of 2004, an 80 000 increase of 37 % over the previous 70 000 year, ISO’s environmental man60 000 agement system standard confirms its global progression. Certificates 50 000 had been issued in 127 countries, 40 000 up from 113 the year before. The 30 000 increase in the number of certifi20 000 cates in 2004 is the largest so far recorded in the ten surveys in which 10 000 ISO 14001 has been included. 0

Dec. 99

by Roger Frost, Press and Communication Manager, ISO Central Secretariat

ple is the telecommunication sector’s TL 9000, which accounts for well over 1 000 certificates. ISO has also worked with the oil and gas industry to develop the ISO 900:2000 based ISO/TS 29001 and this will no doubt generate many more certifications. The conclusion is that ISO 9001:2000 is providing a common, harmonized base of quality system requirements for global supply chains in one major sector after another. “ In fact, the survey results confirm that both ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 are thoroughly integrated with the world economy. They show too that the transition to the improved, more rigorous ISO 9001:2000 version has been a success as the world total of certifications is now far in excess of the total before the transition began. This augurs well for the current transition to the improved ISO 14001:2004. Annual growth of “ One of the development ISO 9001:2000 certificates objectives for ISO 9001:2000 was December 2000 to December 2004 to make it easier for service providers to achieve benefits from the 350 000 ISO 9000 approach. Therefore, it is both encouraging and high300 000 ly significant that not only ISO 9001:2000 but also ISO 14001 250 000 certification is now highest in the 200 000 service sectors, each accounting for 31 % of all certificates, This 150 000 validates ISO’s decision to make standards for services one of its 100 000 major growth areas.” ISO out-sourced the col50 000 lection and compilation of data for the 2004 survey to the market 0 research firm ACNielsen, of Vienna, Austria. The principal survey findings Annual growth of are provided free of charge on ISO’s ISO 14001 certificates December 1999 to December 2004 Web site, including world, regional and country breakdowns. 24 000 The ISO Survey of Certifi22 000 cations - 2004 (ISBN 92-67-104020 000 1) is also available as a combined 18 000 report and CD-ROM from ISO’s 16 000 national member institutes and ISO 14 000 Central Secretariat (sales@iso. 12 000 org). In addition to the catego10 000 ries of data listed above, the report 8 000 includes world totals by industri6 000 al sector, while the CD-ROM also 4 000 provides country-by-country break2 000 downs by industrial sector. 0 ISO 9001/2/3:1994

For the first time, the survey provides certification data on two ISO standards that include the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, plus sector-specific requirements. It shows that at least 10 056 certificates had been issued in 62 economies to ISO/TS 16949:2002, which gives quality management systems requirements for suppliers to the international automotive industry. In addition, at least 3 068 certificates had been issued in 56 countries and economies to ISO 13485:2003, the sectorspecific quality management standard for the medical device sector. “ Even this figure does not fully reflect the market penetration of ISO 9001:2000,” ISO Secretary General Alan Bryden commented. “ ISO 9001:2000 is the core too for specific quality standards developed by major sectors. An exam-

ISO Focus October 2005

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New this month

ISO welcomes new members

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aint Vincent and the Grenadines Bureau of Standards (SVGBS) has been admitted to ISO as a subscriber member, with retroactive effect as of 1 January 2005. Details of the national standards body are as follows : Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Bureau of Standards Campden Park Industrial Site KINGSTOWN Postal address : P.O. Box 1506 KINGSTOWN Director : Mr. Ezra D. Ledger Tel. + 1 784 457 80 92 Fax + 1 784 457 81 75 E-mail [email protected] Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are located between the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean, north of Trinidad and Tobago and cover a total of 389 km2. The Grenadines are some 32 islands and cays stretching south from St. Vincent. The climate is generally tropical with the little seasonal temperature variation ; with the rainy season running from May to November. The landscape is generally mountainous and volcanic, with the highest peak, Soufriere, rising to 1 234 metres (4 000 ft.). About 18 % of the country consists of arable land. Kingstown is the capital city of this country of just under 120 000 inhabitants. While English is the predominant language, a French patois is also spoken. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’s natural resources are hydropower and cropland. Its industry centres around food processing, cement, furniture, clothing and starch. Economic growth in this lower-middle-income country hinges upon seasonal variations in the agricultural and tourism sectors. Services occupies 57 % of the workforce, agriculture 26 %, industry 17 %.

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ISO Focus October 2005

Its exports amount to USD 38 million in bananas, eddoes and dasheen (taro), arrowroot starch; tennis racquets, and go to, among others, France (31 %), Spain (20 %), Italy (18 %), Greece (12 %), and United Kingdom (8 %). Its imports USD 174 million of goods, in the form of foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilizers, minerals and fuels ; they come essentially from France (21 %), Italy (12 %), Singapore (11 %), United States (12 %), Trinidad and Tobago (10 %), Japan (7 %), and Spain 5 % .

Afghanistan has an arid to semiarid climate with cold winters and hot summers. The landscape consists of mostly rugged mountains, plains in north and southwest. About 12 % of the country consists of arable land. The country is heavily dependent on agriculture, which provides employment for 80 % of the labour force. Afghanistan’s natural resources are natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones. Its industry centres around small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement ; handwoven carpets ; natural gas, coal, copper.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Identikit Name: conventional long form : none conventional short form : Saint Vincent and the Grenadines country code : VC currency code : East Caribbean dollar (XCD)

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he Afghanistan National Standardization Authority (ANSA) has been admitted to ISO as a correspondent member, with retroactive effect as of 1 July 2005. Details of the national standards body are as follows : Afghanistan National Standardization Authority Ministry of Commerce Building Darulaman Road KABUL Acting Head : Mr. Ziauddin Zia Tel. + 93 70 15 16 96 E-mail [email protected] Afghanistan, a land-locked country of 647 500 km2, lies in Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Kabul is the capital city of this country of almost 30 million inhabitants.

The country’s export commodities consist of opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems, which bring in USD 446 million and go to, among others, India (23 %), Pakistan (21%), USA (13 %) and Germany (6 %). Afghanistan imports USD 3.8 billion of goods in the form of capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products ; they come essentially from Pakistan (25%), USA (9 %), Republic of South Korea (8 %), India (8 %), Germany (7 %), Turkmenistan (5 %) and Turkey (4 %). Afghanistan Identikit Name: conventional long form : Islamic Republic of Afghanistan conventional short form : Afghanistan country code : AF currency code : Afghani (AFA)

Coming up Developments and Initiatives ISO General Assembly – At the invitation of the ISO member for Singapore, the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING SG), ISO held its 28 th General Assembly from 21 to 23 September 2005 at the Raffles City Convention Centre located in the heart of Singapore.

Main Focus The oil and gas business The oil and gas industry needs standards now more than ever as new markets and new countries enter the business. In the field of exploration and production, for example, the industry is spending an annual rate of perhaps USD 250 billion across the world. The supply chain has a mixture of global and local companies, with significant cross-border trade. Processing plants for the refining and manufacture of fuels and petrochemicals are also being installed worldwide. Global standards are needed, both to facilitate efficient procurement in the world market, and to ensure that materials and equipment are consistently safe and reliable to operate. Those participating in standards writing represent all sectors of the petroleum industry. Operators from state-owned and global companies, drilling contractors, service and supply organizations, manufacturers, regulators, and academia contribute technology and people to the process. At present, ISO technical committee ISO/TC 67 has participants from 24 countries and observers from 27, totaling more than 1 000 experts and delegates. The standards that evolve represent the global consensus of knowledgeable experts and the best available technology at the time. Currently, TC 67 has a programme of about 155 standards with over 105 that have been revised at least once. The November 2005 issue of ISO Focus examines the industry and its relationship

with standards from a number of perspectives, including those of manufacturers, purchasers and regulators. Contributors from ISO/TC 67, as well as those from other committees and organizations, explain the reasons that lead each economic actor to develop, support and use ISO’s International Standards, and the importance of including all ISO’s stakeholder in the process. National viewpoints from China, Norway, Kazakhstan, and the USA are covered. The issue will also highlight the trends and outlooks explored at the recently concluded 18 th World Petroleum Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa. ISO participated for the first time in the Congress, and addressed the theme of current trends for management and reporting standards – from quality to social responsibility – and underlined the importance of the technical specification ISO/TS 29001 for implementing ISO 9001-based quality management systems in the oil and natural gas industry. In addition to addressing issues raised at the Congress, the November issue will feature an exclusive interview with President of PETROBRAS, José Sérgio Gabrielli de Azevedo. “…Adherence to technical standards,” he says, “is part of the company’s corporate strategy. It is fundamental for technological development and competitive success in all our markets, meeting quality, safety, environmental and health requirements.” ISO Focus October 2005

In a special feature, ISO Focus provides highlights of the event’s key themes and conclusions, including of the two halfday open sessions on security and services, respectively.

Long life for PDF documents – A new ISO standard will ensure long life for PDF documents. The newly published ISO 19005, Document management – Electronic document file format for long-term preservation – Part 1, Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1), enables organizations to archive documents electronically in a way that will ensure the preservation of content and visual appearance over an extended period of time. It also allows documents to be retrieved and rendered with a consistent and predictable result in the future, independent of the tools and systems used for creating, storing and rendering the files.