scope:

Standard frequency generators include atomic frequency standards, quartz oscillators, dielectric resonator oscillators (DROs), yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) oscillators, cavity oscillators, sapphire oscillators, and thinfilm resonator (TFR) based oscillators. Excluded are oscillators with a frequency stability worse than approximately 10^-4, as well as all other active and passive electronic equipment such as receivers, amplifiers, filters, and so on.

There are three distinctly different areas of concern for environmental testing and specifications listed as follows:

a) Fitness for specific user needs and actual environments (tests attempt to mimic the anticipated environments)

b) Characterization of the unit (tests attempt to provide "pure" coefficients for the various environments)

c) Reliability and survival (tests attempt to stress the unit by either going to extremes of operating ranges or by repeated application of stimuli, e.g., cycling)

This document puts emphasis on b) above. It provides guidance and a conceptual framework rather than a prescription of procedures that must be followed. It emphasizes proper methodology and practice; it cautions against pitfalls. It also is concerned with economic issues, i.e., the potential resource requirements and their minimization in test and measurement. In summary, this IEEE guide is not a specification document, but rather a resource document for deriving specification statements.