scope:

This recommended practice identifies specifications that should be provided to characterize instrumentation used to measure the steady state root mean square (rms) values of magnetic and electric fields with sinusoidal frequency content in the range 10 Hz to 3 kHz in residential and occupational settings as well as in transportation systems. The dynamic ranges of interest are 0.01 μT (0.1 mG) to 10 mT (100 G) and 1 V/m to 30 kV/m for magnetic and electric fields, respectively. In addition, this recommended practice addresses the following:

Defines terminology

Describes general characteristics of fields

Surveys operational principles of instrumentation

Indicates methods of calibration

Identifies significant sources of error

While field meter specifications are identified, frequencies and field levels that should be used for calibration purposes, and limits on measurement uncertainty are not recommended in this standard. Rather, it is left to standards that describe measurement protocols for different environments to indicate specific calibration points and uncertainty requirements.

However, sources of uncertainty during calibration and measurements are identified and guidance is provided on how they should be combined to determine total measurement uncertainty.

Purpose

The interest in characterizing quasi-static magnetic and electric fields in a number of environments has led to the development and marketing of many field meters with a range of specifications. Sources of quasi-static fields include devices that operate at power frequencies and produce power frequency and power frequency harmonic fields, as well as devices that produce fields that are independent of the power frequency. Because of differences in the characteristics of the fields from sources in the various environments, for example, frequency content, polarization, nonuniformity, and magnitude, the instrumentation requirements for measurements in the various environments will differ. While a variety of instrumentation exists to characterize these parameters, this recommended practice only pertains to the instrumentation to the extent that they measure the rms levels of the magnetic and electric fields.