On April 22, 2020, ISED published Certification Requirements for Products Employing Time-averaged Specific Absorption Rate (TAS) Protocol. These products, which manage power levels to control specific absorption rate over a period of time, require ISED’s pre-approval. Thus, they must meet the following criteria in order to be included in the Radio Equipment List (REL).
If your product is a new and emerging technology for which no standardized test procedures exist, you must consult ISED to determine the necessary testing methodologies to demonstrate compliance with appropriate RF exposure limits.
ISED will evaluate documentation for products employing TAS protocol. Pre-approval is required for any TAS protocol; modules integrating ISED-approved TAS protocol; and final products integrating ISED-approved TAS protocol. (Pre-approval is not required when the final product is a host integrating a certified module incorporating an ISED-approved TAS protocol.)
A time-averaging period of 360 seconds should be used to demonstrate compliance to SAR limits specified in RSS-102 and Canada’s Safety Code 6.
Arithmetic mean should be used when averaging SAR to demonstrate compliance with Canada RF exposure limits. (Averaging methods using any type of weighting factor will not be accepted.)
All testing should be performed in an ISED-recognized testing lab. The following should be assessed by such a lab:
TAS protocol validation
SAR evaluations
Time-averaging transmitter factor assessment
Dynamic antenna tuning
Output power
Proximity of other sensors used for power reduction
Methods used to determine applicable exposure conditions and operational modes.
Category I radio apparatus must comply with applicable technical standards, such as Section 4 (3) of the Radiocommunications Act and Section 2.6.1 of RSS-Gen, Issue 5.
ISED is currently working to determine how time-averaging can be implemented to manage compliance with other RF exposure requirements.
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