Dear friends of USMA and the SI,
I wish to take a few moments of your time to describe some of the work
that is done in support of the metric system in the U.S. and elsewhere
by a committee which I chair. Also, I wish to ask you to consider
joining this committee. USMA is represented there by Lorelle Young, Paul
Trusten, Don Hillger, and others. But there is plenty of room for others
to join in and to help with our work.
The subject committee is part of the Standards Association (SA) of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engigeers (IEEE) and it is
designated as Standards Coordinating Committee 14 (SCC 14). IEEE SA is a
standards developing organization (SDO) that operates under common
guidelines for developing consensus standards. IEEE has an
administrative staff but the bulk of the standards work is done by
interested volunteers who exercise their expertise in the areas they serve.
SCC 14 undertakes a few diverse but related tasks. Our public website is
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/260/1/
We meet annually (this last one, held today, was by teleconference) and
converse via email at other times.
We write and maintain several standards, published by IEEE. Most of
these have been adopted as American National Standards by ANSI.
* IEEE Standard Letter Symbols for Units of Measurement (SI
Customary Inch-Pound Units, and Certain Other Units), IEEE Std
260.1-2004 (reaffirmed in 2010)
* American National Standard Mathematical Signs and Symbols for Use
in Physical Sciences and Technology, IEEE Std 260.3-1993 (reaffirmed 2006)
* American National Standard Letter Symbols and Abbreviations for
Quantities Used in Acoustics, IEEE Std 260.4-1996 (reaffirmed 2006)
* IEEE Standard Definitions for Selected Quantities, Units, and
Related Terms, with Special Attention to the International System of
Units (SI), IEEE Std 270-2006
* IEEE Standard Letter Symbols for Quantities Used in Electrical
Science and Electrical Engineering, IEEE Std 280-1982 (extended pending
development of proposed standard 80000)
* IEEE Recommended Practice for Preferred Metric Units for Use in
Electrical and Electronics Science and Technology, IEEE Std 945-1984
* IEEE Standard for Prefixes for Binary Multiples, IEEE Std
1541-2002 (reaffirmed 2008)
* Standard for Quantities and Units, P80000 (in development)
* IEEE/ASTM Standard for Use of the International System of Units
(SI): The Modern Metric System, IEEE/ASTM SI 10-2002 (revision in progress)
The next to last standard listed, P80000, is under development. It is a
"parallel standard" to ISO/IEC 80000, which is nearly complete. Ours
will be an "Americanized" version. This standard comprises more than a
dozen areas including math, chemistry, physics, etc.
The last standard listed, SI 10, is perhaps familiar to some of you as
the most frequently cited industrial standard supporting the SI in the
U.S. It is an American National Standard.
Our committee also tracks progress toward metrication in the U.S. and
with regard to SI matters elsewhere, such as the EU, the BIPM, ISO, IEC,
etc. Our legislative working group (SCC14-Leg) tracks the FPLA revision
currently being worked on by NIST, the new standard for hydrogen pumping
stations, Joint Committee (ex-JCAHO) decisions, the National Conference
on Weights and Measures (NCWM), etc.
We advise and converse with NIST on matters regarding some committees it
sits on that relate to the SI, such as the Consultative Committee on
Units (CCU), OIML, ILAC, ISO TC 12/IEC TC 25, etc.
HERE IS WHERE WE ESPECIALLY NEED VOLUNTEERS!
An important working group within our committee is the one (SCC14-Rev)
that reviews proposed standards and proposed revisions to those
standards to ensure proper compliance with IEEE Metric Policy.
Particularly, this policy calls for IEEE standards to comply with SI 10.
In fact, our committee's comments invoke mandatory response for a
standard or its revision to be accepted by IEEE SA. This work on our
part requires intimate knowledge of the SI and attention to detail. It
also demands the ability to write in a style that is brief, clear, and
tactful. The workload amounts to about 4 to 5 standards documents per
week. If we have 5 reviewers on staff, that's about one document apiece
each week that a person would be asked to review. Those documents run
from a few dozen pages to hundreds of pages. I found that I could review
a 200 page document and comment on it in just a few hours, depending on
its level of compliance. Some reviews have taken me less than 30
minutes. All of this can be done at home on a computer and (within a 30
day window) at the reviewer's convenience. We will provide reviewers
with copies of SI 10, train them, and guide them as they proceed along
their learning curves.
SO, IF YOU UNDERSTAND THE SI AND WISH TO FURTHER THE PROPER USE OF IT...
you can volunteer to help. Please consider joining our committee and
especially please consider whether you would be willing to be trained to
review standards for compliance.
If you are interested, please let me know by personal email and tell me
a bit about your background, expertise, and areas of interest. We
currently have members from the fields of pharmacy, metrology,
meteorology, technical editing, physics, education, chemistry,
engineering (electrical, mechanical, nuclear, civil,), welding,....
Since I am now retired and living on a farm, I suppose I could add
farming to the list of areas represented. Yes, there is a place for you,
too!
Hoping to hear from you soon,
James R. Frysinger (Jim), LCAMS
Chair IEEE SCC 14
Vice Chair, Joint Committee for Maintaining IEEE/ASTM SI 10
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
