International Standards Bodies Research Articles

What is beyond 50G: future standards of optical access networks [Invited

In the past two decades, optical access networks have been widely deployed by operators around the world. The global optical access network market reaches about 1 billion users with a revenue of over 10 billion US dollars. As strategic tools to facilitate mass production, the optical access network standards play a crucial role in driving the product deployment and market growth. This paper overviews the latest effort in international standards bodies on the next generation optical access networks. It discusses projects in this area within the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Standardization Section (ITU-T), the IEEE, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Promising technologies are investigated with the goal of providing rates beyond 50 Gbps. Challenges are highlighted to satisfy the requirements on balancing access rates, loss budgets, and cost. Candidate systems are analyzed in three categories: point-to-multipoint (PtMP), point-to-point (PtP), and new applications. These standardization endeavors will jointly guarantee optical access networks as the premiere solution of wireline broadband access.

Planning tools for next-generation DSP-based passive optical networks above 50G [Invited Tutorial

Next-generation optical access networks are evolving towards ultra-high bit rates (above 50 Gbps per wavelength) and extended fiber reach architectures. This trend will likely push the optoelectronics to their limits, thus requiring impairment compensation based on digital signal processing (DSP) techniques in the transceivers. In this paper, which is an invited follow-up of a tutorial given at ECOC 2023, we first present an overview of this evolving scenario and then propose a unified analytical model that is able to predict the performance of these new systems for both direct-detection and coherent transceiver types. We believe that this model can be useful for preliminary scalability studies of new access architectures (as it happens in international standardization bodies). Moreover, when they are deployed, it can be useful as a base for network planning tools, particularly if future transceivers will be, as expected, highly reconfigurable at the DSP level.

FIG Commission 4 Work Plan 2023–2026: Targeting the next challenges in the hydrospatial domain

The evolution of hydrographic science and technology is continually shaped by emerging trends and challenges, influencing our comprehension and governance of marine environments. Commission 4 (Hydrography) of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) is charged with anticipating the impact of these developments on hydrospatial professionals and addressing emerging issues in its forthcoming four-year work plan. This necessitates staying informed about the latest advancements and navigating the interplay of factors within the hydrospatial domain. Commission 4 also aims to engage with the hydrospatial community to gain insights into the effects of current trends on global hydrospatial work at various levels. Establishing collaborations with key organisations, including the International Hydrographic Organization, professional bodies, standards bodies, global taskforces, and other FIG commissions and networks, is integral to ensuring the hydrospatial community can deliver the highest level of professional output for global hydrospatial information users. This article seeks to enhance community awareness and understanding of the roles played by FIG Commission 4 and its associated working groups. It provides an update on the changes and goals outlined in the FIG Commission 4 work plan for the term 2023–2026, introduces the term "hydrospatial" in lieu of "geospatial" for ocean and related domains, and introduces a new working group (WG 4.5) focused on addressing the impacts of climate change.

Corporate governance and risk management in Islamic and convectional financial institutions: explaining the role of institutional quality

PurposeThis study aimed at exploring the differential effects of different corporate governance (CG) indicators on risk management practices in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) and conventional financial institutions (CFIs) of Pakistan. It also investigated the moderating role of institutional quality (IQ) in shaping the effects of CG practices on financial institutions of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 57 financial institutions including commercial banks, insurance companies and Modarba companies over the period 2006–2017 is used to carry out the empirical analysis. The authors applied the robust two-step system-generalized method of moments estimator, which is also called the dynamic panel data estimator. They also built the PCA-based composite index of CG and IQ by using different indicators to investigate the moderating role of IQ. They used three proxies for risk taking, five for CG and one for Shari’ah governance. To test the validity of the instruments, they applied the Arellano and Bond’s (1991) AR (1) and AR (2) tests and the J-statistic of Hansen (1982).FindingsThe results provided strong evidence that several individual characteristics of CG and the composite index are significantly related to the operational risk, the liquidity risk and the Z-score (a proxy for solvency risk). The results also revealed that IQ significantly and substantially contributes in reducing the level of risks. Finally, the estimation results indicated that the effects of CG on risk management are significantly different at IFIs and CFIs. This differential impact is mainly attributed to the fundamental differences in business models, operational strategies and contractual obligations of both types of institutions.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study are important for enhancing our understanding of how CG relates to risk taking in Islamic and conventional financial services industries and how good quality institutions are important for formulating the governance effects on the risk-taking behavior of financial institutions. The findings suggest that a suitable size of board should be chosen to manage the risk effectively. As the findings show that the risk-taking behavior of IFIs differs from that of CFIs, the regulators and international standard setting bodies should tailor the regulatory frameworks accordingly.Originality/valueThis paper is different from the existing studies in four aspects. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation in Pakistan, which does the comparison of IFIs and CFIs while examining the impacts of CG on risk management. Second, the paper constructs the composite index of CG by considering several different indicators of governance and examines the combined effect of governance indicators on risk management process. Third, this paper adds to the growing literature on the role of IQ by investigating whether it acts as a moderator between CG structures and risk management and if yes, then whether this moderating role is different for IFIs and CFIs. Finally, the paper builds upon the existing research work on the CG effects for different types of financial institutions by proposing a single regression based analytical framework for comparing the effects across two different types of institutions, harvesting the benefits of higher degrees of freedom and avoiding/minimizing the measurement error.

Good Practices for the Laboratory Performance Testing of Aqueous Oral Inhaled Products (OIPs): an Assessment from the International Pharmaceutical Aerosol Consortium on Regulation and Science (IPAC-RS).

Multiple sources must be consulted to determine the most appropriate procedures for the laboratory-based performance evaluation of aqueous oral inhaled products (OIPs) for the primary measures, dose uniformity/delivery, and aerodynamic particle (droplet) size distribution (APSD). These sources have been developed at different times, mainly in Europe and North America, during the past 25years by diverse organizations, including pharmacopeial chapter/monograph development committees, regulatory agencies, and national and international standards bodies. As a result, there is a lack of consistency across all the recommendations, with the potential to cause confusion to those developing performance test methods. We have reviewed key methodological aspects of source guidance documents identified by a survey of the pertinent literature and evaluated the underlying evidence supporting their recommendations for the evaluation of these performance measures. We have also subsequently developed a consistent series of solutions to guide those faced with the various associated challenges when developing OIP performance testing methods for oral aqueous inhaled products.

Design for All - Design for Disabled: How important is anthropometry?

Design for All or Universal Design is a relatively new domain in Ergonomics. With globally ageing populations, it has however recently gained significant interest. This position paper summarizes the outcomes of a workshop held at the virtual 21st Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association. The paper expands the horizon of traditional Ergonomics into a domain where people are differently abled and establishes a platform for the essential needs of future ergonomic standards which are required to inform inclusive design guidelines, or Design for All, extending the range of users. The paper includes contributions from Asian, Australian, European and US workshop participants who are accessibility design experts in their respective geographic regions. The paper summarizes issues related to anthropometry in the Design for All, based on recent work in the US (Access board) and actual developments in various national and international accessibility standardization bodies, such as the Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, the European Standardization Organization (EN 17210:2021; EN 17161:2019) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 21542:2021 and BS ISO 7176-5:2008). The paper concludes that despite the identification of a significant gap in knowledge of the anthropometry of people with disabilities as far back as 1990, work towards bridging the gap and enabling ergonomic standardization has not progressed since then globally. The lack of standardization in anthropometric data on people with a physical disability continues to complicate provision of data for mobility and accessibility design and hampers accessibility standardization efforts.

Next Decade of Telecommunications Artificial Intelligence

It has been an exciting journey since the mobile communications and artificial intelligence were conceived 37 years and 64 years ago. While both fields evolved independently and profoundly changed communications and computing industries, the rapid convergence of 5G and deep learning is beginning to significantly transform the core communication infrastructure, network management and vertical applications. The paper first outlines the individual roadmaps of mobile communications and artificial intelligence in the early stage, with a concentration to review the era from 3G to 5G when AI and mobile communications started to converge. With regard to telecommunications artificial intelligence, the paper further introduces in detail the progress of artificial intelligence in the ecosystem of mobile communications. The paper then summarizes the classifications of AI in telecom ecosystems along with its evolution paths specified by various international telecommunications standardization bodies. Towards the next decade, the paper forecasts the prospective roadmap of telecommunications artificial intelligence. In line with 3GPP and ITU-R timeline of 5G & 6G, the paper further explores the network intelligence following 3GPP and ORAN routes respectively, experience and intention driven network management and operation, network AI signalling system, intelligent middle-office based BSS, intelligent customer experience management and policy control driven by BSS and OSS convergence, evolution from SLA to ELA, and intelligent private network for verticals. The paper is concluded with the vision that AI will reshape the future B5G or 6G landscape and we need pivot our R&D, standardizations, and ecosystem to fully take the unprecedented opportunities.

Limping, Leaving, and Leading: The Catch-up of Chinese Firms in a Standard Developing Organization

While standardization in the telecommunications industry typically occurs during early phases in the R&D process, research-intensive activities are at late phases of the catch-up process, requiring different strategies for latecomer firms to catch up in standardization. The third-generation (3G) technology of cellular telecommunication provided a window of opportunity for Chinese firms to catch up. While China’s homegrown 3G standard with the catch-up of its sponsor firm Datang with the support of the Chinese government has received much attention in the media and academia, little is known about the catch-up of Chinese firms in the international standardization body. This article studies the catch-up of 32 Chinese organizations in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) from 1999 to 2020. While it finds successful catch-up on the country level, the picture on the firm level is more nuanced regarding entry timing, level, and strategies of catch-up. One common pattern is the catch-up process along the hierarchy of activities from attendance, contribution in technical documents, coordination, and leadership positions. However, firms also differ in their strategies, which depend on their time of entry and international operation.

End-to-End Entanglement Generation Strategies: Capacity Bounds and Impact on Quantum Key Distribution

A first quantum revolution has already brought quantum technologies into our everyday life for decades: in fact, electronics and optics are based on the quantum mechanical principles. Today, a second quantum revolution is underway, leveraging the quantum principles of superposition, entanglement and measurement, which were not fully exploited yet. International innovation activities and standardization bodies have identified four main application areas for quantum technologies and services: quantum secure communications, quantum computing, quantum simulation, and quantum sensing and metrology. This paper focuses on quantum secure communications by addressing the evolution of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) networks (under early exploitation today) towards the Quantum-ready networks and the Quantum Internet based also on entanglement distribution. Assuming that management and control of quantum nodes is a key challenge under definition, today, a main obstacle in exploiting long-range QKD and Quantum-ready networks concerns the inherent losses due to the optical transmission channels. Currently, it is assumed that a most promising way for overcoming this limitation, while avoiding the presence of costly trusted nodes, it is to distribute entangled states by means of Quantum Repeaters. In this respect, the paper provides an overview of current methods and systems for end-to-end entanglement generation, with some simulations and a discussion of capacity upper bounds and their impact of secret key rate in QKD systems.

DEFINING ISSUES OF CRYPTOGRAPHIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION SECURITY, CYBERSECURITY AND COUNTERING TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE

Today, the implementation of measures for cybersecurity of information and communication systems and critical infrastructure of the state, countering and responding to computer incidents and cyber influences - remains one of the major tasks in the field of information security and cybersecurity of the state. Defining the directions of Ukraine᾿s foreign policy in the field of cybersecurity, the Strategy establishes that Ukraine will intensify its participation and partnership in international processes of standardization and certification in the field of cybersecurity, increase its “presence” in international, regional and other standardization bodies and institutes and certification of this area in the geopolitical sense. Based on the need for scientific substantiation of the institutional framework for the development of cybersecurity, special attention should be paid to the development of standards in the field of new IT technologies (including artificial intelligence, cloud databases, quantum computing and communications) and basic Internet architecture. The review of the problem field of research shows that in general the Internet should be comprehensive and open, the technologies supported and used in it should be focused on the person, his basic freedoms, guarantee neutrality to his privacy, ensure his privacy in cyberspace, and any restrictions should be carried out only in accordance with laws and regulations (standards). Ukraine᾿s position is that the use of certain technological processes should be legal and safe, in accordance with existing ethical standards. Current laws and regulations of the state, current national standards, including those developed and implemented, have been formulated taking into account promising areas of development of mechanisms for institutional support of cyber security and based on Euro-Atlantic experience. This allowed them to be implemented quite effectively in the regulatory framework of Ukraine. Nevertheless, during the analysis and generalization of theoretical approaches to the essence and content of some definitions, experts came to the appropriate legal conflict, namely that national standards contain requirements in partially similar areas of Ukrainian society, only with other names, such as: “information security”, “information technology security”, and “cybersecurity”. Thus, the author considers in detail the theoretical and practical significance of the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Standardization in the Areas of Cryptographic and Technical Protection of Information, Cyber Security, Counteraction to Technical Intelligence” at the initiative of MPs Fedienko O.P., Klochko A. and others, registration number 6568 of “28” January 2022 (first reading). Therefore, based on the implemented Cyber Security Strategy, which entered into force on 28.08.2021 and it is obvious that in the process of achieving its goals requires a systematic approach, the issue of legislation and standardization in cyber security and defining a specific subject of standardization in this area is extremely important.

Semi-quantitative methodology to assess health and safety risks arising from exposure to electromagnetic fields up to 300 GHz in workplaces according to Italian regulations

This article is focused on a semi-quantitative methodology to assess and manage the health and safety risks arising from exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) up to 300 GHz in workplaces as well as to identify the priorities of intervention, based on the requirements of European Directive 2013/35/EU and Italian regulations. The study includes a synthetic overview of the effects arising from EMF exposure and the related regulatory framework on protection. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis is carried out on the risk assessment process as well as on the technical and organizational measures for risk mitigation and their adaptation to the specific requirements of workers at particular risk, based on technical standards and best practice guides issued by international and national (Italian) standardization bodies.

Standards as Information Source for Laboratories

The article provides an overview of the role of standards, their development, characteristics, validity and retrieval, including the way of how to obtain their full texts. It discusses international, European and Czech standardization bodies. It also deals with the implementation of international standards into the Czech standards system. It gives a list of selected Czech standards and standardization documents of relevance to analytical laboratories.

Global wave energy resource classification system for regional energy planning and project development

Efforts to streamline and codify wave energy resource characterization and assessment for regional energy planning and wave energy converter (WEC) project development have motivated the recent development of resource classification systems. Given the unique interplay between WEC absorption and resource attributes, viz, available wave power frequency, directionality, and seasonality, various consensus resource classification metrics have been introduced. However, the main international standards body for the wave energy industry has not reached consensus on a wave energy resource classification system designed with clear goals to facilitate resource assessment, regional energy planning, project site selection, project feasibility studies, and selection of WEC concepts or archetypes that are most suitable for a given wave energy climate. A primary consideration of wave energy generation is the available energy that can be captured by WECs with different resonant frequency and directional bandwidths. Therefore, the proposed classification system considers combinations of three different wave power classifications: the total wave power, the frequency-constrained wave power, and the frequency-directionally constrained wave power. The dominant wave period bands containing the most wave power are sub-classification parameters that provide useful information for designing frequency and directionally constrained WECs. The bulk of the global wave energy resource is divided into just 22 resource classes representing distinct wave energy climates that could serve as a common language and reference framework for wave energy resource assessment if codified within international standards.

An overview of quantum computing and quantum communication systems

An overview of quantum computing and quantum communication systems

Guest Editorial: Security and Privacy

Over the past two decades, a wide range of cyber security and privacy standards and regulations have been developed, covering a large number of application areas being both technical and business-oriented in nature. These standards and guidelines have been published by formal national and international standardization bodies and government agencies, as well as by industry consortia. Many of them are widely used, including the IETF standards that form the basis for the operation of the Internet; the ISO/IEC 27000 series of standards that has become the internationally adopted system for managing corporate information security; and the standards for mobile telephony published by the 3GPP that underlie all generations of mobile telephone networks. Despite their wide deployment, there will always be a need to revise existing standards and to develop new standards to cover new domains.

Scaling Laws for Unamplified Coherent Transmission in Next-Generation Short-Reach and Access Networks

International standardization bodies (IEEE and ITU-T) working on the evolution of transmission technologies are still considering traditional direct detection solutions for the most relevant short-reach optical link applications, that are Passive Optical Networks (PON) and intra-data center interconnects. Anyway, future jumps towards even higher bit rates per wavelength will require a complete paradigm shift, moving towards coherent technologies. In this paper, we thus study both analytically and experimentally the scaling laws of unamplified coherent transmission in the short-reach communications ecosystems. We believe that, given the extremely tight techno-economic constraints, such a revolutionary transition towards coherent in short-reach first requires a very detailed study of its intrinsic capabilities in largely extending the limitation currently imposed by direct detection systems. To this end, this paper focuses on the ultimate physical layer limitations of unamplified coherent systems in terms of bit rate and power budget. The main parameters of our performance estimation model are extracted through fitting with a set of experimental characterizations and later used as the starting point of a scaling laws study regarding local oscillator power, modulator-induced attenuation, bit rate, and maximum achievable power budget. The analytically predicted performance is then verified through transmission experiments, including a demonstration on a 37-km installed metropolitan dark fiber in the city of Turin. Our findings show that coherent detection without optical pre-amplification and using PM-QPSK can tolerate optical power budget (OPB) well above, for instance, the 29 dB imposed by the current PON standards even at extremely high raw bit rates up to 800 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Gbps$</tex-math></inline-formula> . PM-16QAM, on the other hand, can provide up to 190 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Gbps$</tex-math></inline-formula> at 29 dB OPB only if combined with soft FEC algorithms. Even higher bit rates are also shown for the less demanding power budget needed in intra-data centers links.

China's Growing Influence over the Rules of the Digital Road

executive summary: This essay examines the growing role of China in international standards-setting organizations as a window into its efforts to influence global digital governance institutions and highlights areas where the U.S. can preserve its interests in cyberspace. main argument In recent years China's international influence in shaping the digital rules of the road has increased. Evidence of the country's growing role in digital standards-setting organizations comes from increased numbers of submissions to key international technical standards bodies as well as enhanced Chinese representation in leadership positions in these bodies. This trend is evident in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, which provide opportunities for China to lead in the formulation of new systems of standards. At the same time, it is important to avoid overstating the country's role in global digital governance. China's standards-setting influence is qualified by the caliber of its submissions and by comparison with other leading countries. policy implications • The U.S. must recognize that China is becoming a more important player in setting international standards for digital technologies, and that this trend comes with both risks and benefits. • To bolster U.S. industry participation in international standards-setting, the U.S. can provide more support for hosting international standards gatherings and for U.S. subject matter experts to participate in standards-setting forums. • International standards-setting organizations can also take steps to check undue Chinese government influence, such as by strengthening anonymous voting procedures.

Comparison and Analysis on Shariah Standards of AAOIFI &amp; BNM For Mudarbah Product

Comparison and Analysis on Shariah Standards of AAOIFI &amp; BNM For Mudarbah Product There are two main international standard setting bodies which provide shariah, accounting and auditing standards for global Islamic financial industry. These two institutions are the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). The objective of the current study is to provide an analysis of Mudarbah financing by comparing the standards of the AAOIFI and BNM. Qualitative method of research is used to analyze the content from archival sources. It is established that there are a lot of clauses between the two standards which need to be highlighted for the development of a comprehensive and uniform Islamic financial system. This study will help to achieve this goal by minimizing the gap between AAOIFI and BNM. Keywords: Mudarbah financing, AAOIFI, BNM, Shariah Standards

The Inadequacy of Regulatory Frameworks in Time of Crisis and in Low-Resource Settings: Personal Protective Equipment and COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic is plaguing the world and representing the most significant stress test for many national healthcare systems and services, since their foundation. The supply-chain disruption and the unprecedented request for intensive care unit (ICU) beds have created in Europe conditions typical of low-resources settings. This generated a remarkable race to find solutions for the prevention, treatment and management of this disease which is involving a large amount of people. Every day, new Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solutions regarding personal protective equipment and medical devices populate social media feeds. Many companies (e.g., automotive or textile) are converting their traditional production to manufacture the most needed equipment (e.g., respirators, face shields, ventilators etc.). In this chaotic scenario, policy makers, international and national standards bodies, along with the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientific societies are making a joint effort to increase global awareness and knowledge about the importance of respecting the relevant requirements to guarantee appropriate quality and safety for patients and healthcare workers. Nonetheless, ordinary procedures for testing and certification are currently questioned and empowered with fast-track pathways in order to speed-up the deployment of new solutions for COVID-19. This paper shares critical reflections on the current regulatory framework for the certification of personal protective equipment. We hope that these reflections may help readers in navigating the framework of regulations, norms and international standards relevant for key personal protective equipment, sharing a subset of tests that should be deemed essential even in a period of crisis.

Traceable measurement of the instrument transfer function in dXCT

In dimensional X-ray CT (dXCT), the definition of a resolution describing parameter (metrological structural resolution) is not standardized conclusively yet. The instrument transfer function (ITF) is currently being discussed in national and international standardization bodies as one candidate for such a parameter. The ITF describes the wavelength-dependent transfer of a surface modulation - which is the main focus of dXCT - in contrast to the modulation transfer function (MTF), a well-known parameter which describes the grey-value amplitude transfer function after volume reconstruction without including a surface determination. In this article, a practical implementation of two differently sized new ITF reference standards is presented. Their idea is to use a height profile - with nearly constant spectral amplitude and bandwidth-limited - which is extended periodically. This profile is diamond-turned on the outer side of a tube and can be segmented to obtain identical pieces. One piece is calibrated pars pro toto with a high-resolution tactile scanner (HRTS) to obtain the reference ITF. Comparisons, CT parameter dependency tests and simulations highlight the benefit of this new type of standards for the determination of the ITF as a measure for resolution.