Standards, Measurements and Testing - 15 proposals selected under third call
The selection process for project proposals submitted under the Commission's third call for proposals under the specific RTD programme in the field of Standards, Measurement and Testing (SMT) has now been completed and contract negotiations are presently underway. The call, launched on 15 December 1995 (OJ No S 240 of 15.12.1995 p. 39), covered 32 specific topics related to the standardization activities of CENELEC (the European Committee for Electro-technical Standardization) and CEN (the European Committee for Standardization), as well as to methods development in support of Community policy. The 32 topics fell under the following themes of the programme: - Theme I: Measurements for quality European products, including standards for industry; - Theme II: Research related to written standards and technical support to trade; - Theme III: Measurements related to the needs of society. In total 27 proposals were submitted by the closing date of 15 March 1996, of which two were ineligible. Of the 25 proposals evaluated, 15 were selected for funding of ECU 5.9 million in total (subject to contract negotiations). The 15 proposals selected include eleven relating to Theme II and four relating to Theme III. The projects selected cover the following specific activities: - Theme II: . Validation of analytical methods for the determination of spirit drinks; . Development of new measurement methods of the EMC characteristics in smaller relatively inexpensive fully enchoic rooms; . Electro-technical aspects of advanced technical ceramics and their measurement; . Evaluation of dairy product quality taking into account within-lot-variation; . European wind turbine testing procedures developments; . Digital testing of high-voltage circuit breakers; . Digital measurements of parameters used for lightning and switching impulse test for high-voltage equipment; . Field and conditioning tests (FACT); . Fiber amplifier measurement methods; . Measurement method to verify wind turbine power performance characteristics; . Test procedure for the assessment of field-bound interference caused by HV insulators; - Theme III: . Developing a new protocol for the monitoring of lead in drinking water; . Therapy-level ultrasonic measurement; . Investigation of high frequency applications for PVDF and optical hydrophones for measurements of the acoustic output of diagnostic medical ultrasonic devices. In the meantime, contract negotiations for projects selected under the previous SMT call for proposals (Themes II and III), published in June 1995, have been completed and work is due to start before the end of 1996. All these projects (titles and coordinators' addresses) will be listed in the December issue of the Measurements and Testing Newsletter.