IEEE Starts Cellular Phone Battery Standard

The standard, IEEE P1725, 'Standard for Rechargeable Batteries for Cellular Telephones,' will be developed within the IEEE Standards Association Corporate Program.

The new standard will seek to make cellular phone batteries more robust by setting uniform criteria for their design, production and evaluation. It will consider battery and battery pack electrical and mechanical construction, chemistries, process control, qualification and packaging technologies, among other areas. It will be developed by companies that manufacture batteries, cells and handsets, as well as by carriers.

“IEEE P1725 will extend existing cell phone battery standards and help the industry meet future requirements,” says Jason Howard, Chair of the Cellular Battery Standards Working Group and Energy Technologies Manager at Motorola. “It will set the stage for batteries that deliver more power and more energy density so they allow for phones that continue to add new functions and accommodate more intense use as cell phones grow ever more central to peoples’ lives. Our ultimate goal is to improve the user’s experience even as batteries grow more complex by addressing the entire system from battery cells and packs to the handsets they power.”

Standards are developed within the IEEE-SA Corporate Program in company-based working groups in which each member has one vote. This industry-oriented program often allows for standards creation in one to two years, depending on participant commitment and the use of IEEE support services. The program also provides a route to international acceptance for a standard based on the IEEE’s broad ties to the international standards community.

IEEE P1725 is sponsored by the IEEE Power Engineering Society Stationary Batteries Committee.

The IEEE-SA Corporate Program

The IEEE-SA Corporate Program allows corporations and other profit and not-for-profit entities to create standards within an ANSI-based, open process. Standards in this consensus program follow a well-defined path from concept to completion guided the principles of due process, openness, consensus, balance and right of appeal.

The IEEE-SA enables corporate standards working groups to function more efficiently by providing such elements as a legal structure within which working groups function; well-defined intellectual property rules; broad administrative and project management support; Web hosting in its own servers; editing services; and a structure for publishing standards and distributing them globally.