The Military Standard (MIL-STD) or Defense Standard was established after WWII to provide uniform requirements and ensure interoperability for the military and its secondary industries, explicitly focusing on engineering and technical requirements, processes, procedures, practices, and methods.
First used by branches of the military, MIL-STD certification now represents the ability to withstand extreme conditions.
MIL-STDs ensures that products meet certain minimum requirements and standards of reliability established by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The standard is also used by non-defense government organizations or industries as a way of showing that their products meet the criteria.
Two of the more common MIL-STDs are MIL-STD-461 and MIL-STD-810.
The MIL-STD-461 includes all the requirements for the control of Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) characteristics of subsystems and equipment. This standard describes the different tests needed to guarantee Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and to analyze the EMI of an equipment.
MIL-STD-461 tests are applied to electronic, electrical and electromechanical equipment and subsystems to be certain items should have the following features:
- Electronic enclosures that are no larger than an equipment rack
- Electrical interconnections that are discrete
- Wiring harnesses between enclosures
- Power inputs derived from prime power sources
The MIL-STD-810 standard is related to Environmental Engineering Considerations and laboratory testing.
This standard establishes the environmental test conditions (vibration, acceleration, humidity, rain, temperature etc.) that the equipment may be subject to throughout its service life.
MIL-STD-810 includes environmental stress sequences, durations and cycles. The methods described in the standard aim to imitate the influences that environmental stresses that the equipment is likely to be subject to during military applications.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers many courses in MIL-STD Training. These hard to come by classes cover MIL-STD regulations as well as standards for environmental conditions and test procedures for airborne equipment and military electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC/EMI) training.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.