Mike, great call.
Firstly I'd like to refer to the Arduino-approach, which seems to be rather refined: 0) Official Arduino products 1) Certification: A certification program which strongly integrates the product in the official Arduino line of products. (https://arduino.cc/en/ArduinoCertified/) 2) Regulation: Via the Arduino AtHeart project. Some minimal requirements on technology and openness, a fee, and a marketing-deal benefiting both the regulator and the regulated. (https://arduino.cc/en/ArduinoAtHeart/) 3) Recommended: Single-sided plug by the Arduino-crew on their homepage. 4) Other related hardware: Arduino-maintained list of compatible products covering all types and boards also (https://playground.arduino.cc/Main/SimilarBoards) 5) Unregulated: Any party can call their products 'Arduino-compatible', like the Sparkfun RedBoard. (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11575)
I assume that both regulation and certification would require certain technical compatibility although the officially stated requirements are quite limited.
What I like about that way of certification is that it is not a requirement, but if you do, it creates a synergistic relationship between both parties.
More overall requirements related to EOMA I would assume to be: - Meeting consumer certifications (FCC, CE). - Preventing faulty installation by way of enclosure (shifting pin-out or rotating EOMA). - Proper handling of signals when plugging. - Withstanding power outages. - Withstanding all possible operating states.
As for what low-level technical requirements are feasible and how to test them, I have no knowledge on that.
Kind regards, Nico Rikken
just wanted to contribute my knowledge and vision