fast efficient wireless connectivity and gnss production testing
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When testing location-aware and wireless devices on the production line, speed, accuracy and efficiency are key. Learn how new tools can accelerate these tests, saving time and money. Discover: - The key characteristics of efficient production line testing - Why parametric testing methods aren’t always the best option - The functional testing tools built for use on the factory floorTRANSCRIPT
Fast Efficient Wireless Connectivity and GNSS Production TestingA Spirent eBook
Introduction
Positioning and navigation technologies are evolving fast, and manufacturers must perform an ever increasing variety of production line tests on completed smartphones, laptops, and other location-aware devices.
Many manufacturers continue to use complicated and expensive parametric tools to conduct these tests, slowing time to market, raising costs and compromising device quality.
Spirent is committed to supporting efficient, professional testing throughout the value chain. This means enabling the right kind of testing at the right stage – from the earliest days of receiver research and development right through to production and technical support.
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In this ebook we’ll explore the unique requirements of production testing, and explain why the production line demands its own testing solutions – solutions designed to deliver a simple, reliable verdict as rapidly and efficiently as possible.
You’ll also gain an overview of our ground-breaking production testing solutions, the GSS6300 and GSS5300.
We hope you find this ebook interesting and useful. If you’d like more information about anything you read in the following pages, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]
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Production Testing Today Multi-GNSS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, FM, Near Field Communication – today’s location-aware devices combine the strengths of a wide variety of radio signals to deliver more accurate positioning, more consistent fixes, and more diverse, innovative applications.
As a result, such devices incorporate an increasing number of sensors and radio receivers, all of which need to be checked on the production line to ensure that they are working correctly, and that the finished product is functioning as designed.
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With consumers demanding higher performance devices faster, and competition to service that demand on the rise in many industries, failure to complete these functional tests reliably and quickly can significantly damage both a manufacturer’s reputation and its bottom line.
Equally, however, manufacturers that switch to efficient, professional production testing practices stand to enjoy a significant competitive advantage – with the ability to get more reliable, more innovative products to consumers faster, and at a lower cost.
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The Aim of Production Testing To understand the size of the opportunity represented by a new approach to production testing, it’s first important to recognise how the aims and requirements of such tests differ from those of the performance tests that play such a central role in research and development, and integration and verification.
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During the development of any location-aware device, rigorous testing is essential: from receiver benchmarking to characterisation to calibration. The primary aim of testing at this stage, however, is to discover, compare and extend the limits of a receiver or device design’s performance.
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To conduct such tests professionally requires sophisticated parametric tools capable of recording a comprehensive set of detailed measurements, and simulating an extreme range of operating environments.
The aim of production testing is quite different – by the time a finished location-aware device rolls down the production line, parametric testing should be long since complete.
At this late stage, testing means checking that the various components of a product are functioning properly – and the result should be a simple verdict of pass or fail.
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Successful production testing is therefore characterised by:
EfficiencyThe ease and economy with which a pass/fail verdict can be achieved.
SpeedHow quickly that verdict can be achieved, and how many different radio signals and devices can be tested at once.
AccuracyThe capacity for human error to compromise the testing process.Since the primary aim of this production testing is so different to that of most R&D tests, it’s unsurprising that parametric tools are far from the ideal solution.
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The Problem with Parametric Testing on the Production Line Despite their very different purpose, many manufacturers currently use parametric testing tools to perform their functional production line tests.This can cause a number of problems:
Inefficiency As noted in the last section, parametric tools are sophisticated, highly-adaptable solutions designed to test radio signal receivers to their limits in the R&D lab. The high level of functionality demanded by this application makes them expensive investments, and means they require a comparatively high level of technical expertise to operate.
When deployed on the production line, they can raise capital and labour costs substantially.
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Delays In the R&D lab, there’s rarely any need to test more than one receiver or device design simultaneously. There’s also, comparatively, plenty of time to calibrate your equipment for each test.
On a production line, however, complex calibration and a lack of capacity is a distinct disadvantage – damaging a manufacturer’s ability to get new products to market quickly, and to respond to sudden increases in demand.
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Inaccuracy The very level of advanced functionality which makes parametric tools so powerful in the R&D lab heightens the risk of miscalibration on the production line – increasing the chance that sub-standard products will be shipped, and brand reputation damaged.
As new location-aware devices make use of a growing range of radio signals, the above issues are set to become of increasing concern to manufacturers relying on parametric tools.
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The GSS5300: A Versatile Testing Solution for Today’s Production Line Spirent’s ground-breaking new RF simulator, the GSS5300, is built specifically to meet the unique needs of modern production line testing, simulating a wide range of radio signals – from Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to FM and NFC. A single, rapidly deployable unit, it enables manufacturers to:
Reduce testing costs Designed to deliver the simple yes/no verdict production testing requires, the GSS5300 is more efficient, less expensive and much simpler to use than parametric testing tools – driving down capital and labour costs.
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Accelerate testing One GSS5300 unit can test two devices for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM and NFC signals simultaneously – and units can be deployed in parallel to test further multiples of two devices at the same time. This slashes the time needed to perform professional production testing, enabling manufacturers to service demand faster and grow competitive edge.
Promote testing consistency The GSS5300 is engineered to make testing as straightforward as possible – minimising the danger of inaccurate test results due to calibration errors, and helping to ensure every product meets customer expectations.
Drive innovation
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Many modern RF receiver chipsets now include a ‘test mode’ which can be activated to speed and simplify testing processes. The GSS5300 takes full advantage of test modes where available, driving further time and efficiency savings. Coupled with its ability to test emerging wireless technologies such as NFC, this makes the GSS5300 the ideal tool for testing even the most innovative location-aware devices.
While the GSS5300 is a powerful tool in its own right, it’s also designed to work in tandem with Spirent’s GSS6300 family of products, providing a complete RF receiver testing solution for the modern production line.
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The GSS6300: Peerless Multi-GNSS Production Testing Spirent’s GSS6300 Multi-GNSS Signal Generator is the GSS5300’s older sibling. It delivers all the same efficiency, cost and quality benefits as the GSS5300, but simulates the signals of multiple GNSS constellations, from GPS and GLONASS to Galileo.
The GSS6300M is the ideal entry-level multi-channel GNSS simulator for busy production testing environments and receiver integrators. Its eight channels of operation can simulate L1/E1 signals from GPS/SBAS, GLONASS and Galileo to test the fundamental positioning capabilities of any GNSS device.
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Where Next?If you found this eBook of interest, you may now like to do one of the following:
• Visit our Resources page to browse our other eBooks and Application Notes on relevant topics.
• Read the Spirent GNSS Blog to keep up with news and insights on the latest GNSS developments.
• Email us for more information at [email protected]
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About Spirent
Spirent has been the global leader in GNSS testing for 25 years. Spirent delivers navigation and positioning test equipment and services to governmental agencies, major manufacturers, integrators, test facilities and space agencies worldwide.