ZigBee Certification

Overview

Is your company working with ZigBee? If so, NTS can help get your products certified. ZigBee is an alliance of companies developing reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked products based on the IEEE-802.15.4 wireless standard. ZigBee products are designed for a wide range of building automation, industrial, medical and residential control & monitoring applications. Some example technologies include: Lighting controls; Automatic Meter Reading; Wireless smoke and CO detectors; HVAC control; Heating control; Home security; Environmental controls; and others. As one of only two authorized labs, NTS offers formal certification of ZigBee platforms and ZigBee Alliance-recognized qualification of IEEE 802.15.4 components. Our testing facilities in the U.S. and Korea (other locations coming soon!) can perform compliance/certification testing to make sure your products are compatible with the various ZigBee specifications.

Testing Requirements

NTS is an approved test facility for the ZigBee qualification testing, and has participated closely in the development of the certification program. The ZigBee certification processes have been formulated and are governed by the ZigBee Alliance. All of the following certification/qualification requirements can be tested by NTS:

• Qualification of IEEE-802.15.4 PHY requirements for ZigBee
• Qualification of IEEE-802.15.4 MAC requirements for ZigBee
• Full compliance to ZCP (ZigBee Compliant Platform) specification
• Full compliance to MSP (Manufacturer Specific Profile) specification
• Full compliance to HA (Home Automation) Public Profile specification
• Full compliance to Smart Energy Public Profile specification - coming soon!
• Other custom or private ZigBee profiles

Since all ZigBee products must be based on conformant 802.15.4 devices, NTS has been authorized by the ZigBee Alliance to qualify 802.15.4 components for use with complaint platforms. The Engineering team at NTS has built a transmission analyzer that enables execution of 802.15.4 qualification test. All radios that successfully pass the 802.15.4 test at NTS are recognized by ZigBee Alliance as qualified to be used for implementation in ZigBee platforms and end-devices.

NTS utilizes in-depth analysis of 802.15.4 transmission during the qualification of devices for ZigBee qualification. On PHY layer analysis includes such tests as Error Vector Magnitude (EVM), symbol rate, carrier accuracy, etc. The verdict for test is generated using Specification Description Language (SDL) model for 802.15.4 protocol and is directly related to Protocol Implementation Compliance Statements (PICS). Similar development approach was taken for the generation of the ZigBee MAC tests. Using Message Sequence Charts (MSCs) produced by the SDL model, NTS engineers have developed comprehensive MAC suite that verifies framing, timing, sequencing, and all other aspects of the MAC layer for ZigBee. The result of these efforts is a complete turn-key qualification solution for 802.15.4 manufacturers that require qualification of their devices for conformance to IEEE standard.

NTS performs ZigBee MAC, PHY, ZCP, and MSP testing (among others), and upon successful completion, delivers the Statements of Qualification (for IEEE-802.15.4) and Compliance (for ZigBee stack) to the ZigBee Alliance who then provide Certification after an audit of the test results.

ZigTest(TM)

To aid our customers in getting their products to market quickly, NTS has developed a custom, vendor agnostic test application called ZigTest which simplifies the validation of the ZigBee IEEE-802.15.4 MAC, ZCP and MSP test requirements as outlined in the ZigBee standards, as well as the IEEE-802.15.4 specifications. Rather than spending months developing your own test tool(s) to validate your ZigBee product, you can receive a copy of ZigTest for free simply by signing up for ZigBee testing with NTS!

Designed and developed internally by NTS, the ZigTest tool has been developed to allow for the same flexibility as the ZigBee specification. The tool is extensible to allow for easy modification to match your particular ZigBee implementation, and features a universal interface (e.g., Ethernet, Serial port or USB port) and universal protocol. ZigTest provides a "one test tool solution" in that it can not only control the ZigBee Golden Units, but it can also simultaneously control up to twenty-four (24) Ethernet devices, eight (8) Serial ports, and one (1) USB connection.

ZigTest was created not only for product certification purposes, but also to help you during your product's development, and can be used for code debugging, internal testing, and automatic script testing for your ZigBee devices. ZigTest(tm) lets you automatically run through the required MAC and ZCP test requirements, plus the tool is extensible to allow for easy modifications to match your particular ZigBee implementation.

Using the ZigTest tool is simple. With about two weeks of work, you will have your ZigBee-compliant device integrated into ZigTest and ready to perform both MAC and ZCP testing. ZigTest then provides all the primitives (e.g., MAC, Network, APS/ZDO level) required to quickly get your product certified.

ZigTest Features

• Friendly human-machine interface allowing you to quickly and easy perform testing on your ZigBee product.
• Simplified testing of MAC, Network, Security, ZCP, and MSP requirements.
• Manual, semi-automatic and fully-automatic test modes, plus a script compiler to facilitate development of new/custom test cases.
• No third-party test software requirements - all you need is ZigTest - and your product.
• Support for Ethernet, serial port, and USB interfaces with multiple device support.
• Access all levels from IEEE-802.15.4 MAC to ZigBee ZDO level
• Reduces certification time and test costs.
• Greatly increases the percentage of "PASS" certification.

For more information on how to get your ZigBee product certified, contact NTS today. As an authorized ZigBee testing facility, NTS has all of the skills and equipment to help you make sure your ZigBee product is ready for release.

Flexibility To Meet Your Needs

At NTS we realize based on real experience the challenges associated with certification of emerging technologies. Product maturity, clarity of specifications, and many other issues have an impact on the successful certification of a product. Although certification process have been generally perceived as rigid and difficult to complete, NTS has placed every effort into making the process as flexible and as seamless as possible. The major part of those efforts has been invested in developing preliminary test suites, which allow manufacturers to gain insight into the fundamental behaviors of their implementations before committing to the entirety of certification tests. This approach allows NTS's clients to save time and money by gaining early warning of the potential issues with the product. The scope of preliminary tests varies for products on different maturity levels, but is designed to offer verification of the total system starting with physical layer.

In addition, NTS requests that our customers attend their compliance testing at our facility. This allows you to address any problems that may occur, allowing your company to quickly and easily make any necessary adjustments to become certified. Plus NTS can assist with ZigBee development and debugging to address problematic issues.

Let NTS help you get your latest ZigBee product certified today!

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