Over the Air (OTA) Testing

Intertek helps you determine if your wireless products, including smartphones, feature phones, modules, IoT (M2M) devices, wireless routers, hotspots, tablets, laptops, and infrastructure equipment, meet or exceed device manufacturer and industry requirements, and facilitates evaluation of antenna and receiver performance.

Since antenna and receiver performance are crucial to the effective operation of a wireless device, many wireless service providers (such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint, AT&T, and others) require their suppliers to verify that wireless devices can perform optimally under various conditions.

Online Access

OTA testing services utilize Intertek’s Information and Communication Nexus (ICON) for online access. Upon ICON account creation and authentication, customers have Internet web-based access to test data and results for their projects

Testing Equipment

We use state-of-the-art testing equipment including two R&S TS8991 equipment racks and two fully anechoic chambers to perform CTIA approved OTA total radiated power (TRP), total isotropic sensitivity (TIS), and assisted global navigation satellite system (A-GNSS) testing.

In addition, we perform CTIA CWG approved TRP, TIS, and Desensitization testing of converged Wi-Fi and 802.11 technologies on cellular devices. Depending on the type of wireless device being tested, measurements will be made in the following configurations:

• A “free-space” configuration, whereby the device will be placed directly on a low dielectric support.
• A “head and hand phantom” configuration, whereby the device will be placed in a hand phantom, against a head phantom.
• A “hand phantom only” configuration, whereby the device will be placed in a hand phantom.
• A "forearm phantom only" configuration, whereby the wearable device will be placed on a forearm phantom.

Over the Air testing services include:

TRP testing: The radiated RF performance of a cellular device is determined by measuring the radiated transmit power of the device at incremental locations surrounding the device. A three-dimensional pattern characterization of the transmitter performance of the device is assembled by analyzing the data from the spatially distributed measurements. We offer TRP testing for LTE, CDMA, UMTS (WCDMA), GSM, and converged Wi-Fi and 802.11 technologies.

TIS Testing: The receiver performance of a cellular device is determined by measuring the effective receiver sensitivity of the device (utilizing Bit Error Rate (BER), Frame Error Rate (FER), or other error criteria) at incremental locations surrounding the device. A three-dimensional pattern characterization of the receiver performance of the device is assembled by analyzing the data from the spatially distributed measurements. We offer TIS testing for LTE, CDMA, UMTS (WCDMA), GSM, and converged Wi-Fi and 802.11 technologies.

LTE Carrier Aggregation (CA): Measurement of the capability and performance of a wireless device to combine multiple carriers scattered around the LTE spectrum to achieve wider effective bandwidths up to 100 MHz. We offer both TRP and TIS testing for LTE Carrier Aggregation technology.

A-GNSS Receiver Sensitivity Testing: The A-GNSS receiver performance of a cellular device is determined by measuring the 3-D sensitivity pattern of the cellular device’s A-GNSS receiver in a phantom hand and integrating the pattern to provide a figure of merit for the device. We offer A-GNSS testing for LTE, CDMA, UMTS (WCDMA), and GSM technologies.

Desensitization Testing for Converged Wi-Fi and 802.11 Technologies: Desensitization tests measure the impact that the cellular radio, when transmitting, has upon W-Fi reception and visa-versa. These tests are performed as radiated tests on cellular devices with converged Wi-Fi and 802.11 technologies.