- Main Navigation
- Core Services
- TUVdotCOM
- Industry Solutions
WiFi
Wi-Fi Certification Testing Programs
TUV Rheinland of North America, Inc. is an accredited Wi-Fi testing house providing testing services according to the Wi-Fi Alliance test plans. Our testing facilities are located just north of the Silicon Valley, 35 miles east of San Francisco.
With our fully automated testing systems, and test engineers who have the longest experience in Wi-Fi testing TUV offers the most accurate timely pre-certification and official certification testing for the 802.11 wireless devices of the following Wi-Fi test plans:
802.11n Draft 2.0
The 802.11n draft 2.0 tests apply to wireless Access Points and client cards capable of transmitting bi-directional streams at throughputs that exceed 200 Mbps compared with the most popular 802.11g devices. Utilizing 802.11n devices accomplishes higher throughput than the wires Ethernet LAN devices so it the first to provide the total freedom of wires while achieving even more bandwidth.
Theoretical Throughputs of different 802.11 standards
WPA / WPA2 - 802.11a /b/g
The 802.11b tests apply to the first generation of the wireless devices that implemented Wi-Fi. Used in older versions notebooks and in some of the recent versions to support backward compatibility. The tests also apply to wireless devices used within small ranges, in printers, and in some of the hand-held applications.
These devices were primarily supporting WEP encryption that was superseded by WPA to ensure wireless security.
WPA / WPA2 - 802.11a /b/g - WPA / WPA2 - Dual Band a/g – a/b
- With Extended TLS/TTLS EAPs
- PEAP0 / EAP - MSCHAPv2
- PEAP1 / EAP - GTC - PEAPv1 / EAP – GTC
- SIM
The 802.11g tests apply to the most popular wireless devices that implemented Wi-Fi. Used in most laptops and desktop computers available today, in advanced printers, in hand-held wireless units that require longer range and higher throughput values than 11 Mbps. The 802.11g requires (in most cases) the inclusion of 802.11b so the wireless device can communicate with its peers that have both. The support of 802.11b within 802.11g also provides indirect level of security such that a wireless unit operating in 802.11g will automatically switch to operate in 802.11b when another attacking (foreign) unit tries to join its 802.11g network without the proper authentication.
The 802.11a provides the same throughput level as 802.11g but using the higher 5GHz frequency instead of the 2.4 GHz. This allows the 802.11a wireless units to operate on higher channels which provide cleaner (less noisy if any) wireless environment. The 802.11a wireless devices are not as popular as the 802.11g devices but provide the unique characteristic of Dual Band operation. In Dual band, the wireless device can operate in 802.11a and bridges its communications to 802.11g units and visa versa. Also since 802.11g mostly includes 802.11b, the true Dual Band devices will operate freely from any (a/b/g) to and other (a/b/g) devices.
The WPA2 security scheme was mandated by Wi-Fi during 2006 replacing the less secure scheme of WPA. With the introduction of WPA2 the different types of authentication schemes TLS/TTLS EAPs, PEAP0, PEAP1, and SIM were also added to ensure highest levels of security of the transmitted wireless streams of data.
WMM
The Wireless MultiMedia (WMM) tests apply to wireless devices that support Quality of Service and designed to transmit delay sensitive streams (like voice and video). A wireless WMM device can support any or combination of the 802.11b/g/a/n standards.
WMM - Power Save
The WMM Power Save apply to wireless devices that implement additional power saving schemes to save power in battery operated devices. For instance, an Access Point will flag a power saving condition to or from a wireless client card such that the host battery operated laptop will switch to a sleep mode while no communications are needed.
WPA / WPA2 - 802.11h /d
The 802.11 h/d tests mostly go together even though these are two different standards (802.11h and 802.11d). The tests of 802.11h/d check the capability of the wireless devices (APs in particular) to operate in different countries and to advertise wirelessly to the joining client cards flags indicating the country where it operates. The tests seek the device capability to be configured for more than one country (typically 5). Also the tests check the capability of the wireless clent cards to switch to operate on different channels when the Access Point detects a radar signal that will affect the performance of the established wireless network.
TUV Rheinland also provide guidance in developing Application Specific Device(ASD) test plans in addition to conducting all pre-certification and official certification testing of the ASD wireless units.
Furthermore, the TÜV Rheinland Group in Germany operates two additional Wi-Fi Alliance appointed labs in Cologne, Germany and Yokohama, Japan.
About the Wi-Fi Alliance
The Wi-Fi Alliance is a global, non-profit industry association of more than 300 member companies devoted to promoting the growth of wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). With the aim of enhancing the user experience for wireless portable, mobile, and home entertainment devices, the Wi-Fi Alliance's testing and certification programs help ensure the interoperability of WLAN products based on the IEEE 802.11 specification. Since the introduction of the Wi-Fi Alliance's certification program in March 2000, more than 4,200 products have been designated as Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™, encouraging the expanded use of Wi-Fi products and services across the consumer and enterprise markets.
