Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing and Cellular Certification Guidance

Rapid Test, Troubleshooting, and Antenna Design for Cellular, M2M, and IoT Products

  • Launch sooner – automated TIS & TRP
  • 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE) – cellular, M2M and IoT
  • Ensure Success – on-site design & test
  • Reduce R&D cost – tailored test plans

Design for Cellular Certification™

Wireless Product Launch Roadmap

Request the DFCC™ Checklist

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“When Scram bought a new product division, we inherited a product that needed to transition from 2G to 3G. We didn’t have our own anechoic chamber, so we asked BluFlux to iterate on some testing to help us resolve a few RF issues as we were preparing to go through PTCRB. That worked out so well that we then asked BluFlux to design the antennas for the next generation of products.

The BluFlux design process has worked out great for us. BluFlux has designed antennas for the exact form factors and OTA performance we needed, and they’ve always delivered on time and within the promised budget.”

John Chabon, Electrical Engineer, Alcohol Monitoring Systems

2G, 3G, 4G (LTE) for IoT and M2M Devices

BluFlux can help with 2G through 4G (LTE) Over-the-Air testing of mobile devices. While 4G (LTE) is today’s standard for high throughput mobile data traffic, plenty of devices can get by with 2G or 3G connections and require careful validation.

We test phones, tablets, networked machine devices, and any accessory or product that might alter their OTA performance.

Many phone and tablet manufacturers also require that accessories for their products are tested to prove they don’t degrade the main device’s OTA performance.

BluFlux offers complete OTA testing and troubleshooting support for handsets, tablets, M2M devices and cellular accessories.  You’ll get your product designed, tested, certified, and launched more quickly.

Cellular Timeline
frustrated cellphone

Don’t Let OTA Certification Failures Wreck Your Launch Schedule

If you fail OTA certification tests at one of the big labs, you’ll get a detailed report telling you the bands and frequencies.  But an OTA test failure report won’t help you identify or fix the root cause of your failure.

When you’re ready to try again, the certification lab will be happy to run more tests for you at their usual prices – that’s their business.  But most labs are not in the business of helping you fix the root causes of your OTA failures.

So you’ll watch your schedule slip while your design team struggles to decipher and fix the root cause of the failure.

The redesign and retesting process to overcome an OTA certification problem can delay your launch by months.

Know your OTA challenges.

Connected-device OTA test and certification is critically dependent on the performance of the antennas and how they interact with their installed environment.  Antenna performance that works on the bench can quickly degrade when a device is deployed in the real world.

  • A tablet with poorly placed antennas may suffer LTE uplink and downlink speeds when a consumer holds the device the wrong way.
  • A cellular-connected smart meter won’t be so smart if its metal mounting conduits wreck its antenna impedance and radiation patterns.
  • Today’s growing density of radios, RF systems and antennas can lead to co-site and interference issues for radio receivers.

A free BluFlux consultation can help you avoid unwanted OTA performance surprises at any stage of your product development process.

And if you’ve already failed an OTA certification test, you’ll quickly learn what the likely causes are.

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ota testing help

OTA Testing plus RF Design Support

When you choose BluFlux, you get fast, accurate test results from the same type of OTA test chamber used by the world’s best known mobile device brands and labs.

You also get all the support you need to ensure that your own product launch is successful.

  • same day test results
  • interpret your OTA results – whether from BluFlux or another lab
  • identify the root cause of OTA performance problems or certification failures
  • create an RF action plan for your product launch
  • retune your 3rd party off-the-shelf antennas (if they become detuned by your ground plane, operating environment, etc.)
  • no haggling over minimum quantities or licensing deals if you need to change your antenna or RF front-end design

Your One Stop Shop For OTA Testing and Certification Success

  • Rapid turnaround on Over-the-Air (OTA) testing of cellular connected devices and mobile accessories
  • Carrier and OEM compliance and regulatory (CTIA) pre-compliant testing
  • RF test solutions for smartphones, tablets, wearables, mobile accessories, sensors, M2M, and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, or anything else that connects with an RF signal
  • All 2G, 3G and 4G (LTE) protocols
  • 3m x 3m x 3m RF anechoic chamber with dual-axis spherical positioning
  • Same-day turnkey testing, or customer on-site testing
  • Standalone OTA measurement services, or with design and consulting to address your specific needs
  • Only OTA chamber offering outside RF and OTA test services between Texas and California

Every OTA consultation includes a free custom action plan.

Schedule Your Free OTA Testing Consultation
Download the DFCC Checklist