-- Test Center Showcase
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Recommended
IrDA Certification Test Plan
I.
BACKGROUND:
IrDA Test Council
has established Inter-Op test plan and certification procedure as
well authorized Test Lab's to assure the inter-operability among
IrDA-enabled products, even across different device classes.
Within each device class, there will be one or more product models
qualified and certified as "IrDA Reference Product"
which can be used by the Test Lab's or manufacturers as Reference
to test the inter-operability and "IrReady"
qualification of their IrDA products. Some of the key elements are
summarized in this User's Manual and the detail can be found
either from IrDA web site: http://www.irda.org or more easily,
linked directly to its right location from ACTiSYS web site:
http://www.actisys.com.
ACTiSYS Corp.
operates two of the first five worldwide IrDA Inter-Op Test Lab's
authorized by IrDA Test Council in July 1998. ACTiSYS is the first
company among this first group of authorized Test Lab's with full
certification capability since October 1998; IrDA Compliance
(system hardware and protocol software) Test to qualify DUT for
"IrDA Reference Product" certification, and IrDA
Inter-Op Test to qualify DUT for "IrReady"
certification.
You can now use
IR3000M to carry out IrDA BER (Bit Error Rate) self test of your
IrDA-enabled products following the procedures recommended below.
After you have completed this self test, you may fill out the
appropriate Test Lab. report forms available from ACTiSYS at
irda-info@actisys.com and submit these forms to any of the IrDA
Test Lab. This will enable speedy completion of IrDA certification
process at lower cost!
II.
"IrDA REFERENCE PRODUCT" QUALIFICATION TEST:
A. TEST PROCEDURE:
1. BER Test Using IR3000M In "CUSTOM TEST" Mode
- Test File
Structure:
"CUSTOM
TEST" setting: 4 test patterns x 2 way test x frame size x
number of frames.
b. Test File Size: (Derived from IrDA Standards - Physical Spec.)
1.25MBytes (BER in 0
x 10-7): For IR speeds of: 9.6K, 19.2K, 38.4K, 57.6K
and 115.2Kbps.
12.5MBytes (BER
in 0 x 10-8): For IR speeds of 1.15M and 4Mbps.
c. Speed, Distance and Angle:
Speed: All
baud rates.
Distance: 0
cm, 50 cm, 100cm or maximum capable distance of zero BER.
Angle: 0 and
15 degrees left/right and up/down. (Only air, no reflective surface
in between.)
d. Reference Station IR Emission Power Level: (IR3000M IR Emission =
200mw/SR)
Min. Distance Test:
200mw/SR at 1 cm = 500mw/SR (IrDA Spec.NFS) at 1.6 cm.
Max. Distance Test:
200mw/SR at 144cm = 100mw/SR (IrDA Spec.FFS) at 100cm.
e. Alternative Desktop Tester:
If you prefer
desktop PC with lower-cost IrDA tester and more jumper flexibility
than IR3000M, you may
review our Desktop
FIR Tester, ACT-IR2000B/L at www.actisys.com
2. IrDA Physical Compliance Test
a. Required Equipment
The following list
represents the minimal set of test equipment required to perform the
tests outlined in this section:
Please refer to
IrDA Inter-Op Test Plan at www.actisys.com
b. Assumptions
The tests in this
section will rely heavily on Bit Error Rate (BER) tests. In order
to simplify test results, we will presume that BER tests are
pass/fail. In other words, when bit errors begin to occur, the
device under test will be deemed to be failing. It will be deemed
to be passing when no bit errors occur.
Because of the
dependency on BER tests, IrDA reference products must support test
frames so that consistent test methods can be established and
utilized by all IrDA Inter-op Tests Labs for all candidate
reference products.
An IrDA Reference
Product must support all SIR baud rates from 9600 bps up to its
maximum speed. For example, if a device's maximum speed is 57.6
Kbps, it must also support 38.4 Kbps, 19.2 Kbps and 9.6 Kbps.
However, it needs not support 115.2 Kbps if such speed is not
suitable for the device. BER tests should be run for all supported
speeds.
B. " IrReady" AND "IrDA Reference Product"
CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
Please see the
following chart for detail.
C. INTER-OP AND
DEVICE CLASSIFICATION TABLE:
| DUT 6 |
Printer |
Desktop Computer |
Notebook Computer |
PDA |
LAN Access |
Digital Camera |
Photo Printer |
| Printer |
N/A |
Optional |
Printing |
Printing |
Optional |
Optional |
N/A |
| Desktop Computer |
Printing |
File exchange |
File exchange |
File exchange |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
| Notebook Computer |
Printing |
File exchange |
File exchange |
File exchange |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
| PDA |
Printing |
File exchange |
File exchange |
File exchange |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
| LAN Access |
Optional |
Optional |
LAN access |
Optional |
N/A |
Optional |
Optional |
| Digital Camera |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
Photo exchange |
Photo Printing |
| Photo Printer |
N/A |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
Optional |
Photo Printing |
N/A |
D. APPROVED "GOLDEN
REFERENCE PRODUCT" OF EACH DEVICE CLASS
1. Please refer to IrDA
web site: www.irda.org for current list of certified Reference
Products.
2. Certified Reference
Products in "Dongle" and "Printer" device class
as of Nov. 1998.
| a.
IR PC Adapter: ACTiSYS |
ACTiSYS
ACT-IR220L,IR220L+ |
|
FIR Motherboard Adapter: |
ACTiSYS
ACT-IR2000L |
|
FIR PC Add-On Card: |
ACTiSYS
ACT-IR2000BL |
|
SIR Printer Adapter: |
ACTiSYS
ACT-IR100M |
| |
|
| b.
FIR Desktop Printer: |
HP 6MP
LaserJet Printer |
III. HOW TO DESIGN A GOOD
IRDA-ENABLED SYSTEM PRODUCTS?
Most of the IrDA
hardware components such as the IR transceiver, the
encoder/decoder or the integrated IrDA I/O chip are often tested
by the component manufacturer to be IrDA compliant. Each IrDA
protocol software layer licensed from third party or developed
in-house, can also be individually tested to be IrDA compliant.
However, when all these IrDA-compliant components are put
together, unexpected result may happen.
Once the
engineering phase is done and manufacturing phase starts, there
are many possibilities on the manufacturing line too, due to
parts property or assembly variations. Also, after the
manufacturing phase is done and the products are shipped, there
remains field service issue of screening test in the field or
at service centers.
Methods for
system testing must be planned and designed into the IrDA
implementation, not an afterthought. A good system test
methodology is essential to facilitate both engineering, the
production and field service.
IV.
WHAT IrDA MISHAPS CAN OCCUR AND HOW TO TEST THEM?
Most of
engineering mishaps usually are in the area between the
Physical Layer and IrLAP. Production mishaps usually are confined
to Physical Layer only. Consequently, a very simple and
effective system test is to access the "Test Frame"
feature of IrLAP as defined in the IrDA Protocol Spec.,
particularly the test frame feature within a connection. ACTiSYS
Corp. has made this test frame source codes available which you
may get by contacting: irda-info@actisys.com.
Most major IrDA
hardware or software products have implemented this "test
frame" well. These include Microsoft-Windows 95/98 IR
drivers, HP-5P/6MP LaserJet printers and many others.
If implemented
well in your IrDA protocol stack, a specially programmed tester
tool can fully exercise the Physical Layer and IrLAP layer in
the device under test (DUT) automatically. This test can range
from very thorough for engineering study or QC diagnosis to
very speedy for production, quality control or field screening.
Both fashions are especially useful for Inter-op "IrDA
Reference Product" and "IrReady" certification
tests among different IrDA device classes. ACTiSYS provides such
test software, ACT-IR9003SW, IR9000SW, IR3000SW and handheld
tester, IR3000M.
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