Wi-Fi Alliance® and AT4 wireless sign agreement to test unlicensed LTE coexistence with Wi-Fi®

08 August, 2016 |AT4 wireless will provide testing services to assess fair coexistence of Wi-Fi and LTE in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) devices in accordance with the Wi-Fi Alliance Coexistence Test Plan. The testing assesses whether commercially available LTE-U devices coexist fairly with Wi-Fi in the same environment.

The development and deployment of LTE-U devices, which utilize 4G LTE radio communications technology in unlicensed spectrum, introduces the possibility of interference with Wi-Fi equipment operating in the same bands. Small deviations in LTE-U design requirements may affect Wi-Fi performance when working in proximity and in the same frequency band. AT4 wireless will conduct independent testing based on objective tests and an industry-approved methodology to verify that LTE-U products do not violate fairness indicators.

Wi-Fi Alliance agreed to qualify AT4 wireless to provide testing services based on the Coexistence Test Plan, which is being developed by members of the Wi-Fi and LTE-U communities in Wi-Fi Alliance. The Performance Test Tool from AT4 wireless will collect the most relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), such as throughput, latency (one-way delay), and jitter (latency variation). Official testing will commence once Wi-Fi Alliance releases the final Coexistence Test Plan.

“We are very proud to partner with Wi-Fi Alliance in radio coexistence testing in this case with LTE unlicensed devices. AT4 wireless a DEKRA company now, considers radio coexistence a very important issue that needs to be addressed properly given the growing number of radio technologies that can work in multiple environments including homes, cars, hospitals, cities, etc. The AT4 wireless services scope now includes radio coexistence and at the same time our test tools are evolving to address these new challenges. DEKRA is committed to be the Global Partner for a Safe World and coexistence can be very relevant to Safety”, comments Fernando E. Hardasmal, Managing Director at AT4 wireless and Market & Sales VP at DEKRA Product Testing and Certification SU.

“It is critical that LTE devices operating in unlicensed spectrum exhibit fair coexistence behavior with billions of Wi-Fi products in use around the world,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance is leading a multi-industry effort to ensure LTE-U’s fair coexistence with Wi-Fi through testing. Establishing independent test organizations to execute the coexistence test regimen is an important part of our effort.”

AT4 wireless Performance Testing Platform is a multipurpose testing solution capable of acting with different roles: Traffic Generation, Setup Automation, Data collection and analysis. It provides specific features tailored for measuring the impact of the LTE-U devices on Wi-Fi deployments.

AT4 wireless has collaborated with Wi-Fi Alliance as an Authorized Testing Laboratory since 2004 and offers test services for all Wi-Fi Alliance programs for the certification of Wi-Fi devices.