Benefits of Certification
With the increasing demands on networks, it is necessary for networks to support time-sensitive applications while being secure, manageable, and reliable. Avnu Alliance is playing a critical role in meeting these demands with a focus and expertise on Time Sensitive Networking (TSN). Within this, is the need for “Best in Class” interoperable products. Avnu Alliance has built a robust Certification program to help our members successfully contribute to those demands. Members have access to development tools and resources to help our members through the Certification process to develop standard conformant and interoperable products based on TSN capabilities. Our Certification program offers many benefits, including, but not limited to:
- Reliability in how their products will perform using Time Sensitive Networking and AVB technologies
- Faster Time to Market
- Interoperable with other Avnu Certified Products
- Reduction in tech support costs
Designed and maintained by experienced certification management professionals, Avnu’s Certification program provides members with real-time visibility into the testing process and the ability to track device progress and timelines.
Avnu members can submit products for testing, view results, respond to nonconformance issues, and manage the public listing of newly Certified products. All certification and testing documents are easily managed in a single, centralized location. Intelligent workflows feed data and visibility back to Avnu’s Certification Work Group to track the number of products in certification at each lab, enabling Avnu to scale the capabilities as needed to support testing demand. The testing program will continue to evolve; additional certification test plans will become available through global facilities as the TSN ecosystem grows. For more information see the steps to certification below.
“Certification of any standards-based technology is important for three reasons. First, it ensures that what is being produced adheres to the standards the certification is built on. Second, it ensures that equipment will work together. And third, certification means multiple vendors are in the market, which positively impacts the price to the end user,” says Gary Stuebing, Avnu Alliance Chairman.
Contact: Ed Agis or Genio Kronauer, Certification Work Group Co-Chairs
To view Avnu’s Recognized Test Facilities and the testing supported by each facility, please click here.
Questions about certification? Click here to view FAQs about the Avnu Advanced Certification Program.
Steps for Avnu Certification:
- Become an Avnu Alliance member, and pay the applicable annual membership fee.
- (Optional) Purchase Avnu’s Express Test Tool to help in the development of your product prior to going to test lab.
- Applicant registers product with Avnu Alliance using the Certification Management System.
- Upon approval of the above and confirmation of member’s status, Avnu’s Technical Programs Manager will inform the Applicant and the Recognized Test Facility (RTF) of Applicant’s choice of the product assigned TestID (TID), test versions, CRSL version, and other information.
- Remit payment of Avnu Product Registration fee to Avnu Admin.
- RTF executes required conformance test cases ensuring tests are executed correctly. After testing is complete, RTF issues preliminary test report(s) for review by the Applicant.
- If the device fails, the Applicant is notified of the failure and reason. The Applicant and RTF collaborate to determine whether the Product needs to be fixed or a Waiver should be submitted. The Applicant will work with the RTF and Avnu Technical Programs Manager as outlined in the Certification Process Flow to fix the product and retest, or have the failure waived.
- If the device passes, the RTF generates a Certification report for review by the Applicant and Avnu Technical Programs Manager. If the Avnu Technical Programs Manager approves of the passing Certification report, certification of conformance is granted to the Product and the CertificationID (CID) is issued.
More information about the Avnu Certification process can be found on the members-only site (login required).
Avnu Plugfests
Avnu Alliance members benefit from participating in pre-certification plugfests that offer a unique hands-on opportunity for engineers to test connectivity and interoperability. Plugfests are useful for cross-pollinating best practices between developers from different companies and bootstrapping test plans when common implementation mistakes are seen. Plugfests can also help members spot product issues early on in the process, analyze device behavior and make changes to improve interoperability before entering certification testing.
Avnu Express Testing Suite & Tool
Avnu Alliance has introduced a test tool to streamline the certification process for vendors. Avnu’s low-cost validation test tool, the Avnu Express Test Tool, allows vendors to internally verify device conformance prior to submission for certification testing, providing valuable insights into the product that can be used to optimize product development – increasing the probability of certification success and saving manufacturers time, resources, and money. Members can use the test tool, which bundles test control and test engine software along with a set of hardware equipment, to verify the performance of end devices using Certified modules. Members can also integrate the test tool into their regression test bench for internal automated regression testing and can easily add their own test scripts for their own product development as well as for debugging and testing.
Avnu members can purchase floating licenses that allow teams across geographic locations to work using the same tool and the Avnu Express Test Tool will be automatically updated as new test plans become available.
For those interested in getting access to the Avnu Express Test Tool, please contact our Technical Program Manager at TPM@avnu.org.
Avnu Recognized Test Facilities
Avnu has Certification testing at new Registered Test Facilities (RTF) around the world. These well-recognized, globally dispersed test labs offer lower shipping times, competitive pricing models, and streamline the process for members seeking to certify products and make communications between testing sites and vendors seamless. These additional test sites and locations give Avnu Alliance greater ability to scale testing capacity to meet demand, while also allowing device manufacturers to enter products into testing with less lead time prior to release.
Avnu Alliance Certification Testing must be conducted at an Avnu-approved Recognized Test Facility. These test facilities have been selected, evaluated, and audited by Avnu and found to meet the requirements to conduct Avnu Certification Testing in accordance with Avnu Policies defined by the Avnu Certification Work Group. The scope of testing for each Recognized Test Facility is captured in the table below.
Founded in 1991, Allion has accumulated over 30 years of testing experience. Headquartered in Taiwan with branches in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and South Korea, we are able to provide convenient, top-quality services wherever you are. Allion offers professional services in research, design, quality, and production. Our services include standard certification and compliance testing, product ecosystem scenario testing, test fixture design, and IIoT solutions. https://www.allion.com/
Excelfore is accelerating vehicle data services, with in-vehicle networking protocol stacks including Ethernet TSN, SOME/IP, DoIP and UDS (client), and has established a full lab within the company’s Japan engineering center to test Avnu members’ products for conformance and interoperability with the Avnu specifications. Excelfore also provides innovative cloud-to-vehicle solutions including the eSync OTA, eDatX data aggregation, eLearn analytics platforms. https://excelfore.com/last-meter-connect/
Granite River Labs (GRL) is a leading provider of end-to-end testing, certification and compliance services and related proprietary instrumentation and software solutions to support development and commercialization of sophisticated connected devices. GRL enables engineers to solve tough design and validation challenges worldwide. GRL believes in providing affordable test services to help hardware developers implement digital interface technologies as they become faster, more complex, and more challenging to test. https://graniteriverlabs.com/
The UNH-IOL is an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance solutions for the networking industry. The first approved test laboratory for Avnu certification, the UNH-IOL works in cooperation with the Alliance to provide certification test tools to Avnu members for in-house pre-certification testing. https://www.iol.unh.edu/testing/switching/avnu
Recognized Test Facilities: Scope of Testing
The Scope of Lab Testing is maintained on the Avnu Certification Information & Documents wiki page.
The Scope of Lab Testing table will be updated as new features are introduced.
Avnu Test Equipment Manufacturers
Ixia’s time-tested IxNetwork platform simplifies preparation for Avnu Certification with a pre-packaged Avnu AVB Conformance Test Library. This tool provides a summary reporting with graphical representations of the test results, along with debugging capabilities at the bits and bytes level. With IxNetwork’s flexible scripting capability, vendors may easily customize test cases in the Avnu-defined library and even monitor their test live as it progresses. To know more, visit their automotive test solutions page.
The Automotive AVB Conformance Test Suite Pack consists of different protocol conformance test suites for the Avnu Automotive AVB Profile. They run on Spirent C50 devices with BroadR-Reach network interface cards. All test suites are prepared for full test automation and include frameworks for individual adaptation. Users are able to customize test scenarios. Examples include the modification or the exclusion test stub activities, as well as the addition of negative testing. For additional information, please click here.