>
TEST & MEASUREMENT
“Testing Consumer Electronics” Under Test And Measurement
Madhukar Tripathi
Head-MARCOM & OPTICAL PRODUCTS at Anritsu India Pvt. Ltd
An introduction to Consumer Electronics & Market Trend: Smartphone Testing: Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Some of the most popular consumer electronics are, Smartphone, TV, Radio, Smart Watch and similar wearables, Video Game consoles, Bluetooth speakers, Set Top Box (STB), Music System, Camera, Laptop, Tablets, PC etc. Consumer electronics industry has largely merged with the software industry in what is increasingly referred to as the consumerization of information technology. This is enabling new customer experience and customer expectation has increased – better customer experience and better-quality products. *According to IBEF, Indian appliance and consumer electronics (ACE) market reached Rs. 76,400 crore (US$ 10.93 billion) in 2019. Appliances and consumer electronics industry is expected to double to reach Rs. 1.48 lakh crore (US$ 21.18 billion) by 2025. *National Policy targets production of one billion mobile handsets by 2025. Production linked incentives (PLI) are being provided to companies to establish manufacturing plants in India. All these data show India is emerging as big market and ready for consumer electronics production hub. In order to meet time bound production and good quality product, test and measurement will play an important role.
A smartphone or mobile phone undergoes various testing right from design/ R&D phase to components integration and then final assembly testing or final QA before packing and dispatch from factory. Mobile phone testing can be divided in to 2 major parts (A) Functional Testing (B) Non-Functional Testing Functional Testing is a type of black box testing whereby each part of the system is tested against functional specification/ requirements. Functional testing verifies that the software performs its stated functions in a way that the users expect. The process of functional testing involves a series of tests: Smoke, Sanity, Integration, Regression, Interface, System and finally User Acceptance Testing Further in mobile production zone following types of testing is carried: • mobile application testing • hardware testing • battery (charging) testing • signal receiving • network testing • protocol testing • mobile games testing • mobile software compatibility testing Non-functional testing includes: • Security. • Accessibility. • Performance and availability. • API testing. Sometimes local government regulation requires specific testing to be mandated and many mobile service providers also have specific provision for mobile testing before this is launched in market. These testing are referred as certification testing. SAR Testing is one of them. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) testing is the radiofrequency (RF) dosimetry quantification of
> MARCH 2021
28
•Vol - 03 / 03
