LitePoint announced its collaboration with Wi-Fi Alliance® to support automatic frequency coordination (AFC) certification on its IQxel-MW 7G test platform.

In 2020, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened an unprecedented 1200 MHz of spectrum for unlicensed use in the 6 GHz band to facilitate access to wider channels, higher throughput, lower latency and superior network efficiency. However, to accommodate technologies that already operate in this band, the FCC defined two different classes of operation: Low power indoor and standard power indoor/outdoor. In order to avoid interference in standard power operation, the FCC created the AFC system to coordinate the spectrum use. The AFC certification program is designed to ensure the standard power access points operating in the 6 GHz band can operate at maximum permissible powers without interfering with incumbent licensed services thus offering robust, wide-scale Wi-Fi deployment indoors as well as outdoors and high-quality broadband user experience.

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“Wi-Fi Alliance is leading the development of critical work that will enable implementation of standard power devices under control of the AFC system, which will help utilize the full potential of the 6 GHz band,” said Kevin Robinson, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “We look forward to continuing to work with LitePoint on important initiatives aimed at maximizing value in the 6 GHz band.”

Adam Smith, director of Product Marketing at LitePoint, said, “We are pleased to collaborate with the Wi-Fi Alliance and to assist our customers in obtaining AFC certification and ensuring that they can launch their Wi-Fi products with utmost confidence, knowing that they meet the highest standards of quality and performance in the market.”

LitePoint’s IQxel family of testers, IQxel-MW 7G and IQxel-MX, provides leading performance for Wi-Fi 6E/7 device testing. The comprehensive test platforms combine signal generation and analysis in a compact single box architecture enabling testing from R&D through high volume production. Available in three different configurations: two ports (2 VSA/VSG), eight ports (2 VSA/VSG) and 16 ports (4 VSA/VSG), the testers offer best in class error vector magnitude for highest measurement accuracy, scalable MIMO architecture and high efficiency multi-DUT testing.