Next step: Industrialization
Certifications
Certifications are a major step in every project. They allow the validation of product compliance with the required standards. These standards can be regulatory or Sigfox-specific.
Sigfox requires Sigfox certification for devices intending to communicate on the Sigfox Network. This is to ensure interoperability and service delivery at a nominal performance level.
Upon completion of the Sigfox certification process, a Sigfox certificate is granted to the partner. This certificate is required to register any device of the same model on the Sigfox network.
What is Sigfox certification?
Sigfox Certification is the acknowledgment of the compliance of a Device with Sigfox Certification Specifications in order to ensure its compatibility with Sigfox services and nominal performance on the network.
Getting certified implies the commitment of the partner to do everything necessary to ensure that all their devices registered on the Sigfox network will be compliant with the Sigfox Devices Specifications, in all operational conditions of the device and during its complete life-cycle.
Partner shall accompany this commitment with evidence of compliance generated on a Candidate Device, which is representative of all devices of the same model deployed on the network. This evidence is declarative information and test results, generated by Sigfox accredited test houses, and will be provided to Sigfox during the certification submission process (filing).
Following the partner’s commitment and compliance documents, Sigfox delivers a Sigfox Ready certificate to the partner for a given device model.
Detailed information can be found in the Certification Handbook below.
Sigfox Certification Baseline
Sigfox Certification baseline (CBL) is a fixed reference point defining all necessary material to perform Sigfox certification tests.
All devices applying for certification must show compliance to Sigfox Certification specifications from a valid certification baseline.
Sigfox Certification Process
Both Sigfox Verified and Sigfox Ready certifications follow the same overall process.
Sigfox certification step by step:
1. Plan testing: Plan your Sigfox certification, and request a quotation from a Sigfox accredited test house.
2. Prepare product for testing: Make sure your product is ready to start testing, following the Be prepared certification documents according to your certification request.
3. Ship candidate product to the Test House:
a. The accredited Test House will execute tests according to the Sigfox Radiated Performance test specification and the Sigfox RF & Protocol test specifications for each requested RC (if you apply for RC1 and RC7, only one radiated performance test is necessary).
b. The accredited Test House will generate a report and will deliver it to you.
c. Once you have received the test report, prepare the submission file on Build.
4. In the meantime, start your certification on Sigfox Build:
a. Create a product and complete the product's information.
b. Sign the Sigfox Master License Agreement. You only need to sign one per company.
c. Once you have received the test house report, upload it on Build, along with all required documentation.
d. Pay the certification fee on Build.
5. Submit the certification request on Sigfox Build:
a. The Sigfox Certification Authority will analyze the test results and documentation and will issue a product certificate.
Note: If any issue is found during this process, the product maker will be contacted by the Sigfox certification Authority for resolution.
Sigfox Ready & Verified
The Sigfox Ready certification is mandatory for any device to be connected to Sigfox network with the exception of Development Solutions.
The intermediate Sigfox Verified certification acknowledges the compliance with RF & protocol specifications of a Modular Design.
To achieve Sigfox certifications, the partners must apply through Build. They will provide documentation and compliance documents, which are listed in the online tool and in the Sigfox Certification handbook.
Type approvals
The Sigfox Ready and Sigfox Verified certifications are specific to Sigfox. There are also country-specific requirements that devices must comply to in order to legally work. These requirements are called Type Approvals.
Depending on the country, the necessary processes to obtain a type approval can differ considerably, ranging from “self-declaration” to “classical type approval” -- to more complicated rules, possibly.
The marketing of radio devices is highly regulated in all countries over the world and is considered very sensitive. Regulatory certification is a critical step in a go-to-market strategy, because it is the legal certification by the local country government for partner product sales.
Any RF device, including of course Sigfox devices, must show compliances to country regulations and must follow the mandatory processes to obtain certification in each of them.
Hence, a Sigfox device must obtain two certifications, through two separate processes:
- Sigfox Ready: Mandatory to access the Sigfox network.
- Type approval: Mandatory to market a device in a given country/region.
These compliances do not depend on each other: a device can obtain a type approval without yet having obtained the Sigfox Ready certification. Conversely, you can start the Sigfox Ready certification process without yet having started the type-approval process.