Sigfox Certification Baseline

All devices applying for certification must show compliance to Sigfox Certification specifications from a valid certification baseline.

Sigfox Certification baseline (CBL) is a fixed reference point defining all necessary material to perform Sigfox certification tests.

Sigfox Certification Tests

There are two kinds of Sigfox tests:

RF & protocol tests, to check Sigfox protocol & RF performance compliance.
Radiated performance tests, to assess the radiated performances of the device. These radiation tests will define a radiated power classification of the device in uplink mode.

Here are essential documents that you should keep in mind when preparing for your tests:

Be prepared for RF & Protocol tests (PDF file, includes mandatory checklist)
Be prepared for Radiated Performance tests

Sigfox has developed the SDR Dongle and RSA software to help device makers prepare for their Sigfox RF & Protocol tests.

Tests must be executed according to a Valid CBL.

CBL June 2020 => Released and valid
CBL Nov 2019 => Obsolete

Current Certification Baseline

Sigfox security assessment on devices, by Kudelski

Sigfox Certification Baseline (CBL) lifecycle

As Sigfox technology evolves, the Certification Baseline has a lifecycle associated with the content of the evolved baseline. The different steps of CBL are defined below:

The rules associated to the lifecycle of the CBL are the followings:

A new CBL becomes mandatory in average 3 months after being released
When a CBL becomes mandatory, the previous mandatory one becomes obsolete
From the moment the new CBL version is released, it can be used for certification
If a device includes a new feature, which associated testing is not included in current mandatory CBL version, it must use the new released CBL as soon as it is available.
Maximum time between submission and granted certification is 6 months.

Release CBL June 2020

The new release of CBL June 2020, has been published and can now be used. CBL Nov 2019 is no longer valid.

The main improvements included in the new CBL are:

Test requirements modified to cover testing of Sigfox low cost reference design and applicable to all products (similar or lower constraints):

Frequency step: Frequency Step test is replaced by “Product's population Spectral Occupation»
Static frequency tolerance: addition of a check of measured Static Frequency vs Declared Static Frequency
Max TX Baudrate Cumulated Error: limit relaxed from 0,1 % to 3%
Power Spectral Density: addition of a lower limit applicable only to class 2 and class 3 devices and modular design used on class 2 and class 3 devices.
Carrier center frequencies in bi-directional mode: new test

Sigfox RF & Protocol test specification simplification including:

A single document including test specification, test plan and all RCs requirements
Addition of applicability table and test modes table

Several tests adapted to allow flexibility and easy testing of supported features (no change in requirements)

Detailed changes can be found in revision history of each document.

Certification Baseline documents	Release CBL June 2020
Be prepared for Sigfox Radiated performance Tests	1.0.0
Be prepared for Sigfox RF & Protocol Tests	5.0.1
Sigfox Radiated Performance Test Specification	2.0.0
Sigfox RF & Protocol Test Specification	5.0.3
Pre-testing with the Radio Signal Analyzer (RSA) and SDR Dongle
Sigfox RF & Protocol Test Procedure (all RCs)	5.0.0