Author: Enzo
IoT Think Tank Original
Guide
Since entering China in 1980, UL has deeply integrated global experience with local needs, and continued to provide Convenient, Fast and Excellent Localization Testing, Certification, Inspection, Training and Consulting Services for Chinese manufacturers to help Chinese products enter the global market. In 2022, with the intensification of the global demand for China's 5G products exported, UL will accompany Chinese companies to start again.
The World's Fair held in Chicago, USA, in 1893, attracted more than 27.5 million visitors, and was a major event in the history of the World Exposition. However, during the World Expo, many people were worried and worried about the fire in the exhibition hall. Because as the first World Expo to adopt artificial lighting, the use of electricity was in the ascendant.
In order to solve the safety problems in the exhibition hall, the organizers hired a number of excellent electrical engineers to do safety assessments for the power system used in the Expo, and one of them, an electrical engineer named William Henry Merrill Jr., came up with the idea of solving safety problems based on scientific standards in this work experience. In 1894, Merrill established the "Underwriters' Electrical Bureau" in the city of Chicago, responsible for pre-sales testing of electrical equipment, which was later renamed "Underwriters Laboratories", and UL was officially announced.
Later, the first safety certifications for thousands of products such as "vacuum cleaners", "aircraft airworthiness tests", "seat belts", "microwave ovens", "computers", "drones" and so on, which we are familiar with, are all from UL. However, it is worth mentioning the fate of UL and China. Since entering China in 1980, UL has deeply integrated global experience with local needs, and continued to provide Convenient, Fast and Excellent Localization Testing, Certification, Inspection, Training and Consulting Services for Chinese manufacturers to help Chinese products enter the global market.
In 2022, with the continuous improvement of the maturity of China's 5G industry chain in networks, basic devices, terminals and applications, the demand for 5G products exported to the world has intensified.
"New fashion" - 5G creates new value
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, by the end of February 2022, the number of domestic 5G base stations has reached 1.506 million, and the total number of base stations accounts for more than 60% of the world. On the other hand, with the rapid development of domestic 5G, the national strategic level has also been timely adjustment in the middle of last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission and other ten departments jointly issued the "5G application "sail" action plan" to mark the domestic 5G development has entered the deep water area, 5G applications will be fully developed from point to surface, from 5G smart phones and other consumer goods, to industry applications for deep empowerment.
It can be seen that since the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to four telecom operators, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Radio and Television on June 6, 2019, the domestic 5G development has made great progress. It is precisely because of this good 5G environment that Chinese enterprises can occupy the "time", "geographical advantage" and "people" of 5G, and take advantage of market opportunities in the world.
Taking 5G smart phones as an example, from the history of intergenerational upgrading of mobile communications in the past, each iteration of technology will inevitably cause a strong wave of replacement, and 5G is no exception. According to a 5G smartphone coverage study published by research institute Counterpoint, as of January 2022, the global sales penetration rate of 5G smartphones has reached 51%, successfully surpassing 4G smartphones.
An important reason for the rapid penetration of 5G smartphones is that domestic brands perform well in the global smartphone market. As early as 2019, domestic mobile phone manufacturers took the lead in launching 5G smart phones, and through continuous technology iteration and cost reduction, help consumers realize the dream of 5G for the whole people. Nowadays, brands including Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Honor, realme, etc. have gradually become the main driving force for the growth of the global 5G smartphone share.
More importantly, 5G, as an unprecedented generation of communication technology in the history of communication development, integrates the three technical characteristics of eMBB enhanced mobile broadband, uRLLC low latency and high reliability communication, and mMTC massive machine IoT, which means that 5G smartphones will only be an "appetizer" in the commercialization of 5G, and the highlight will be presented by the 5G Internet of Things.
For example, with the help of uRLLC, the air interface delay can be reduced to 1 millisecond, and the round-trip delay can be reduced to 4 milliseconds, which provides a solid guarantee for scenarios with high requirements for network latency and reliability such as the Internet of Vehicles, Industrial Internet, and telemedicine; for example, with the help of mMTC, using its large connection characteristics, smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities and other application scenarios will be able to effectively achieve connectivity. This will create a market that is several times or even dozens of times larger than smartphones.
Of course, manufacturers will also use the exciting capabilities of 5G to continuously develop more innovative products, and hope that these products can enter the global market as soon as possible to seize the opportunity to improve profitability. However, when it is truly put into practice, the process is not achieved overnight, and the three "stumbling blocks" will become the biggest obstacles in front of them.
"Stumbling block" - a hurdle that could not be bypassed before it was launched
From the perspective of manufacturers, manufacturers, brands, retailers, traders and other supply chain stakeholders of 5G products, they are not only the first people to eat crabs on the "road" of global 5G commercialization, but also people who feel the stones to cross the river. Before their products reach the global market, they will face three major challenges: effective global market access, authoritative wireless performance test certification, and a lengthy wait to market.
First of all, any enterprise that wants to enter the global market needs to face strict regulatory compliance requirements, and only by meeting the requirements of the local market can the expected products flow smoothly into the local market. However, in the face of the growing challenges and product complexity of the IoT era, manufacturers must meet complex and diverse wireless regulatory requirements when adding wireless capabilities to existing products to enable consumer, industrial, automotive, medical and other fields to upgrade, and these requirements often vary from market to market.
In addition, even if the manufacturer's product has entered the local market, it does not mean that it can be done once and for all. When local regulatory requirements change, manufacturers still need to conduct new tests on products that are already on the market. For example, in 2018, the Radio Wave Law and its Telecommunications Law issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan require that products with wireless transmission and electronic products connected to public networks must comply with the requirements of the applicable Radio Wave Law and Telecommunications Law before being exported to Japan for sale.
Secondly, although 5G can bring great innovation and change to our production and lifestyle, due to the use of a large number of innovative technologies in 5G, such as the use of millimeter wave, this also brings a new test and certification challenge for 5G products to enter the market. For example, each 5G terminal has to undergo a lot of testing to ensure its security. Especially for products that are close to the human body, wireless radiation should be fully considered.
In addition, during 5G product testing, standards for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), radio frequency exposure/specific absorption rate (SAR), interoperability, quality of service (QoS), and radio frequency (RF) vary from region to region. For example, interoperability, how to use 5G to smoothly connect different brands of smart watches and different brands of smartphones? How to use 5G smartphones to link other smart devices such as ovens, refrigerators, air conditioners and so on?
Finally, for manufacturers, only when products enter the market as soon as possible can they seize the market opportunity as much as possible to obtain more lucrative returns, and then feed back research and development, operation, and form a good business cycle. However, based on the local differences in the target market, manufacturers have to travel around the world to carry out corresponding testing and certification, and they must also pay expensive production costs and invest a lot of time costs.
In addition, the global testing and certification process will also have an impact on the manufacturer's technical pre-research, before the product development and production, manufacturers need to be familiar with the regulations of the target market in advance, and do the adaptation of certification standards to ensure that the export and sales of the product will not be affected after production.
In summary, for manufacturers and manufacturers of 5G products, in order to achieve global trade, establish a global brand image, obtain other economic and social benefits, and aspire to more advanced and perfect technology, more complete and authoritative certification, and more localized services, it is becoming more and more urgent. As one of the world's authoritative testing and certification bodies, UL has been engaged in independent research, standard formulation, testing and certification, providing analysis and digital solutions to help the safe application of 5G innovative technology.
"Fast Track" - the continuation of the legend of UL's century-old store
As a "century-old store", in the field of communications, UL has long been active among the world's authoritative organizations, participating in the formulation of mmWave-related test certification methods and rules.
At the same time, UL has accumulated a lot of experience and technology. UL's more than 20 years of experience in mmWave testing services enables it to provide testing services for automotive radar, wireless HD, and 802.11ad, e-band, P2P, and many other different applications. Facing the 5G era, UL can provide functional and performance requirements, compliance testing and telecommunications industry acceptance testing.
As of early 2022, UL has provided tests in the 5G medium and low frequency bands in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries with its reliable 5G new frequency testing services, and high-frequency band mmWave frequency tests in the United States and South Korea. With the iteration of 5G technology and the acceleration of application innovation, UL will gradually open up more test sites.
UL Dongguan Songshan Lake Laboratory
For Chinese enterprises, UL established the Dongguan Songshan Lake IoT Lab in China in 2015, which is also UL's open IoT lab in China. Through localized testing and certification services, the connection between UL and local enterprises will also be closer in the 5G era.
UL Dongguan Songshan Lake IoT Lab has long been in line with the rapid innovation and iteration of technology, and is one of the few 5G NR test laboratories in the world. With many years of rich experience in 5G NR band testing, combined with its global branches in Asia, Europe and the Americas, it can provide customers with multi-level and multi-dimensional one-stop testing and certification and market access services. Specifically, the advantages of UL Dongguan Songshan Lake IoT Lab in 5G NR testing services are mainly reflected in three aspects: globalization, localization, and authority.
UL Dongguan Songshan Lake Laboratory
First of all, China's 5G leadership in the global scope is already an indisputable fact, with the development of globalization, more and more domestic advanced 5G applications have been born to go to sea demand. In view of this, UL Songshan Lake Internet of Things Testing Laboratory can help Chinese local enterprises enter the United States and the global market through perfect instrumentation and complete accreditation qualifications and scope.
In addition, UL's Regulatory testing laboratories for wireless products are located all over the world, helping companies to more easily obtain global one-stop testing and certification services.
Secondly, in view of the technical, cost and even language difficulties faced by Chinese enterprises in the process of overseas certification, UL Songshan Lake Internet of Things Testing Laboratory provides perfect local testing capabilities, and has several local RED NB and TCB auditors, which can provide Chinese customers with professional services with zero time difference and no language barriers. In this way, even if "enough not to go abroad" can achieve multi-country certification at home, which is not only convenient but also helps to reduce the cost of enterprise certification.
Finally, the most worrying and most important issue in the process of enterprises going to sea is the authority of certification, if the certification is invalid, it means that everything that has been done before will be in vain, not only need to start over, but also bear high losses. UL UK, UL USA, and UL Japan all have FCC TCB, Canada FCB and RED NB certification qualifications, and UL Japan also has the Certification Qualification of Japan Radio Wave Law (JRL) and Telecommunications Law (JTBL). Thus ensuring the credibility of enterprise certification, helping it to go to sea worry-free.
Up to now, in addition to Dongguan Songshan Lake Internet of Things Laboratory, UL has also set up Suzhou Green High-tech Testing Operation Center, Guangzhou Science City Laboratory, Guangzhou Testing Technology Laboratory, Consumer Goods and Retail Services Shanghai Laboratory, Consumer Goods and Retail Services Shenzhen Laboratory, Changzhou Power Battery Testing Laboratory and Zhongshan Gas Appliance Laboratory and other 7 large laboratories, 12 branches and many third-party laboratories and customer laboratories participating in UL DAP (UL Test Data Accreditation Program) in China. It has served more than 22,000 Chinese customers and has become a powerful helper for Chinese enterprises in the process of going overseas.