TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter deals with the test procedures and test setups that are typically used during the manufacturing of wireless LAN (WLAN) equipment. Manufacturing tests cover a range of aspects: radio calibration and alignment, screening tests during production to detect and weed out defective parts or systems, and post-production sampling tests for quality control (QC) processes. Tests performed during manufacturing and field failure analysis testing also fall into this category.
Note that chip (IC) manufacturing tests are not covered. Such tests are carried out with highly specialized equipment and usually performed using special features such as internal register scan logic, Built-In Self Test (BIST), and other functions specifically for chip testing; they have little to do with WLAN functional or performance test procedures. The focus in this chapter will be on board- or box-level manufacturing. The typical manufacturing flow (insofar as there is such a thing) will be reviewed, and then detailed descriptions will be provided of the equipment and processes used at each step.
The details of WLAN manufacturing processes are both intricate and vendor-specific. While most system manufacturing processes follow the same general flow, different equipment manufacturers have widely varying processes, requirements, and setups. Also, the process is complicated by the fact that virtually all WLAN system vendors use third-party contract manufacturing services rather than building production lines in-house, and so the various steps in the process may take place at different locations. Rather than provide details of specific manufacturing processes, therefore, we...
