Allion Labs | Franck Chen
The Importance of Wi-Fi
Smart TVs can not only provide web browsing services, online gaming platforms, audio functions, and video functions, but they can also interact with users through built-in voice assistants such as Google Assistant, Alexa, or others. Sometimes, you can even use smart TVs to control other smart appliances.
One of the reasons why smart TVs can perform these functions is because of their network connection, in other words, Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi connection acts like a brain and neural network of a smart TV. If the Wi-Fi is unstable or malfunctioning, the “smart” in smart TVs will not make much sense anymore.
Wi-Fi Connectivity Problems
Smart TVs in the market today support more and more functions and connections, creating more wireless interferences in the environment. Thousands of other problems arise because of these reasons. If the smart TV manufacturer doesn’t fully consider different usage scenarios, environmental interference, and device connection types during product development and testing, the following problems will easily occur:
- Serious potential problems cannot be found before the product goes on the market, resulting in customer complaints and negative reviews.
- After receiving market customer complaints, the problem cannot be solved for a long time.
Next, we’ll share how we use our expertise and advantages to help our clients solve their problems.
Allion’s Solution
For good work to be done, you must first sharpen your tools. Allion has invested millions in wireless testing equipment and environments, including over 200 brands of APs and over 1000 wireless devices that other manufacturers cannot match. Allion also has a self-developed testing solution called the Allion Critical Scenario Test Solution (ACSTS), which is an automated testing solution that helps solve various types of problems such as low probability testing, precise measuring, and more.
In addition, Allion has more than ten years of experience in smart TV testing, with which we can provide fast and accurate testing for our clients, helping them discover early potential risks or improve the efficiency of dealing with customer complaints.
Case Study
- Background: We selected 5 different APs for maximum throughput testing.
- Issue: We found potential antenna design problems that resulted in lowering the throughput data of the product.
- Risk: ★★★★☆
When the throughput is too low, videos cannot stream properly. Our client was even one of the top 10 AP brands. The risk of customer complaints was extremely high.
- Throughput Test Conditions:
Results and Analysis Part 1
According to the average results of the 5 APs, the measured throughput data of Client DUT 1 and Client DUT 2 at 2.4G and 20 MHz were lower than other products.
The following is a further experiment and analysis of our client’s devices with AP Brand A, AP Brand B, and AP Brand C.
Results and Analysis Part 2 – Throughput, Chip, and Distance
① After further investigation, we found that the client’s DUT 1 and DUT 2 used the same Wi-Fi chip.
② We moved the distance between the TV and the AP from 1m to 0m and found the throughput had improved.
③ Although there’s an improvement in AP Brand C’s data, it’s still not enough.
④ Additional verification is performed on another AP that has the same chip as number 3, which came up with the same result.
Results and Analysis Part 3 – Throughput and Data Rate
Looking at the Data Rate TX, the log shows that one of the possible reasons for lower throughput is that the AP only transmits through a single antenna.
Results and Analysis Part 4 – Throughput and RSSI
From the perspective of an RSSI analysis, the throughput decreases when the signal gets stronger. According to our experience, this could be caused by signal oversaturation, which can be improved by replacing or upgrading the software and firmware modules.
Based on the test results above, we let our clients know that the TV Wi-Fi chip had potential TV-AP IOP or antenna design problems. Our client replaced the TV Wi-Fi chip module in time for their market release and thanked us for the test report and suggestions.
Take the Next Step
If you have any questions about Wi-Fi terminals (such as TV/STB, NB, mobile phones, and more) from various manufacturers, we can also provide RF wireless testing plans that can be tested with over 200 top brands of APs, taking care of potential problems for our clients.