1. Introduction to PTCRB

PTCRB stands for PCS Type Certification Review Board, which was originally established by North American mobile operators, and now the operator members are no longer limited to North America, but cover mobile operator members around the world. In order to ensure that the communication equipment can work on the mobile network of the PTCRB operator members and ensure that the product matches the mobile standard of the operator's network, the device needs to be certified by the PTCRB and obtain the certification license issued by the PTCRB.

2. PTCRB Organizational Structure

PTCRB is composed of three organizations: CTIA (PTCRB Certification Management Department), PTCRB and PVG (PTCRB Verification Group).

CTIA's responsibilities include auditing and authorizing laboratories to conduct PTCRB certification testing, reviewing test results submitted by terminal manufacturers and laboratories, and developing standards related to testing.

The PTCRB is led by each PTCRB operator, formulates PTCRB certification requirements, listens to PVG work reports, and makes relevant decisions.

PVG is led by PTCRB authorized laboratories, which track and complete the development and verification of relevant use cases in accordance with PTCRB requirements. PVG facilitates the validation of user terminals through contributions to standards development organizations and other forums.

The PTCRB and PVG meet four times a year, at which PTCRB operators review the report of the latest PVG meeting and make decisions accordingly. The PTCRB requires its accredited laboratories to attend all eight meetings or cancel their accreditation. Laboratories that have been authorized are required to submit various application materials for re-authorization in November of each year for review by PTCRB in order to obtain PTCRB authorization status for the following year.

3. PTCRB certification requirements and process

The NAPRD03 and PPMD documents specify all the requirements and processes for PTCRB certification. The document is published after each PTCRB meeting, and the NAPRD03 version is the latest and the next newest, and only the latest version of the PPMD is valid. End manufacturers and master laboratories need to ensure that the version of the document they have chosen is valid when submitting their certification results.

Before the start of the test, the terminal manufacturer shall register on the PTCRB website, including filling in the relevant parameter information of the product, such as product model, supported communication technology and corresponding frequency band, function, IMEI, FCC ID, ICTA, software version number, hardware version number, management and technical contact, etc. At the same time, you need to choose a main laboratory. The main laboratory needs to ensure that the product has undergone all the tests required for certification and upload the results.

PTCRB divides use case categories into A, B, C, D, E, N, S, and P. The product only needs to complete the A, B, and E use cases in the currently valid version. Whether the Class E use case passes or not will not affect the acquisition of PTCRB certification, if not, the laboratory can clearly describe the reason for the failure. In addition, for frequency bands that are not required for PTCRB certification but required by GCF certification, they need to be tested in accordance with GCF requirements and pass the corresponding test cases.

After all test cases meet the requirements of PTCRB certification, the main laboratory submits all test reports, final software and hardware version numbers, software version serial numbers (SVN), NAPRD03 and GCF version numbers, each test standard and version number used, IMEI number segment (TAC code), and the start and end dates of the actual test to the PTCRB website. Normally, CTIA will notify the IMEI administration and the terminal manufacturer of the certification result within five working days after the results are submitted by the main laboratory.

4. Standards used for PTCRB certification

PTCRB mainly refers to the standards formulated by standards organizations such as 3GPP, ETSI, OMA, GSMA, etc., and the detailed information of the standards can be found in Chapter 3, Section 2, International Industry Certification Standard Support System.

Among them, the GSM part adopts the 3GPP TS 51.010 series standard, the 3G part adopts the 34.12x series standard, the LTE part adopts the 36.52x series standard, and the NR part adopts the 38.52x series standard. The SIM card interface test adopts the ETSI series of standards, including ETSI TS 102 230/102 384/102 694/102 695. Application tests mainly use OMA test standards, such as MMS, DM, and SUPL. NFC testing mainly refers to GSMA PRD TS.27.

In addition, PTCRB certification is applied to a number of standards that do not overlap with GCF certification, including 3GPP TR 37.901 for throughput testing, OMA FUMO for testing, CTIA OTA performance for testing, PTCRB TTY for testing, PTCRB AT-Commands for testing, and a series of PVG permanent reference documents.

5. Useful Links

• list of PTCRB authorized master labs