--- title: "Conformance: Test and qualification | Nexus Observatory" description: "Conformance, inside Test and qualification: conformance testing, base station and device conformance testing, conformance testing." url: https://observatory.global/qualification/conformance/ publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc. updated: 2026-11-07 --- Conformance: a node run through the protocol's test suite, each step attested from evidence. The loop, step by step: 1. A device under test faces a suite of checks. 2. Sensor, link, edge and console stand ready. 3. The suite sends the first protocol messages. 4. Each reading is stamped with time and place. 5. Each response is captured and timed. 6. The relay forwards sealed packets untouched. 7. The edge verifies every signature first. 8. Responses are compared with the standard. 9. Only a confirmed result leaves the edge. 10. One check fails on a timer value. 11. The vendor fixes it and the suite reruns. 12. Instruments confirm the response took effect. 13. The screen turns all green and is stamped. 14. The alert arrives with its evidence attached. 15. The whole chain is archived for audit. 16. Everything settles back to idle. 01 / 16 A device under test faces a suite of checks [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) / [Test and qualification](https://observatory.global/qualification/) / **Conformance** # Run the protocol suite, publish the result. Conformance, inside Test and qualification: conformance testing, base station and device conformance testing, conformance testing. Every item is traced to its specification, from Observatory Protocol specification (open) to OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing (CITE) approach, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol. [Plan with us](https://observatory.global/contact/) Architecture [The protocol](https://observatory.global/protocol/specification/) **Technologies**: 3 **At the frontier**: 0 **Protocol functions**: 3 of 12 **Industries served**: 4 At a glance ## Conformance testing Tools and test suites that check devices and software against the protocol. In conformance, part of Test and qualification, the open protocol interfaces and federation layer holds conformance testing, drawn against Observatory Protocol specification and OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing approach. The problem ### Run the protocol suite, publish the result Datasheets promise performance in conditions nobody's site will see. Buyers, auditors and regulators need results they can check, from tests they can repeat. Without independent, repeatable tests, every comparison between suppliers is a comparison between marketing documents; qualification replaces claims with measured results, published either way. Key facts **Specification**: Observatory Protocol specification (open) · OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing (CITE) approach **Specification**: O-RAN WG4 Conformance Test Specification **Specification**: 3GPP TS 38.141-1 and 38.141-2 (BS conformance) · 3GPP TS 38.521 (UE conformance) **Standards**: Observatory Protocol specification · OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing approach · 3GPP TS 38.141-1 and 38.141-2 · 3GPP TS 38.521 Components - Rugged shock-isolated 7U transit rack case, lids off - Automatic weather station (AWS) to WMO siting practice - Particulate monitoring station and sensor node - Compact X-band weather radar / ISAC sensing node on a lattice tower top - Street small-cell pole with an air-quality node - "AI tower in a box" - Hardware security module, 1U, in an edge rack - Data hall row pair with cold-aisle containment Interfaces **Radio**: Ethernet **Time and position**: PTP (IEEE 1588) In the story below 1. The system, part by part 2. Assembly 3. Installation 4. Deployment 5. Connections 6. Operation 7. Failure and recovery 8. Scale and federation 9. What you get Scenes · 13 Next steps [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/qualification/contact/deployment/) [Open the Field Deployment Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) [See Test and qualification](https://observatory.global/qualification/) [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) 1. Test and qualification · Conformance Run the protocol suite, publish the result Datasheets promise performance in conditions nobody's site will see. Buyers, auditors and regulators need results they can check, from tests they can repeat. Without independent, repeatable tests, every comparison between suppliers is a comparison between marketing documents; qualification replaces claims with measured results, published either way. 2. What it does Conformance testing Tools and test suites that check devices and software against the protocol. In conformance, part of Test and qualification, the open protocol interfaces and federation layer holds conformance testing, drawn against Observatory Protocol specification and OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing approach. SpecificationObservatory Protocol specification (open) · OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing (CITE) approach 3. Testing, integration and security Conformance testing Testing that an O-RU or O-DU implements the fronthaul specification correctly. In conformance, part of Test and qualification, the testing, integration and security layer holds conformance testing, drawn against O-RAN WG4 Conformance Test Specification. We build it into every site for conformance against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record. SpecificationO-RAN WG4 Conformance Test Specification 4. Time and place When and where, on every record Every record made for conformance carries its time, from a clock disciplined by satellite time or a PTP grandmaster, with the position and siting record of the station that made it. When time or position degrades, the record for conformance says so, and every user downstream sees the same warning. 5. RAN planning, optimisation and assurance Base station and device conformance testing RF and protocol tests used at acceptance and after upgrades. In conformance, part of Test and qualification, the RAN planning, optimisation and assurance layer holds base station and device conformance testing, drawn against 3GPP TS 38.141-1 and 38.141-2 and 3GPP TS 38.521. Specification3GPP TS 38.141-1 and 38.141-2 (BS conformance) · 3GPP TS 38.521 (UE conformance) 6. Trust Proved before it is trusted A node joins a network for conformance only after its hardware root of trust answers an attestation challenge. Its keys stay in secure hardware, its software arrives signed and every record it makes for conformance carries a signature, so anyone downstream can check where a value came from. 7. Evidence Traced to its specifications We trace each part of conformance to its specification: Observatory Protocol specification, OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing approach and 3GPP TS 38.141-1 and 38.141-2. We keep the versions, configurations and test results of conformance as signed records, so a buyer or an auditor can check what was delivered against what was specified. StandardsObservatory Protocol specification · OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing approach · 3GPP TS 38.141-1 and 38.141-2 · 3GPP TS 38.521 8. Operations Every node watched, every incident closed The operations console shows every node of a network for conformance with its state, its plan and its evidence. An alert arrives with its data and a runbook, acknowledging it opens a work order, and an incident for conformance closes only when the operator records the cause and verifies the fix. 9. Failure and recovery When a node fails, the fleet knows first When a node for conformance goes silent or a sensor drifts, the node buffers its data and fails over to a second link where the site has one. The alert carries the evidence a responder needs, and the record for conformance loses nothing and counts nothing twice. 10. Updates Updates in rings, with rollback Software and configuration reach a fleet for conformance in rings: one canary site first, then a few, then all, each ring gated on health and data completeness. A failed gate stops the wave, and each node for conformance returns to its last good release without a site visit. 11. How it scales One base unit, repeated A network for conformance starts with one base node and the instruments it reads. A station adds power and radio, a site adds a relay and a fleet repeats the proven site, so capacity for conformance grows by adding units, never by replacing what works. 12. What you get Qualification and the works-with programme The conformance tool and test plans are open. Device and software qualification, the works-with programme and field trial management are contracted. Works-with testing gives makers a recognised way to show their products join any grid built on the specification, with results published either way. [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) [Partner with us](https://observatory.global/contact/partner/) 13. Next step Conformance, planned with you Tell us the sites, the systems conformance must work with and the outcome you need, with a map or a list of addresses if you have one. An engineer replies with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for conformance, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/qualification/contact/deployment/) [Open the Field Deployment Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) [See Test and qualification](https://observatory.global/qualification/) More presentations ## See it from every side. Each opens as a full-screen presentation: deeper pages on the same subject, explainers, stories, guided tours of the places, network scenes and the observatories that came before. [All presentations](https://observatory.global/presentations/) ### In depth [Use case **Utility grid-edge private LTE and wildfire weather**](https://observatory.global/use-cases/utility-grid-edge/) [Use case **Northern civil observatory**](https://observatory.global/use-cases/northern-civil/) [Sector **Industrial**](https://observatory.global/sectors/industrial/) [Use case **Deployable incident observatory**](https://observatory.global/use-cases/deployable-incident/) ### Explainers [Explainer · Industrial **Industrial** Blast vibration at the pit, fire weather at the grid edge, methane at the fenceline and tailings movement from GNSS.](https://observatory.global/industries/infrastructure/explainer/) [Explainer · Scientific **Scientific, explained**](https://observatory.global/industries/research/explainer/) [Platform **Test and qualification** Claims are easy; evidence is rare](https://observatory.global/qualification/) [Platform **Connectivity** Public networks were not built for this site](https://observatory.global/connectivity/) ### Stories [Story · Overview **What changes by 2030** Six shifts will reshape how the Earth is observed before the decade ends: networks that sense, models that forecast, foundation models that read imagery,…](https://observatory.global/stories/horizon-2030/) [Story · Orbit **Orbits as infrastructure** Low orbits are fast and crowded, high orbits slow and spacious. Every choice of altitude is a trade between delay, footprint and how long the satellite…](https://observatory.global/stories/orbit/) [Story · Timing and PNT **Time as infrastructure** A 5G cell must hold its phase within 3 µs of its neighbours, ±1.5 µs of a common reference; a synchrophasor’s one per cent vector error leaves room for only…](https://observatory.global/stories/timing-pnt/) ### Places and networks [Guided tour · Guided 3D tour **Orbit view** Ground tracks of a sun-synchronous imager and three shells of a broadband constellation, computed from their orbits over a rotating Earth.](https://observatory.global/environments/orbit-view/) [Guided tour · Guided 3D tour **Ground station** An 11 m class antenna and its companions on a fenced pad, with edge compute that turns each pass into catalogued products before the next one.](https://observatory.global/environments/ground-station/) [Network scene · Private 5G · Mining **Private 5G in an open-pit mine** A private network for haul trucks, drills and slope radar: a mast on the rim, a cell in the pit, the core at the plant, and coverage computed over the benches themselves.](https://observatory.global/environments/networks/private5g-mine/) [Network scene · NTN · Satellite **Satellite direct to device in a mountain valley** Where the valley cell cannot reach, phones on the pass road connect straight to a low-orbit satellite, which relays through its feeder link to a gateway.](https://observatory.global/environments/networks/ntn-d2d/) ### Heritage observatories [Heritage observatory · Geostationary orbit over the Americas · 1975 **GOES** Since 1975 a succession of NOAA satellites has hovered 35,786 kilometres above the equator, watching the same hemisphere without a break.](https://observatory.global/observatories/goes-satellites/) [Heritage observatory · Low Earth orbit (launched from Cape Canaveral) · 1960 **TIROS-1** On 1 April 1960 a 120-kilogram drum with two television cameras was launched from Cape Canaveral and sent back the first pictures of clouds from space.](https://observatory.global/observatories/tiros-1/) ### Interactive tools [Interactive tool · Plan a site **Field Deployment Studio** Terrain, devices, coverage, viewshed, power and the best spot for a station, then a deployment request with the plan attached.](https://observatory.global/studio/) **01** What it is ## Open protocol interfaces and federation. How observations move from the edge into stores, catalogues and APIs with their provenance, licence and residency attached, and how they interoperate through open standards and the open Observatory Protocol. The radio access network from site to spectrum: macro, small cells, DAS and repeaters, massive MIMO, NR bands and TDD synchronisation, NR features such as RedCap, positioning and sidelink, private and shared networks, Wi-Fi coexistence, 6G and ISAC, and the planning and assurance that keep it working. Disaggregated, software-defined and AI-assisted radio access: the O-RAN architecture and its open interfaces, 7.2x fronthaul, RAN intelligent controllers with xApps and rApps, SMO and O-Cloud, accelerated L1, shared GPU infrastructure for RAN and AI, AI/ML in the 3GPP air interface, energy saving, and the test and integration work that makes multi-supplier RAN deployable. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against. Data, software and interoperability ### Conformance testing Tools and test suites that check devices and software against the protocol. We design, integrate and operate. Observatory Protocol specification (open) · OGC Compliance Interoperability and Testing (CITE) approach 5G and 6G radio access networks ### Base station and device conformance testing RF and protocol tests used at acceptance and after upgrades. We integrate and support. 3GPP TS 38.141-1 and 38.141-2 (BS conformance) · 3GPP TS 38.521 (UE conformance) AI-RAN and Open RAN ### Conformance testing Testing that an O-RU or O-DU implements the fronthaul specification correctly. We integrate and support. O-RAN WG4 Conformance Test Specification **02** Architecture ## Where it sits, and what it speaks. Conformance draws on the spectrum below; the highlighted layers carry this area, and the protocol functions it speaks are marked. Meteorology (WMO No. 8 classes) 10 Air quality and atmospheric composition 7 Hydrology and water 7 Ocean and coastal 7 Seismic, geodetic, geomagnetic and radiation 8 RF, acoustics, cameras and radar 9 Calibration, metadata and quality control 7 Frontier and research 6 Macro, small cells, DAS and repeaters 9 Massive MIMO and beamforming 7 NR bands, duplexing and synchronisation 9 NR features: RedCap, positioning, sidelink and verticals 9 Private networks and RAN sharing 7 Wi-Fi coexistence and convergence 8 6G and integrated sensing and communication 7 RAN planning, optimisation and assurance 6 01**Join** Identity, attestation quote, signed policy. 02**Admit** Admitted for a stated scope, nothing wider. 03**Describe** What, where, how and by whom, with calibration. 04**Time** One clock across the grid, with its error bound. 05**Observe** Every value with quality and provenance. 06**Qualify** Tested against the specification, state on record. 07**Federate** Signed exchange across grids and trust domains. 08**Orchestrate** Software and configuration by signed plan. 09**Correct** A correction marks what depends on it and publishes a new version. 10**Exchange** Products reach people and applications through versioned interfaces. 11**Prove** Signed proof receipts that an independent verifier can check. 12**Exit and decommission** An open exit path, and a record that closes. **03** On the grid ## Every site joins one observing grid. The open networks on the grid today, over real relief and the geodesic cells we count them into. A site built here enrols into the same grid. ## The observing grid 1. Open instruments on the observing grid. **04** In the field ## Where this runs, sector by sector. Deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on conformance. [Cities Hybrid air-quality network Reference analysers plus calibrated low-cost nodes; low-cost sensors alone do not meet regulatory requirements.](https://observatory.global/sectors/cities/) [Agriculture Smallholder and parametric-insurance station networks Station density and tamper evidence for index insurance.](https://observatory.global/sectors/agriculture/) [Energy Bankable solar and wind measurement campaigns Accepted standards, traceable calibration and transparent data handling.](https://observatory.global/sectors/energy/) **05** Open and enterprise ## Open by default. Enterprise by contract. The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract. Open, on the main site - Conformance tool - Test plans Enterprise, on this site - Device and software qualification - Works-with programme - Field trial management **06** The rest of the line ## Test and qualification, area by area. [Test and qualification Lab testing Environmental, RF, power and EMC, on the bench.](https://observatory.global/qualification/lab-testing/) [Test and qualification Field trials On a real site, against a written plan.](https://observatory.global/qualification/field-trials/) [Test and qualification Interoperability events Many suppliers, one test plan.](https://observatory.global/qualification/interoperability-events/) [Test and qualification Evidence Every result, signed and kept.](https://observatory.global/qualification/evidence/) ## Bring us the site. Survey, design, deployment and operation for conformance. The form names who receives your details. [Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/) [Ask for a quote](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) **Test and qualification** . Tested against the specification. State on record. 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