Most every profession, business, process, service, or device market employs some form of certification. This is due to the fact that certification is important and desirable to both the providers and users of products and services.

OmniAir is creating a Certification Program because future DSRC users believe an entity should exist that provides some or all of the following services to advance deployment: test suite development, standards-compliance testing, and application performance analysis and interoperability assurance. Furthermore, this work should be done by an independent facility with industry-specific technical personnel, test tools and equipment because this offloads the expense of doing it yourself and provides a degree of comfortable separation that eliminates conflicts of interest and returns clear results.

The components of OmniAir's certification program are still being determined. It will clearly share certain attributes with the prototypical certification regime, but will also demand additional critical elements made necessary by the safety goals and objectives the technology supports. In fact, DSRC certification must go further due to the implications of the technology failing to operate. A cellular handset failing to connect, remote control ceasing to operate or wireless device disconnecting from a network probably all occur on standards-compliant devices. The impact to the user, however, is different from that of a compromised DSRC system. Here, certification warrants a special strategy and distinct program that the OmniAir Certification Committee members are working to design and build. Want to join the Committee?