WiMAX product certification lab Cetecom Spain and U.K.-based Aeroflex have won a joint contract from the WiMAX Forum to develop the protocol conformance test solution for the 802.16e standard, which will be the basis for Mobile WiMAX.

The companies will market a base station emulator for the protocol conformance testing of mobile stations that will execute ETSI-approved TTCN-3 test cases, the companies said in a statement. Early functionality will be available to support development efforts, and a fully functional system will follow later. The solution will be ready in the second half of 2006, and is expected to be used in the initial certification of Mobile WiMAX products in late 2006, according to Cetecom, which is currently involved in ongoing certification testing for Fixed WiMAX products.

In October 2005, Aeroflex and CETECOM entered into a long-term, global distribution partnership under which Aeroflex became the sole worldwide sales and support channel for Cetecom’s MINT RF conformance test platform for 2G/2.5G/3G mobile handsets.

Earlier this week, the WiMAX Forum announced that a test lab in Seoul, South Korea, will be its first certification house serving Asia. That announcement was made in cooperation with Cetecom.