Testing -- the proof of all the effort.

I will gladly participate in any of the testing mentioned here even if I have not been previously involved in the project. I can accompany your product to an outside EMC test lab to monitor the testing and make or suggest modifications required to attain compliance.

There are many aspects to testing, the easiest of which is verifying the design does what it is supposed to do. More difficult is verifying the design does not do what it is not supposed to do (which takes in everything else that is possible in the world). There is also the verification of compliance with EMC and other regulations/standards.

Design Verification Testing -- most often conducted by the designer engineer/design team

Testing to verify a design does perform the intended functions in all respects in the presence of stimuli as stated in the design specification. This is often called de-bugging. In many cases the design engineer/design team will conduct the same or similar tests as mentioned below to insure the design is worthy of further testing by other groups.

Design Qualification Testing -- often conducted by dedicated test engineers/test teams

Testing to verify the design does not do anything unexpected or undesirable in the presence of stimuli other than permitted by the design specification. This testing usually includes the same design verification testing mentioned above.

Compliance Testing -- often performed by outside testing labs; sometimes conducted in-house

Testing to verify compliance to any number of government, regulatory agency, industry, or customer specific standards/requirements.

Acceptance Testing -- may be performed at the factory prior to shipment or the customer's installation site following installation

Testing performed in the presence of a customer representative to verify the product is performing in accordance with the customers specifications/requirements. This is usually a very formal test with detailed procedures either authored by or approved by the customer. The requirements and test procedures are generally incorporated into the design specification