Reference design "modular certification" FCC

[drkntz]

We were informed by an FCC test lab that a transceiver design that has been certified under part 15 may be able to be used in another product if the design is not changed. The new product must have additional testing to confirm compliance but evidently it is much less expensive.

Does Nordic have such a thing as a certified design that may be used under this limited modular certification, that we can use as a basis for certifying a new PCB?

We are interested in the 2.4GHz low datarate transmission (compatible with nRF24L01+). So, nRF24L01+ would work, or a suitable one of the nRF52 series.

Our other option for low cost would be to use a pre-approved module such as the ones you list on your website. Our customer may want to keep the per-unit cost low by using the chip instead of the module, however...

[Jay Tyzzer]

Hi Zach,

Thanks for reaching out.  Standalone devices like the nRF52, 53 and 54 families cannot be certified on their own. They must have the associated crystals and supporting components and be mounted on a PCBA with antenna or antenna connections.   Nordic provides detailed reference designs that may be used to do a chip down design on a main board which most customer use. These reference designs have been tested to the FCC and other agencies standards to be sure the device passes when used as suggested.  Note that any chip down design will need to be agency tested.  FCC, ETSI, etc. Therefore, you will need to measure estimated volume and the cost of a Chip down verses a pre-certified 3rd party module to determine which is the best value proposition. 

The nRF24L01+ is no longer recommended for new designs.  It is also a transceiver only. It needs a MCU to operate. The above reasons also apply.

I hope this helped.

Br,

Jay Tyzzer

[drkntz]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the detailed response!

So the question I have is this: per your response " These reference designs have been tested to the FCC and other agencies standards to be sure the device passes when used as suggested." Does the fact that the FCC agency has tested and approved the reference design give us any advantage in getting compliance testing besides the fact that we already know that the design should pass? According to our FCC lab contact, a design that has been FCC certified already can be used in additional products under a "limited modular certification" which reduces the cost of approving the second device, third device, and so on as long as they match the original design.

For example, is there a scenario in which we can use the reference design for a given nRF52 exactly on our board, provide our FCC test lab with an FCC ID number and documentation for the previously approved design, and subsequently have our design tested and approved as a sort of variant of the original design? It still needs an FCC ID & some level of testing, but as I understand it, it would save us a significant amount of fees as compared to type certifying a full-fledged new design.

Understood with nRF24 NRND. We do have to support backward compatibility with that device however.

Thanks!

Zach

[SwRa]

Hi Zach,

drkntz said:

Does the fact that the FCC agency has tested and approved the reference design give us any advantage in getting compliance testing besides the fact that we already know that the design should pass?

No, this is not possible. The "limited modular certification" can be done only with pre-certified module, which we don't have. We only do a limited FCC test with no filing to get an FCC ID (depends on the product). You can use the FCC certification/reports that we provide as a reference and you will need to do the testing and get your products certified. See here:https://apps.fcc.gov/eas/comments/GetPublishedDocument.html?id=50&tn=916170 

Regards,

Swathy

[drkntz]

Okay, thank you for this. So as I understand it we are essentially starting from scratch to get this certified.

SwRa said:

You can use the FCC certification/reports that we provide as a reference

Where do I find this reference material? That would be very helpful and I can't seem to find results in the product page for nRF24L01+.