Questions on Declaration ID, RF-PHY, QDID, modules

[blungreen]

Hello,

i've been searching the forum for answers about Bluetooth certification but i'm very confused. I want to use nRF52832 in my project, and i would like to make make my own small board with chip and few components instead of using a 3rd party module, for costs purposes.

From Bluetooth website i've understood that, if i recall existing Qualified Designs, i would have to pay only 8000$ to get the Declaration ID and skip thus the Qualification step. I see both End Product and Rf Phy QDID, but somewhere in the forum i read that Bluetooth RF-PHY retest is needed.

In Bluetooth website i could find the followings Nordic Declaration IDs:

D029631 nRF52 - S13x v2.0.0 (End Product) based on QDID 80428

D029601 nRF52xxx RF Phy (Component) based on QDID 77930

My questions are:

1. If i make my own module, do i have to retest Bluetooth RF-PHY at authorized company or is there an RF tested reference design i can use? (we have been told that the costs for that could easly go 50000$)

2. What are the benefits of using 3rd part module besides lower design complexity? If i use 3rd party module can i skip Bluetooth RF-PHY certification, and perform just regular CE/FCC?

3. Does the use of custom services imply Bluetooth qualification?

Thank you for your support

[blungreen]

If i take the reference design given in Infocenter and add external components (PSU, switch, led, connectors) without modify layout and values of the reference, could i skip the Bluetooth RF-PHY test?

[Hung Bui]

Hi Blungreen,

Your understanding about the BLE qualification fee is correct, you can also apply for incentive program to have lower fee if your company meet the requirement.

The QDID you should use depends on the chip's variant you use. Please have a look here.

Regarding your questions:

1. If you make your own module, yes you need to do RF-PHY retest at authorized test house. But I don't think RF-PHY retest would cost that much. It could cost that for the full testing, but not the RF-PHY retest.

2. If you use prequalified module, you still need to pay the BLE qualification fee ($8000) but you don't need to do RF-PHY retest. For FCC/CE you can skip the radio part but still have to do EMC, electrical safety, etc. Please contact a test house regarding this.

3. We don't do Bluetooth qualification for you but we can review the design and test so that your device will more likely pass the qualification.

[blungreen]

Hi Hung Bui,

thanks for the reply, what about proprietary services? Can i create my own withouh going into Qualification (pay more)? Can i self-generate UUID to use in my project without need to pay fee?

I saw a UUID allocation fee here:

https://www.bluetooth.com/develop-with-bluetooth/qualification-listing/qualification-listing-fees

[Hung Bui]

If you generate your own 128 bit UUID for your proprietary service/characteristic you don't have to pay. The fee for UUID is applied when you want to register a 16 bit UUID with Bluetooth SIG.

[Wojciech O.]

Hi Hung Bui,

We designed PCB based on your chip nRF52840; power supply, clocks, filters on radio pin are copied from PCA10056 Evaluation Board. Only difference is that we use 4 layers PCB. 

Accordingly to your post we have to retest RF-PHY - am i correct?

If yes could you check our Lunch Studio precessing to get corect test plan?

We try do that in this way:

1. https://launchstudio.bluetooth.com/MyProjects/GettingStarted :

Start the Bluetooth Qualification Process with Required Testing

2. Fill Form with data as below

3. Next step (Layer Section) generate us:

4. On ICS Selection page we check mandatory capabilities as bellow:

Finally  we get test plan TP_20190719-0733282828.xlsx

Is it correct?