First BLE product

[dingari]

My company is in the final stages of prototyping and we want to release our first product in the coming year (focusing on European and American markets). The next steps are to get all necessary certifications to sell the device. I'm seeking some guidance here trying to wrap my head around what exactly needs to be done.

It is a small device using the NRF51822 (will maybe move to NRF52832 for final product) using a balun matching network and a chip antenna. The device implements a custom GATT service, but also uses pre-defined services such as DFU OTA and BatteryLevel Service.

What I've gathered so far:

• We need FCC (USA), R&TTE (Europe), IC (Canada) and (of course) Bluetooth certification.
• My company will need to pay $2500 (we should qualify for the ​Innovation Incentive Program) to be allowed to market and sell the device as a Bluetooth device.
• Many posts and comments are recommending using a pre-certified module for faster time to market and lower initial cost. Since our device is very small, the flexibility of being able to design our own layout is very important.
• The Nordic chips and SoftDevices already have a QDID for the Bluetooth stack and the chips themselves.

My lingering questions:

• Is there any difference with Listing & Declaration fees if my product only uses BLE?
• For very low volume initial production (in the hundreds), will we still need to pay the Bluetooth SIG fee?
• Is the Listing & Declaration fee per-company, or per-product?
• What is the ballpark fee of getting FCC / R&TTE / IC for a custom design?
• What is the ballpark fee of getting FCC / R&TTE / IC for a desgin using a pre-certified module?
• Are there places that will do all certifications and testing, or will I need to get them from different places?
• Is RF-PHY included in regulatory certification?
• What do I have to shield to get certification? Is it enough to shield the radio part of the circuit, or will I also need to shield external crystals?
• The device contains a LiPo battery and charging circuitry. Is there anything extra needed to be done in that case?
• Do we need to pay SIG for a UUID for our custom BLE service, or can we just generate one to use?
• Does using pre-existing BLE services incur any fees?

I apologize in advance if any of this has been asked and answered before.

[Roger Clark]

Are you serious? (quoting John MacEnroe)

[Hung Bui]

Hi Dingari,

I don't have answer for all of your questions. I think you would better contact a BQE (Bluetooth Qualification Expert) or a test house (BQTF). They should have the best answers.

I can try to answer some:

• Is there any difference with Listing & Declaration fees if my product only uses BLE? => No
• For very low volume initial production (in the hundreds), will we still need to pay the Bluetooth SIG fee? Yes, but you already know about the Innovation Incentive Program.
• Is the Listing & Declaration fee per-company, or per-product? It's per product. But if the products have same "Bluetooth Compliant Portions" they can be in same Declaration. Look here.
• What is the ballpark fee of getting FCC / R&TTE / IC for a custom design? I don't know
• What is the ballpark fee of getting FCC / R&TTE / IC for a desgin using a pre-certified module? I don't know.
• Are there places that will do all certifications and testing, or will I need to get them from different places? Yes, I believe the BQTF/testhouse can handle many certifications.
• Is RF-PHY included in regulatory certification? I believe they are different.
• What do I have to shield to get certification? Is it enough to shield the radio part of the circuit, or will I also need to shield external crystals? I don't know. For BLE, you don't have to shield any part.
• The device contains a LiPo battery and charging circuitry. Is there anything extra needed to be done in that case? For BLE qualification, no.
• Do we need to pay SIG for a UUID for our custom BLE service, or can we just generate one to use? It's free. You only pay if you want 16 bit UUID instead of 128bit UUID.
• Does using pre-existing BLE services incur any fees? No, but if you want to qualify a Bluetooth SIG profile on your product, you would need to pay.

[davman]

So to clarify, even with a 16 bit UUID, let's say the device is running HID over BLE, then we could re-use nordic's adopted profile and pay $0, correct?

Reading the FAQ over at BT SIG, as long as the word Bluetooth or the official logo is not listed on the product. No fees needed.

[RichieJH]

We are aware of Bluetooth SIG arguing that if you change from one chip to another (nRF51 to nRF52) you have to pay declaration fees again even if the device's services don't change. Be warned!

[WestCoastDaz]

Davman,

No that is not correct. You are paying to the SIG to use the trademarks AND effectively license the intellectual property/patents of the protocol. If you don't use the Incentive program it's $8,000 USD/product.

See these posts devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../ and devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

For FCC/IC and R&TTE my experience is you would pay anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 depending on your location this is in addition to the fee you pay to the SIG.