BLE SIG Certification, Reference design to be used to obtain EPL

[cocoa]

Hi, does anyone know if there is a document in which is explained, by Nordic, how to obtain a bluetooth certification using nRF51822 and S110 Stack ?

I know if a reference design is strictly followed the customer do not need to do a new certification.

Are available from Nordic qualified reference design to be adopted to obtain EPL (End Product List) without new certification ?

Thank you.

-c

[Ole Morten]

I'd recommend you to take a look on this page, which should explain what you need.

[cocoa]

Thank you, Ole.

I've some questions yet and I hope you can give me another great help.

I've found two ID registered with Bluetooth SIG :

B021495 and B020654, the last has EPL link. Which of them is to choose to start the procedure ?

A base EP-QDL could be code nRF51822-DF, can you confirm ?

If I adopt the reference design as is, no qualification fee and not assessment and RF PHY re-testing is required, but only FCC-EC etc ...

But, if I change the pcb form factor, or layout or I change only a component I need to re-test RF PHY, right?

Profile subsystem (B020820) , what is this ? Is it included in S100 SoftDevice or is something that i need to include in Application ?

Do you know how is the RF PHY re-test procedure and related costs ? Is it like a FCC Certification ?

Thank you.

-cocoa

[Hung Bui]

@Cocoa:

• The QDL B021495 is for the CExx hardware version, which has the WLCSP footprint.
• The QDL B020654 is for the QFxx C0 version, which has the QFN48 footprint.

Depend on your chip hardware version you can chose the QDL that match with your hardware.

If your device doesn't look exactly the same as the nRF51822 Development Kit, you would need to do the RF-PHY retest. FCC, CE are needed as well since it's not covered in the Bluetooth QDL.

You would need to contact a test house for information about the RF-PHY re-test & FCC. We suggest AT4wireless and UL lab.

[cocoa]

@Hung Bui

Supposing that my device isn't look exactly the same ... I need to retest RF-PHY.

But, if I design a BLE module (based on Nordic QDL) and retesting RF-PHY, can I use it in all my future products without the need to retest it again ?

Thank you. -c

[Hung Bui]

@Cocoa,

If you have qualified your module and use the same module in other device, you would not need to do the RF-PHY retest for every product, given that you stated that the module has passed the RF-PHY test before. The module should be a separated board. If you integrate the module into other PCB design, you would need to do the RF PHY test again.

This only applied for Bluetooth certification, if you want to do FCC, you will have to do the unintentional radiator test for every product, regardless that you use the same module.

Other option is to use the 3rd party module, that already Bluetooth qualified. It may cost you less, if you don't have a large volume. You can find the list here: http://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/3rd-Party-Bluetooth-low-energy-Modules