Finding an off-the-shelf NFC module with FCC/IC/whatever approval

[AndrewM]

Hi,

I'm building a thing that needs an NFC reader. It's easy enough to find NFC modules for $5 or whatever on aliexpress, but there's no way those will come with FCC paperwork.

About the only one I can find from a reputable seller is https://www.adafruit.com/product/789 which is much too large for how I want to use it.

Does anyone here have suggestions or experience with how I could find an off-the-shelf NFC reader module that has already gone through the modular approval process? It's fairly low volume device, I'd probably be buying 200 of them.



My other option is designing this thing from scratch, and going through the certification process with it, which I can do if I have to, but I'd rather avoid.

[SVFeingold]

Here are a few from Digikey. And a few more.

Slim pickings. Considering the size of NFC antennas compared to 2.4GHz protocols that can use chip antennas, I'm guessing that you're generally expected to create your own antenna layout and just use an off the shelf controller instead of relying on a pre-made module which may not be the form factor desired.

Found these ready-made modules on DigiKey. Not cheap but still cheaper than FCC certification.

I don't think you need FCC certification if it's a "passive" device that only responds to an active NFC transmitter. But you did say "reader" so I'm assuming that's not the case.

[AndrewM]

Yes, it's not a passive device, it reads passive NFC tags.

Thanks for the help. I searched digikey earlier and didn't find those modules.

I can find plenty of documentation and examples and application notes on how to make your own antenna layout and such (eg: NXP AN1445 and NXP AN11535). It's more about avoiding the cost of doing FCC certifcation when I only need ~200 or so units (well, not just FCC, other countries too, it also needs to be able to be used in Canada and much of Europe).

200 of these things looks like it will cost me $5400 USD, which probably ends up cheaper than doing it myself considering FCC costs + my time cost + the cost of whatever I end up designing.


Edit: Oh nevermind. I read the datasheet for that thing, and it acts as an NFC tag, not an NFC reader. That doesn't help me at all.