General > General Technical Chat
Bluetooth device registration is $8000.
rsjsouza:
If you are complaining about $8k for BT, you should know that a minimal FCC or CE/RED intentional irradiator certification will cost much more - and yes, these will be required to your whole product. Such things can be cost minimized if you use a pre-certified protocol stack or module. Nothing really new at the horizon there - this is part of what is called NRE, or non-recurring engineering fees of a product.
I would follow the advice of others and consult with a lawyer or a certification company to be sure of this. Also some silicon vendors provide some guides to navigate all this. One example for BLE:
https://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/swra601
To play on the big leagues you need big money. This is true for many things. I come from an era where BT/WLAN/USB certification was so intricate that nobody would even answer the phone if you didn't commit to at least 100k units. Nowadays you can buy modules and dev kits on the retail market to make your projects.
Day101:
I think I might just need EMC testing.
For the first version I'm only trying to launch in the USA. So there's no RED or CE.
Online sales only so I don't need UL for large stores (Walmart etc.)
My devices both use pre-certified FCC modules so I think I might just need to do some paperwork to register with FCC, show the right label on the product.
There's no power supply. One device has a coin cell and the other is either 3xAA battery powered or USB (<100mA). So I think it's not a fire risk. I've added protection (2 poly fuses) on my power lines which I think might be sufficient. I will get this checked.
If I need more testing then I will get it (I have money) but I am definitely avoiding unnecessary costs especially if it can be better spent on advertising (or my kids)
I thought Bluetooth might be $2500, and thought it might only apply to use their Trademarks (which I wouldn't show). But now that I've realise it might be $8000 I want avoid it if at all possible. And that includes ditching Bluetooth for Version1 (if the Nordic Shockburst protocol is also ok with FCC.)
NiHaoMike:
I wonder what it would be considered if you use a module that can use Bluetooth or some proprietary protocol and ship the devices with firmware that only enables the proprietary protocol. Then have an "unofficial community developed" firmware that also enables Bluetooth. (I recall that the popular NRF protocol is close enough to BLE that with a bit of hacking, you can get a NRF module to send packets that a BLE device could receive.)
VK3DRB:
--- Quote from: rsjsouza on February 20, 2021, 11:05:41 am ---If you are complaining about $8k for BT, you should know that a minimal FCC or CE/RED intentional irradiator certification will cost much more - and yes, these will be required to your whole product. Such things can be cost minimized if you use a pre-certified protocol stack or module...
--- End quote ---
True, but there is more to it. It depends on the application. You can use a re-certified BLE module, but you need special code for the FCC SAR testing to continuously transmit carriers. Also, for the CE/RED testing, if you are using more than one transmitter or receiver, you have to do co-located radio testing, which can be very expensive. The EU also states that if you change you enclosure, you have to repeat the testing. You can use off-the-shelf modules (including antenna), but as soon as you use it in another enclosure, you have to do a lot of testing.
If you use a BLE module with an external antenna, make sure to put a 0 zero ohm resistor or a pi network between the module and the antenna, because the test house will need direct access to the module. Also make sure you can send commands to the module either using bridging code in the MPU or use a UART or I2C interface. R & D people often forget this and they need a re-spin to make the product testable for compliance.
For some reason the meddling EU wants to make sure your product works well on its own, even with RF reception. The FCC is a lot more sensible. They don't care about how well your product works, as long is it does not cause interference and is safe.
It is utter stupidity, almost to a criminal level, that a $5 AM radio receiver imported into the EU has to have $50k to $100k worth of testing just for it to be approved for sale in the EU. This wipes out all small players/startups who want to get their product into the EU.
amyk:
--- Quote from: NiHaoMike on February 20, 2021, 01:23:14 pm ---I recall that the popular NRF protocol is close enough to BLE that with a bit of hacking, you can get a NRF module to send packets that a BLE device could receive.
--- End quote ---
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=11.%20Bluetooth%20LE%20fakery
...and of course a suitable SDR should be able to do it too.
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