Regulations, Certifications and Raytac’s Modules – What do we make more convenient for our customers?

Raytac’s pre-certified module for your convenience – but how?So, in this post, we would like to take you on a little journey through most of the important certifications that Raytac has pre-certified their modules with.
The exact topic is actually what you need to know and what that means to you as a Raytac customer.

Obviously, each and every certification has their own rules, so that’s how we’re going to do this – one by one.

  1. FCC – (U.S.A.)

Most people in the industry have heard of FCC, but for you who really don’t know what it is, it’s the Federal Communications Commission in the United States of America. Although considered as a center for these regulations, you will soon realize that they’re not really the center of these regulations and laws at all.
So for the FCC certification, you can as a Raytac customer:

    1. Use Raytac’s certification ID directly on your finished product’s label

But you need to:

  1. Test FCC Part 15B EMC for your finished products
  1. IC – (Canada)

When it comes to the Industry Canada (yes, that’s what IC stands for), the regulations and procedures are much like their sibling FCC.

    1. Use Raytac’s certification ID on your finished product’s label (same as FCC)

But, just like FCC, you need to:

  1. Test IC ES003 (EMC)
    • This can be combined together with the FCC Part 15B test
  1. TELEC – (Japan)

TELEC, sometimes referred to as MIC, is surprisingly simple.
What you will need to do is:

  1. Use Raytac’s certification ID on your finished product’s label

Yes – you can actually just go right ahead and implement and/or commercialize your product after its parts are all proven TELEC certified which is pretty neat. However, there is another test that you as a customer can do if you wish, and that is VCCI which is just like the EMC tests mentioned above with the only difference (in terms of regulation) is that it’s NOT mandatory. Thus, you can choose not to do it as well.

  1. KC – (South Korea)

As for the Korean regulation, these are the things you will have to do:

  1. Test EMC for wireless (KN301489 – same as CE’s EN301489)
  2. Test EMC for wire (IO port) (KN3235)
    • If, and only if, your final product is equipped with IO ports, that is.

These two tests needs to be done locally (Korean test lab) and depending on which test it is, you’ll have to deal with them differently.
Firstly, for the wireless test, you can refer to Raytac’s own certification report so that the lab knows the module itself has passed although it still needs to be tested.
Secondly, the for wire (IO port) test, you will have to do from scratch essentially.
Thus, even though we have applied for KC for our modules, you will still have to test them locally.

  1. CE (Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU (RED)) – (EEA, Europe)

Although CE is considered as strict regulation, the procedure is pretty simple. Simply put, you will have to conduct tests on a few different samples, and the procedure goes:

  1. Test on Conducted engineering sample (EN300328)
    • You can refer to Raytac’s test report, if the test lab accepts it, that is.
      To ensure that they do, you can choose to conduct your tests at the same lab as Raytac – SGS.
  2. Test on Radiated engineering sample (EN300328)
  3. Test EMC (EN301489)
  4. Test Safety (EN60950)
    • Subject to change to EN62368 in 2021
  1. SRRC

Simply put, you will have 2 scenarios:

  1. Your end product can either be defined as a “Home Appliances” or an “Office Utilities” product
    • Then you can simply refer Raytac’s SRRC ID (module policy just like FCC/IC/TELEC)
  2. Your end product is neither of the above
    • You have to apply for your own SRRC ID by testing everything required by the regulation
  1. NCC

They go by a “Platform policy” which basically means that as long as you are just adding functionality onto an already existing feature, then you can leverage Raytac’s NCC ID on your product’s label directly (module policy just like FCC/IC/TELEC/SRRC). Otherwise, you will have to apply for a new one.
Thus, the procedure becomes:

  1. Adding functionality of an already existing feature (a.k.a. platform)?
    • Then you can simply refer Raytac’s NCC ID on your product (module policy just like FCC/IC/TELEC/SRRC)
  2. New ideas/features?
    • Sorry, you have to apply for your own NCC ID by conducting all tests necessary
  1. RCM

Australia’s RCM (Regulatory Compliance Mark) is a lot like CE, much like IC is similar to FCC.
When applying to this certification, you will be in either of these two circumstances:

  1. CE already done.
    • You can refer to your own CE certification and ask your test lab to copy the report to your RCM application.
  2. CE NOT done.
    • You must conduct the test from scratch. But it is a whole lot like CE, meaning:
    • Test on Conducted engineering sample
    • Test on Radiated engineering sample
    • Test EMC
    • Test Safety
  1. Bluetooth Certification

Last, but definitely not least, is the Bluetooth Certification. For this one, choosing Raytac’s modules will bring you great benefits. But first, you need to:

  1. Apply for Bluetooth SIG’s “Adopter Membership” (free)
    • You can apply for the membership here
  2. Purchase your DID
  3. Leverage Raytac’s QDID
    • To activate your newly purchased DID

For your first product, that is all you will have to do. But what if you come up with a new model of the product? Before you ask, I will answer “No – you don’t necessarily have to purchase another DID.” In order for this to be true though, your new product cannot have either of these things changed:

  1. Hardware
    • Unless you are still using Raytac’s module
  2. Feature
    • Unless you are still using Raytac’s module
  3. Brand Name
    • Brand name remains unchanged.

Although you might be able to apply for these certifications all on your own without trouble whatsoever, we always encourage customers using Raytac’s BLE modules to contact us before hand so that we can provide you valuable information. This way, you will get unbiased guidance which will save you time and money.

As always – Happy tinkering everybody 🙂

Raytac Corporation 勁達國際電子有限公司 A BT 5.1 & BT 5 & BT 4.2 module maker based on Nordic nRF51 & nRF52 solution (nRF52840 & nRF52832 & nRF52811 & nRF52810 & nRF51822)

www.raytac.com email: cs@raytac.com Tel: +886.2.3234.0208

Burn your firmware – onto MDBT50Q-RX that is

Hi there, folks!
So you have hopefully downloaded your IDE, you have written your code which you then plan to copy it over onto your MDBT50Q-RX and make it execute your master plan to take over the world!
Seriously, don’t underestimate the Nordic nRF52840 based MDBT50Q-RX. USB sticks with Bluetooth can do wonders 😉
So, first of all, in order to be able to burn your code onto the USB Dongle, you will have to know the nerdy parts which includes which pins you will have to connect to. In our very well documented specification sheet for MDBT50Q-RX on section 8 which is called “Reference Circuit”, you will find parts down to the left that has “3.3V/SWDIO/SWCLK/GND” marks on it:
MDBT50Q-RX Circuit
Further down in the specification sheet, in section 9, you will find pictures illustrating where exactly on the PCB you can find these pins:
Pin locationsNow we know what to look for and where they are, so now we have only got to tell you how to use them.

Some people might not know this, but for developing these things, you need to get something called J-Link to connect your MDBT50Q-RX to your desktop. However, since this J-Link, when buying the official one from SEGGER, is very expensive, we strongly recommend you to just buy the nRF52840-DK from Nordic Semiconductor as it can be used as a J-Link through their software development kit (SDK) called nRFgo Studio and is MUCH CHEAPER than the official J-Link from SEGGER is.
Sidenote: There are a couple of other reasons why you should just get your hands on a nRF52840-DK from Nordic Semiconductor instead of getting a SEGGER J-Link, but that’s not the topic of this post 😉

When this is done, this is finally how you connect your MDBT50Q-RX to your J-Link to make it all work:

MDBT50Q-RX and J-Link connection

Here you will have to pay attention to the fact that you have to connect J-Link pins 3, 5 & 9 to GND. Otherwise, you won’t be able to burn anything onto your dear MDBT50Q-RX.
The physical connection should look like this:

J-Link Cable Connection

Pay attention to the direction of the cable, because that will also matter. The direction we mean in this case is which way the slim strip of red is facing.

As we have just revised our MDBT50Q-RX, our customers who have been developing firmware for our USB dongle should take a look at our previous blog post in which we explain about the changes made or contact us directly at service@raytac.com

Have a good day and we at Raytac wish you smooth and happy tinkering 🙂

Raytac Corporation 勁達國際電子有限公司
A BT5 & BT 4.2 & BTv4.1 module maker based on Nordic nRF51 & nRF52 solution
(nRF51822 & nRF51422 & nRF52832 & nRF52810 & nRF52840)
www.raytac.com email: cs@raytac.com Tel: +886.2.3234.0208

 

Nordic nRF52832 Module: MDBT42V & MDBT42V-P CE RED Compliance

MDBT42V and MDBT42V is a Raytac’s latest BLE module solution by Nordic nRF52832 with small form factor. Bluetooth Specification granted based on BT5.0 / BT4.2,
Due to the compact size, it can easy to fit into any IoT appliance and has yet raised the highest interests among developers recently.
Following by Raytac’s “Easy Employ” Policy, MDBT42V and MDBT42V-P has started to proceed the safety regulation compliance program. Hereby, we are pleased to announce RED directive has been fully met.
CE regulation
EN 300 328 V2.1.1: 2016
IEC 60950-1
EN 301 489-1 2017-03
EN 301 489-17 2017-03
EN 55032: 2015+AC:2016-07
EN 6100-4-2:2009
EN 6100-4-3: 2006+A1:2008+A2:2010
Nordic Module-nRF52832- MDBT42V

Raytac BT5.0 QDID Granted for nRF52832 & nRF52810 Series Module

Raytac Corporation, a vanguard of Nordic module maker, is pleased to announce that the MDBT42Q/MDBT42/MDBT42V Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) series module which built by Nordic nRF52832 and nRF52810 has been recognized by SIG for BT5.0 specification.
BT5 Certificate-D036781

Nordic launched latest nRF52 series SoC “nRF52810”

CES Asia, Nordic launched latest fruition of nRF52 family: nRF52810
What is it about?

http://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/nRF52810

        nRF52810_medium    FullSizeRender 8