Achieving FCC Certification on a Custom Bluetooth Product
F3 helped a smart water bottle company that tracks hydration and syncs with smartphones through certification. The water bottle glows as a reminder to drink, tracks water intake and syncs activity via Bluetooth to a smartphone app.
In order to sell any wireless product it must pass FCC certifications. The organization was attempting to certify their own Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) design with the FCC. After failing the initial certification tests, they were unsure of the root cause of the failure. They turned to F3 Wireless to help determine the failure mode and recommend a solution that would result in passing certification.
F3 identified the radiated emissions causing the certification failure using an RF isolation chamber and a spectrum analyzer. By helping the organization reduce the radiated noise outside of the ISM band, they were ready to re-run the test within a month. This enabled the start of mass production and bringing the product to market. The passing certification test has allowed this company to transition to shipping the new chip-down design, saving a dollar per unit compared to the pre-certified module they were using before.
“F3 Wireless has the knowledge and expertise on the certification process that we lacked as a small start-up company. Decreasing the wireless debugging period was crucial for us. Their guidance and competence was invaluable.”
– Software Engineer