New requirements for FCC certification: proper antenna information must be submitted from August 25

For the previous FCC certification, you only need to write the antenna gain on the test report and OP. In many cases, the antenna gain value is declared by the manufacturer, and it is not necessary to provide the antenna gain data sheet or antenna report. During the FCC TCB workshop in April this year, the FCC emphasized that, reports that state, "antenna gain information is declared by the manufacturer", with no other supporting information, this statement will not suffice.   All part 15 applications will need to show how the antenna gain was derived either from a manufacturer data sheet or a measurement.

After the meeting, many TCBs began to address this issue, but with varying degrees. FCC are still finding reports that state, "antenna gain information is declared by the manufacturer", with no other supporting information. Therefore, on August 25, 2022, the FCC issued the latest announcement and clarified the approach. Any applications granted after August 25, 2022 that do not contain the proper antenna information will be dismissed.

For FCC applications that have not been certified before August 25, 2022, they must submit the antenna gain information before entering the certification phase. Therefore, in some applications under review, TCB reissues comments to resubmit antenna information. If you receive this request, please cooperate with resubmission.

For all FCC ID applications, there are two situations for antenna requirements:

1. Part 15 applications with equipment classes DTS, DSS, NII, 6ID, etc. which require the antenna gain for compliance with EIRP limits: For example: Microphone (15.236), 915 MHz / SRD / BT / Wi-Fi 2.4G (15.247), DECT (15.3xx), Wi-Fi 5G / Wi-Fi 5.9G / Wi-Fi 6E (15.407), etc.

The manufacturer antenna datasheet or an antenna gain measurement report is required.

  ◆The report must be a complete report, with a measurement procedure, test equipment, test setup, signatures, facility/test site descriptions, etc. 

  ◆Confidential information about the antenna can be made confidential but photos/drawings, gain, antenna patterns, test setups are not considered confidential.

2. Part 15 applications with equipment classes DSC, DXX, DCD,  etc. which do not have an EIRP limit. For example: WPT (15.209)、NFC (15.225)、315 MHz / 433.92 MHz (15.231)、915 MHz / SRD (15.249) ), etc.

  The manufacturer antenna datasheet or an antenna gain measurement report is not required. But it is necessary to reflect the Antenna photos/or drawings, including antenna dimensions in the report or on  the operating principle or product photos.