FCC Wi-Fi 6E Certification

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, more people's daily activities have been shifting from outdoor to indoor, resulting in an increasing use for Wi-Fi. In such an environment, the FCC takes the lead in adopted rules that make 5.925 GHz – 7.125 GHz available for unlicensed use such as Wi-Fi. This will relieve congestion in existing bands like Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. On December 9, 2020, the FCC officially published KDB 987594, which provides guidance for Wi-Fi 6E certification and testing:

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‣ Phased Application

The application for FCC Wi-Fi 6E is divided into the following two phase:

• Phase 1

Applications for the following four equipment classes are accepted:

6ID - Low Power Indoor Access Point

6XD - Low Power Indoor Client

6PP - Subordinate Device

6CD - Dual Client

• Phase 2

Applications for the following three equipment classes are accepted:

6SD - Standard Power Access Point

6FX - Standard Client

6FC - Fixed Client

Note:At present, the FCC only accepts the application of phase 1 (PAG required), but does not accept the application of phase 2. Phase 2 will allow applications after the Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system is finalized and approved.

Equipment Classes:

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‣ Equipment Classes

There are seven equipment classes that are applicable for FCC Wi-Fi 6E device certifications:

• U-NII 5:5.925 - 6.425 GHz
• U-NII 6:6.425 - 6.525 GHz
• U-NII 7:6.525 - 6.875 GHz
• U-NII 8:6.875 - 7.125 GHz
• Contention Based Protocol (CBP) is similar to CE's Adaptivity. The equipment needs to detect interference and avoid it.
• Devices must access an Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system to determine the available frequencies and the maximum permissible power in each frequency range at their geographic coordinates prior to transmitting.
• There are many factors in determining if an indoor device meets the requirement of not having a weatherized enclosure. Clearly if the enclosure has openings to vent heat it is not weatherized.
• Operation of standard access points, fixed client devices and indoor access points in the 5.925-7.125 GHz band is prohibited on oil platforms, cars, trains, boats, and aircraft, except that indoor access points are permitted to operate in the 5.925-6.425 GHz bands in large aircraft while flying above 10,000 feet.
• Operation of transmitters in the 5.925-7.125 GHz band is prohibited for control of or communications with unmanned aircraft systems.
• Access points and subordinate devices may connect to other access points or subordinate devices. Client devices are prohibited from connecting directly to another client device.

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‣ Test Items

FCC Wi-Fi 6E needs to perform the following test items:

• At present, compared with the test items of U-NII 1/2A/2C/3, FCC U-NII 5/6/7/8 does not need to carry out DFS test, adding items 8 to 13 in the table above.

• It should be noted that the 9th test item in the above table, content based protocol, is similar to the adaptivity of CE Wi-Fi.

However, KDB clearly stipulates that during contention-based protocol testing, once the EUT has detected an AWGN signal and ceased transmission and it is not allowed to send any type of signal.

In addition, the detection probability of this test item needs to be tested. AWGN signal repeats interference for 10 times, and the detection probability should be ≥ 90%.