Looking great! I’m excited to see the progress. I’ve started working on a board based around the Murata module for now. I’m looking forward to subbing in this module.
That makes me happy to hear. Due to the different features and layouts of the chip from the Murata module and the STM32WLE5, I couldn’t make the pinout identical to the Murata module, but RF, ground, and voltage locations are all 1:1. Namely, the programming pins are different, although IMO much neater.
update: including a drawing of the pinout. What you see is the footprint and its connections to the STM32WLE5.
Footprint.pdf (495.7 KB)
Hey JP. Really excited to see where this goes. Thanks for providing the updates. Keep them coming!
Update: I’m going to spin some modules this weekend. I was able to get the beta Cube headers from ST, so there’s a reason now to build. FWIW, the cube headers reveal their roadmap for the WL (so use the direct message if you’re curious).
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Excellent. I’ve brought up my Murata-based board. It’s blinking LEDs and uplinking dummy packets over LoRa. We’re working on more serious firmware now. It should be easy to port to the WL when that’s an option.
I was also curious if you were planning on getting the module pre-certified for FCC.
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I’d also be curious about this, if for nothing else than understanding what a module goes through to become pre-certified.
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Here is a photo from the lab. I have two modules built for electrical test, one for front-end test, and one bare module for characterization. Some basic electrical testing and RF front-end testing remain before I’m content to make the next spin, which is hopefully an acceptable spin for crowd-fund and FCC modular approval. Modular approval will be via the pictured mainboard, with an SMA connected monopole antenna. This is similar to the modular approval Murata provides.
As a side note, working on these closely-packed 0201 parts is such a pain!
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Depends to a large extent on the territory. North America is one thing, but getting worldwide certification can be astronomically expensive. There’s a reason that modules with $2 worth of parts cost $12 
FCC (which takes care of most of ITU Region 2) for this particular module is pretty easy, because LoRa modulation passes the 15.247 spec with a lot of overhead. Australia and New Zealand are now jiggy with FCC 15.247 as well.
EMEA is harder. The 900 band is very fractured in ITU Region 1. It’s a pain, but it’s not political.
Asia is country by country. Generally speaking, it’s not worth certifying for Asia unless you know exactly what you’re doing. It’s political.
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Here’s a photo of my LoRa board. I’m looking forward to respinning it around this WL module. I’ll keep an eye out for the crowd funding.
It’s really not that expensive
The cost of tests to check that sidebands and everything electrical is OK, about 50k USD
If all checks out, 40k USD for FCC, the same for EU. That pretty much covers the entire world
Example : Esp32 module with all certificates costs 1.5 USD. Of course they have a pretty high volume
Say you have 10k units sold per year, depreciate over 5 years, FCC cost per unit is 0.8 USD
Cheers
Klaus
What are you getting for $40k? My last 15.247 test, report and certification fees was $12k for a Zigbee device.
$12K for modular certification? Sounds like a good deal, who did it for you?
It was an intentional radiator. A modular approval should be pretty much the same. I have used Rheintech http://www.rheintech.com/ for a long time. They have always been cost effective and fantastic to work with.
One of the things I’ve always liked about this forum is getting the real details from other engineers. Here’s my contribution: costs for an intentional transmitter cert for FCC/CE including Bluetooth SIQ qualification (the RF PHY must be re-tested for custom layouts).
We may have added a few tests, but this was the initial quote and about what we paid. Certification was done in Shenzhen. There are now Bluetooth qualified test houses in the USA, but in the past they were very hard to find.
Mike,
Does that include the filing fees to the TCB for the FCC? Or, any notification fees to EU bodies?
Steve,
Gotta admit, it’s been long enough that my memory here is fuzzy and I just don’t remember. That and after the technical details are agreed upon, other people handle the money side for certification.
It’s quite likely there were other filing fees, I know for sure that doesn’t include the Bluetooth SIG declaration fees because I did pay those and so I remember
Mike
Here’s what I just got for testing my design using a pre-certified module from a lab in the US.
Reclaimer Labs | FCC Part 15 Testing & Certification (SDoC, Class B, Part 15.109, 15.107) + Extended Spurious Emissions for FCC Certified Module [1 - 26GHz] (KDB 996369) - $2,800
Reclaimer Labs | Industry Canada Testing & Certification (ICES-003, Issue 6, Class B, CISPR 22) + Extended Spurious Emissions for IC Certified Module [1 - 26GHz]- $1,000
Reclaimer Labs | CE Testing & Certification (CE EMC | EN 55035:2017, EN 55032:2015, with reference to EN 61000-3- 3:2013, EN 61000-3-2:2014) - $3,500
Reclaimer Labs | CE Testing & Certification (CE LVD | EN 62368-1:2014+A11:2017) - $3,200
The number I got was 40k for the entire deal (whatever that is) from the Approvals guy
I can go back and ask for specifics
I will, because the other numbers here seem to be appealing 
My case was for WiFi and BLE. Could be different for LoRa
I just noticed the STM32WLE5CC: UFQFPN 48 7x7x0.55
Now how do I get a couple of samples as average Joe?