Raspberry Pi Promises Assistance with Certifying Third-Party Antennas for Use with Compute Modules

Raspberry Pi has announced that it will assist those looking to commercialize products based around its Raspberry Pi Compute Module family of computers-on-module — by helping with the process of certifying their use with third-party antennas.

"When designing and producing Raspberry Pi devices, we consider as many potential use cases as possible — particularly when it comes to criteria like wireless (WLAN and Bluetooth) performance and antenna usage," says Raspberry Pi's Alex Branton. "While our single-board computers (such as Raspberry Pi 5) include only an on-board PCB antenna, our Raspberry Pi Compute Module range offers two pre-approved options: an on-board PCB antenna and the external whip antenna from the official Raspberry Pi Antenna Kit. However, we recognize that some industrial and commercial customers may need to employ third-party antennas for their applications."

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module range is a popular device for designing commercial and industrial devices for one very good reason: it arrives pre-certified for most countries, meaning it can be dropped in to a custom carrier board without having to go through compliance testing for its radio performance. That's only the case, though, if you're either using the on-board PCB antenna or one of Raspberry Pi's own external antenna options; add any other antenna of higher gain than Raspberry Pi's own, though, and you're back to the drawing board for at least partial compliance testing.

Having been through that exact process for its own designs, Raspberry Pi is now promising to assist customers should they decide a custom antenna is a must-have. "Should you need further assistance with integrating an alternative antenna — either during the product design process or after launch — our in-house Global Market Access (GMA) team is fully equipped to handle any additional tests, documentation submissions, or approvals on your behalf," Branton says. "The GMA team will review your antenna specifications and advise whether compliance with the relevant market regulations is possible. Once confirmed, the team will update the existing approvals or obtain new ones to include the new antenna, carrying out any additional testing as required."

For those unsure whether their antenna choices will affect certification in their target markets, Raspberry Pi has published a white paper (PDF) outlining various countries' certification requirements for antennas with a gain less than or equal to the already-certified options as well as those of higher gain — with, unsurprisingly, the latter typically requiring at least partial re-testing for certification to remain valid.

More information, including how to contact Raspberry Pi's GMA team, is available in Branton's blog post.