M-SOM antenna question

Hardware
1

Posting to Particle Community because developing product using M-SoM (M404) platform, and had a question about antenna type:

  • The M-SoM datasheet lists the Particle Wide Band LTE Cell Antenna (SKU PARANTCW1EA [Orson 81XPAF15.G01]) as the certificated antenna, which is what the product is using.

- Having prototyped with Borons (w/ initial plan for B-SOM / B402/B404/B404X in production), there are a few leftover antennae, e.g.,

-TaoGlas Ultra Wide Band Antenna 698-3000 MHz (SKU FXUB63)

-Particle Ultra Wide Band Antenna 698-2700 MHz (SKU G142-10005-A)

Are the FXUB63 and/or G142-10005-A interchangeable under the M-SoM FCC certification (and for white-labeling), or is the certification explicitly only for the PARANTCW1EA?

Appreciate any input! :slight_smile:

2

Hi @lkobayashi,

Certification was explicitly done on the PARANTCW1EA, not the other antennas mentioned. However, those antennas may be used if deemed as an “permissive change” by the FCC, see their policy for details. https://apps.fcc.gov/kdb/GetAttachment.html?id=N0FeGuIZalHwpzYoaFJpjA%3D%3D

My understanding of a permissive change is the antenna must be of the same type, monopole, dipole, etc. and have equal or lesser gain in ALL operating bands, but you should be discussing this with a cert house and legal entity before making that determination.

The PARANTCW1EA does have higher peak gain than the other antennas, so moving to those alternatives does come at the cost of performance. What’s your reason for not wanting to use the PARANTCW1EA?

3

Thanks for lightning-fast response- have just a few leftover older antennae just lying around, looks like I can probably substitute for non-production / dev units, but not for production units (i.e., doubt any certifying body or FCC would allow antenna substitution in product w/o formal testing). Very helpful! :slight_smile: