Pre-certified module vs your own radio design
A module that already carries a Radio Equipment Directive certificate lets you inherit most of that evidence and file an integration statement instead of a full test programme. Designing the radio into your own board means the full RED route — EN 300 328, EN 301 489, RF exposure — at roughly €4,200 and five weeks, repeated whenever the layout changes materially.
A pre-certified module, every time, at the volumes this platform operates at. The €2.90 unit premium is recovered by the first test you do not have to repeat.
| Criterion | Pre-certified radio module | Your own radio design |
|---|---|---|
| Certification route | Integration statement plus final product EMC | Full RED test programme |
| Indicative cost | Included in the EMC run | ~€4,200 |
| Lead time | Days | 5 weeks |
| Cost of a layout change | None, the module is unchanged | Potentially the whole programme again |
| Unit cost | €2.50–4 above a bare chip | Lower at volume |
| Board area | A module footprint | Whatever you design |
| Antenna performance | Fixed by the module, if you respect the keepout | Tunable to your housing |
Inheriting a certificate is not automatic
The module certificate covers the module, and you inherit it only if you use it as the manufacturer specifies: the stated antenna, the keepout area kept clear of copper and metal, the supply decoupling, and the firmware constrained to the certified bands and power levels. Break any of those and you are back to a full assessment, holding a document that no longer describes what you built.
The keepout is the one people lose. A ground pour under a module antenna, or a metal bracket 3 mm away, and your inherited evidence is void — and the failure is silent until a test lab tells you.
Where the module premium stops being worth it
Somewhere around a hundred thousand units a year, a bare chip with your own RF layout starts to make financial sense, and at that volume you have an RF engineer and a relationship with a test house. Below it, you are buying the certificate rather than the silicon.
The volume argument also assumes a stable design. If your product line is a family of variants, a module keeps all of them on one certificate; a bare-chip design makes each layout its own regulatory event.