Standards and Regulatory Quick Reference

What every RF engineer needs to look up. This is a starting reference; consult the actual standards documents for compliance work.

US FCC Parts (Common)

• Part 15: Unlicensed RF devices. Sub-parts B (intentional radiators including ISM), C (intentional radiators, FCC ID required), E (UNII bands).
• Part 22: Public mobile services (legacy cellular).
• Part 24: Personal Communications Services (PCS).
• Part 27: Miscellaneous wireless services (700 MHz, AWS, BRS).
• Part 73: Broadcast radio (AM, FM).
• Part 74: Auxiliary broadcast (wireless mics).
• Part 90: Land mobile radio (public safety, business).
• Part 95: Personal radio (CB, FRS, GMRS).
• Part 96: CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service, 3.5 GHz spectrum sharing).
• Part 97: Amateur radio.
• Part 101: Microwave fixed services.

ETSI EN Standards (European)

• EN 300 220: Short-range devices, 25 MHz to 1 GHz.
• EN 301 893: 5 GHz Wi-Fi.
• EN 302 208: RFID.
• EN 302 326: Fixed wireless access.
• EN 303 645: IoT cybersecurity (Cyber Resilience Act).

3GPP Specifications (Cellular)

• TS 38.xxx series: 5G NR specifications. TS 38.101 (UE radio), 38.104 (BS radio), 38.211-214 (physical layer).
• TS 36.xxx series: LTE specifications.
• TR 38.913: 5G requirements and use cases.
• TR 38.866 / 38.901: Channel models.

MIL-STD Specifications

• MIL-STD-461: EMI/EMC requirements for military equipment.
• MIL-STD-188: Telecommunications standards (188-100, 188-110, 188-141, and others).
• MIL-STD-810: Environmental engineering (vibration, temperature, humidity, and others).
• MIL-STD-882: System safety.
• DO-160 (RTCA): Avionics environmental conditions.
• DO-178 / DO-254 (RTCA): Software/hardware safety for avionics.

ITU-R Recommendations (Spectrum Monitoring)

• ITU-R SM.1880: Spectrum monitoring evolution.
• ITU-R SM.443: Direction finding.
• ITU-R SM.1538: Methods of measurement of radio noise.
• ITU-R BT.500: Methodology for subjective TV picture quality (relevant for broadcast).

IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi Amendments

• 802.11a/b/g/n (legacy): Wi-Fi 1-4.
• 802.11ac: Wi-Fi 5 (5 GHz, up to 160 MHz channels, up to 256-QAM).
• 802.11ax: Wi-Fi 6 / 6E (up to 1024-QAM, OFDMA, 6 GHz extension).
• 802.11be: Wi-Fi 7 (up to 320 MHz, up to 4096-QAM, MLO).
• 802.11bn: Wi-Fi 8 (in development).

Frequency Allocation Charts

• FCC US Allocation Poster: download from FCC.gov; updated periodically.
• NTIA Federal Spectrum Use Summary: federal allocations.
• ITU-R Frequency Allocation Tables: global allocations from World Radio Conference outputs.
• ARRL Allocations: US amateur radio.