9XStream/9XCite
Modulation Type: FSK
Emission Designation: 260KF1D

24XStream
Modulation Type: FSK
Emission Designation: 400K0F1D

9XTend
Modulation Type: FSK (@9600 baud), GFSK (@115200 baud)
Emission Designation: 350KF1D (XT09) 
EmissionDesignation: 221KF1D (XTH9)

XBee (Series 1)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M39GXW

XBee-PRO (Series 1)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M48GXW

XBee-PRO 900
Modulation Type: FSK
Emission Designation: 3M35F7W

XBee-PRO 868
Modulation Type: FSK
Emission Designation: 37K9F1D

XBee-PRO XSC
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 293KF1D

XBee ZB (Series 2)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M32GXW

XBee-PRO ZB (Series 2)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M55GXW

XBee-PRO ZB (Series 2B)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M42GXW

XStick1 (802.15.4)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M35GXW

XStick2 (ZigBee)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M29GXW

XBee ZB SMT (Series 2C)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M41GXW

XBee-PRO ZB SMT (Series 2C)
Modulation Type: QPSK
Emission Designation: 2M41GXW

XBee 868LP and 865LP
Modulation Type: GFSK
Emission Designation: 190KF1D

XBee Wi-Fi (Series 6)
802.11b          Modulation Type: DSSS
                       Emission Designation: 12M2GXW

802.11g          ModulationType: OFDM, DSSS
                       Emission Designation: 16M8GXW

802.11n          ModulationType: OFDM
                       Emission Designation: 17M9GXW

XBee 900HP
DigiMesh firmware at 200 kbps         ModulationType: GFSK
                                                                 Emission Designation: 346KF7D

Point-to-point firmware at 10 kbps    ModulationType: FSK
                                                                  Emission Designation: 307KF7D
 

XBee XSC S3B
Firmware at 9600 bps      ModulationType: FSK
                                             Emission Designation: 307KF7D

Firmware at 19200 bps    ModulationType: FSK
                                              Emission Designation: 300KF7D

XBee3 Zigbee XB3-24Z8CM
When using 802.15.4 Stack:         Modulation Type: QPSK
                                                           Emission Designation: 2M25GXW
When using BLE¹ Stack:                 Modulation Type: GFSK
                                                           Emission Designation³: 1M10FXW, 2M10FXW
XBee3 802.15.4 XB3-24ARM
When using 802.15.4 Stack:         Modulation Type: QPSK
                                                                Emission Designation: 2M25GXW
When using BLE¹ Stack:                                 Modulation Type: GFSK
                                                                Emission Designation^2,3: 1M10FXW, 2M10FXW
XBee3 DigiMesh XB3-24DMRM
When using 802.15.4 Stack:         Modulation Type: QPSK
                                                                Emission Designation: 2M25GXW
When using BLE¹ Stack:                                 Modulation Type: GFSK
                                                                Emission Designation^2,3: 1M10FXW, 2M10FXW
XBee 868 SX XB8X-DMUS-001
Modulation Type: 2FSK
Emission Designation: 173KF1D
XBee SX (900 MHz) XB9X-DMUS-001
Modulation Type: GFSK
Emission Designation:
Data Rate 10kbps:            77K4F2D
Data Rate 110kbps:         218KF2D
Data Rate 250kbps:         297KF2D
XBee SX Pro (900 MHz) XBP9X-DMUS-001
Modulation Type: GFSK
Emission Designation:
Data Rate 10kbps:            77K3F2D
Data Rate 110kbps:         21K9F2D
Data Rate 250kbps:         29K5F2D
 
 
1: BLE should probably have some sort of copy right thing next to it
2: BLE is not yet available for XBee3 802.15.4 and XBee3 Digi Mesh, but it will one day
3: BLE has two reference designators, one for 1Mbit/s and one for 2Mbit/s
 

Explanation of Classification Designation

Introduction

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has created an internationally agreed upon system to describe or classify radio frequency signal emissions. These emissions are classified by signal bandwidth, modulation method, nature of the modulating signal and the type of information transmitted on the carrier signal. It is based solely on the characteristics of the signal, not thetransmitter. Regulatory agencies, such as the United States Federal CommunicationsCommission, have adopted the use of this system. See the references for moreinformation.

This knowledge base entry describes the ITU Classification Designators, and uses Digi radios as examples for how the designator is derived. The emissions designators are then listed for Digi radios.

The Classification Designators

The type designator of a radio signal can be made up of:

1. Necessary bandwidth
2. Classification of the main carrier
3. Description of the signal modulating the carrier
4. Type of information to be transmitted
5. Optional characteristics, including a) details of signals and, b) nature of multiplexing

The first four fields are required in the designator. The optional fields are not essential to defining the signal types.

Necessary bandwidth

There are four characters that describe the necessary bandwidth of a signal. It is shown in frequency units. In [2], we find the information shown in Table 1.

Bandwidth (BW)	Units	Use Letter
0.001 < BW < 999	Hz	H
1.00 < BW < 999	kHz	K
1.00 < BW < 999	MHz	M
1.00 < BW < 999	GHz	G

Table 1.Bandwidths and character designators

ITU defines the bandwidths as given in a) Recommendation ITU-R SM. 1138, b) by computation,or c) by measurement. For Digi radios, the necessary bandwidths are measured.

Carrier Modulation

The next field in an emissions designator is the type of carrier modulation.

There are several characters that are defined in the ITU symbols, but there are severalthat can be used as examples. For single-sideband, suppressed carrier, thecharacter is “J”. For frequency modulation, the character to use is “F”. For phase modulation, the character is “G”.

Modulating Signal Type

The next field in an emissions designator shows the signal type that is modulating the carrier. The ITU defines several characters for this field. Of interest is “1”which is for a single channel of digital information with no sub-carriers, “3” for analog information, and “X”, which is for cases which are not covered bythe other allowed characters.

Type Of Information To Be Transmitted

The next field in an emissions designator is for the type of information to be transmitted. ITU specifies the allowed characters for this field. Some examples are “A” for telegraphy intended to be received byear, “D” data transmission, and “W”, used for a combination of any of the possible information types.

Optional Characteristics

Two more fields can be appended to the emissions designator. They represent details of the signals and any multiplexing used on the signal. If they are not used, a dash “-“ can be appended to the designator. For the FCC, the option fields do not need to be appended.

Examples

We will usethe Digi 9XStream and the Digi XBee radios for examples.

9XStream
The required bandwidth is 260 kHz. The carrier modulation is “frequency”.  There is a single channel of digital information with no sub-carriers. Digital data is being transmitted. There are no additional characteristics to be reported. The designator is: 260KF1D--.

XBee (Series 2)
The required bandwidth is 2.32 MHz. The carrier modulation is “phase”.  The modulating signal type is QPSK, which is a case not covered. The data is a combination of many types of information.There are no additional characteristics to be reported. The designator is: 2M32GXW--.

Summary

We have described the ITU type designators, and constructed the emissions designators for a DigiXBee Zigbee radio and a Digi 9XStream radio as examples.