Indoor locating of a smart phone by Bluetooth Low Energy (e.g. iPhone or Android phone) Locating of smart phones like an iPhone or Android phone can be done with an app on the device. The app will download the floor plan of the building. Google maps already offers a floor plan generator. Nevertheless such an […]
How a good embedded antenna design compromise will look like? EAD#
Embedded chip antenna design example Chip antenna mulitband – inverted F antenna Type: Inverted F antenna on chip Multiband GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / UMTS 2100 Tuning by matching circuit Size of antenna free space: 13.5 mm x 30 mm Size of whole PCB: 45 mm x 80 mm (reference design […]
How to switch between an internal and external cellular or GNSS antenna cheap? EA#
M2M devices in cars and trucks have sometimes a need for two antennas. If the external antenna will be demounted or damaged then the M2M device will switch to the internal antennas. Other reason for two antennas could be that the internal antennas on dashboard works fine, but the M2M device will be mounted on […]
How a wrong embedded antenna design could look like? EAD#
Embedded antenna design mistakes Type: Meander with spiral Multiband (or GSM 900 / 1800 or GSM 850 / 1900) Not easy to tune on center frequency because the 900 MHz part goes straight to the 1800 MHz part Not easy to tune on antenna impedance The GSM antenna structure at the picture is a shape […]
Which GPS antenna shall be used for a tracking device? EA#
The sketch about GPS antennas was made during a training 1. GPS chip antenna as PIFA One option are GPS PIFAs. Such PIF antennas are looking for 70 to 80 mm long PCBs. 35 to 40 mm left and 35 to 40 mm right is fine. The shorter the PCB length, the worst the […]
How a good embedded antenna design will look like? EAD#
Embedded antenna design examples PCB antenna dualband – inverted F antenna Type: Inverted F antenna Multiband (e.g. GSM 900 / 1800 or GSM 850 / 1900) Easy to tune on center frequency Easy to tune on antenna impedance Size of antenna structure: 50mm x 10 mm Size of ground plane: 50 mm x 90 mm […]
How to design an antenna matching circuit? EA#
Antenna impedance matching is an important part of any M2M design. The input impedance of an antenna needs to be close to the impedance of the radio module. If not then the signal will be reflected back to the radio module. The signal will not be radiated by the antenna. Matching circuits often contains several […]
Dos and don’ts during embedded antenna design in EA#
The list is not complete. It should just help to avoid the basic mistakes that other developers with no or less RF skills have done before. Take care on a reasonable ground plane for the monopole antenna and remember that the size of the ground plane is related to the lowest radio frequency that the […]
Can you please explain Bluetooth qualification process when using BLE chip?
Are there any shortcuts? The questions reach me by email. Your selected IC is a fully qualified Bluetooth v4.0 low energy design and combines the Radio, Link Layer, and Host into a single EPL (End Product Listing) enabling designers to easily create new Bluetooth end products without additional listing fees. Nevertheless for your radio device […]
How to connect your embedded antenna with your wireless module? EA#
Transmission line: The PCB track between GSM module and embedded antenna PCB trace impedance / transmission line calculators If there is no coaxial cable between your antenna and the GSM module then there is often a PCB track. A coaxial cable has an inner conductor, an isolator and a shielding. GSM modules or other wireless […]