QUESTION

Question

The Antenova guides have been informative and I'm concerned the overall size of our board is too small for a ceramic antenna.  We are developing an IOT device on a 70mm x 70mm PCB with the usual array of components, including several SMT sensors, microprocessor, LTE transceiver, GNSS/GPS receiver. The million dollar question is deciding between a PCB mount antennas (e.g. ceramic) or a thin flat style with short coax and UFL plug.  We're working with the standard LTE and GNSS (L1) frequencies.  If it will work decently and be easily implemented (we have a small design budget) then going with the PCB mount antenna(s) are the first choice to reduce cabling, mounting, assy, etc.   There is about 20mm x 50mm of area for the antenna and a component free zone.     Does this seem reasonable for a board of this size to get fair to good performance?   Is it unrealistic to think an onboard antenna can be implemented without dozens of hours of tuning, tweaking, designing?
Thanks,

Chris

Answer 1

Hi Chris,

A 70mm x 70mm PCB would be sufficient for an edge mounted GPS antenna and would offer decent performance.
The LTE antenna would end up being slightly deficient in the low bands of operation but if you are only looking to cover one or two bands (i.e. a narrow bandwidth) you night be able to get the device to pass the carrier OTA requirements. There are some carriers that have special reduced requirements for devices smaller than 107mm.

In regards to the 50mm x 20mm space you have available, is this space for one or both antennas.  Unfortunately, only one of the antennas will fit into this space, not both.

Best regards,

Geoff S.