I'm designing a device where the micro-controller (Particle Electron) may be frequently changed/replaced - as such, I don't want to always have to change the 3G antenna with it (it has a u.FL connector on top). Furthermore, the device will experience a lot of movement so I need to find a way to properly secure my antenna.
I'm looking at the feasibility of simply integrating the antenna into my PCB, and run a u.FL to SMA connector to it. I have no experience with antenna design though. I've had success using a Taoglas PC104 so far. Is it just a matter of reproducing the copper antenna traces onto my PCB? Is it really that simple?
I don't have design files or footprints of this particular antenna - my thought was to very accurately measure the traces (length - width - orientation) in real life, and re-producing it and placing it on a PCB. What would the margin of error be? If I'm off by even a few % for a dimension, would that screw up the entire antenna?
If anyone knows some good tutorials on this, feel free to link it to me
Depends on the board material, trace thickness and other factors. Google will find plenty of design papers for you.
Thanks for the reply.
The trace thickness would be easy enough to figure out probably. The Taoglas PC104 uses FR-4 substrate - so there should be no difference in board material.
However, after looking into it and reading about the tuning process, I probably will just go with off-the-shelf solutions and place some holders on my PCB to keep it in place. Anything that's going to be considerably expensive, time-intensive or fail-prone is probably not going to be worth it.
The trace thickness would be easy enough to figure out probably. The Taoglas PC104 uses FR-4 substrate - so there should be no difference in board material.
Trace thickness isn't the main issue, board thickness and dielectric constant are, and "FR4" is not
one material with a fixed dielectric constant alas, its just a minimum specification for flame retardent
fibre-glass.
A penta-band antenna will be very sensitive to precise material properties and without a suitable UHF/MW
VSWR meter, VNA or spectrum analyzer you would be guessing in the dark. However you would definitely
get something capable of radiating and receiving, but you might have poor antenna performance. Some TX's
are sensitive to poor VSWR and even can be damaged, but typically which would be much higher power
levels.
Do you need 5 band coverage? If not go with the least complex antenna design you can.
However, after looking into it and reading about the tuning process, I probably will just go with off-the-shelf solutions and place some holders on my PCB to keep it in place. Anything that's going to be considerably expensive, time-intensive or fail-prone is probably not going to be worth it.
MarkT:
Trace thickness isn't the main issue, board thickness and dielectric constant are, and "FR4" is not
one material with a fixed dielectric constant alas, its just a minimum specification for flame retardent
fibre-glass.
A penta-band antenna will be very sensitive to precise material properties and without a suitable UHF/MW
VSWR meter, VNA or spectrum analyzer you would be guessing in the dark. However you would definitely
get something capable of radiating and receiving, but you might have poor antenna performance. Some TX's
are sensitive to poor VSWR and even can be damaged, but typically which would be much higher power
levels.
Do you need 5 band coverage? If not go with the least complex antenna design you can.Yes, probably wise.
Thanks for your elaborate post. I think this indeed would become a bit too complicated of a solution, for a relatively simple problem. I certainly don't have the knowledge, time and resources to do all of this
