Trace Antenna Design Layout Documentation
navdeep , 04-20-2018, 11:18 AM
Hi guys
I am going to design Trace antenna for my PCB. SO if anyone can suggest any document regarding the PCB antenna design guideline or any videos or any other documentation.
I am going to design Trace antenna for my PCB. SO if anyone can suggest any document regarding the PCB antenna design guideline or any videos or any other documentation.
robertferanec , 04-22-2018, 01:06 PM
That is out of my normal design work so I can not help much 
If I need a PCB antenna I follow reference layout or design guide.
If I need a PCB antenna I follow reference layout or design guide.Luca , 04-25-2018, 09:37 AM
It's a too general question. Can you describe more details?
navdeep , 04-25-2018, 10:15 AM
@Luca I was going to design a Trace antenna on my PCB for nrf52832 chip. I know I have to consider alot of things like matching circuit for impedance control and all. SO I am just asking for any material(docs, videos..anything) through which I can understand properly the challenges and techniques for designing RF antennas.
Luca , 04-26-2018, 01:32 PM
It's really difficult to answer in a good way.
In general i use ADS and/or AppCAD to calculate and simulate the traces.
For your kind of antenna i think it's enough to respect the "basic RF rules" so:
Maintain the characteristic impedance of the system, tipically 50 ohm
Use the correct lenght in order to achieve the best resonance performance, tipically lambda/2
Do not place any other kind of component under, near and "in front of" the RF traces and antenna
Prefer 0402 or 0603 instead bigger size for matching
Choose the best antenna solution and shape for better performance in sensitivity and try to layout it without any compromise around RF traces
I've reat the nRF52832 datasheet very easily and my opinion is to use at least 4 layer PCB, less distance between GND plane and RF traces gives better performance.
If you can't work with 4 layers use 2 layers but with PCB thickness around 1mm at least
This is some good materials about RF design:
It's really generic but i hope this can help in your design
It's so difficult to explain a "difficult" and huge argument like RF in this way
In general i use ADS and/or AppCAD to calculate and simulate the traces.
For your kind of antenna i think it's enough to respect the "basic RF rules" so:
Maintain the characteristic impedance of the system, tipically 50 ohm
Use the correct lenght in order to achieve the best resonance performance, tipically lambda/2
Do not place any other kind of component under, near and "in front of" the RF traces and antenna
Prefer 0402 or 0603 instead bigger size for matching
Choose the best antenna solution and shape for better performance in sensitivity and try to layout it without any compromise around RF traces
I've reat the nRF52832 datasheet very easily and my opinion is to use at least 4 layer PCB, less distance between GND plane and RF traces gives better performance.
If you can't work with 4 layers use 2 layers but with PCB thickness around 1mm at least
This is some good materials about RF design:
It's really generic but i hope this can help in your design
It's so difficult to explain a "difficult" and huge argument like RF in this way
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