The design of the antenna should be integral to the overall design of your wireless equipment – it shouldn’t be an afterthought.
You can optimise the connectivity, design the ideal balance of computing capability and power consumption, and minimize the size and weight of a wireless IoT device – but if you neglect the antenna, much of this effort won’t translate to real world performance.
There are many different types of antenna to consider – embedded or external, flexibly printed, mounted onto circuit boards or standalone. We can explain the pros and cons and help you decide on the best approach for your product.
Technical director Richard Bethell explores real world antenna considerations for LoRa, LPWAN and 4G in this article.
We provide antenna solutions from a number of leading manufacturers.
2J Antennas UK Ltd
2J Antennas is an established global supplier of antenna solutions, delivering innovative technologies for the connected world. Consisting of a wide portfolio of standard classic range of antennas to a series of high-quality products with cutting-edge technologies; meeting the rapidly evolving wireless industry catering to 5G, 4G (LTE), 3G, 2G, WiFi, BLE, Iridium communications, GPS/GNSS/BeiDou and more. Selected antennas are IP67, IP69K, IK-09.
Quectel Wireless Solutions
Quectel’s 5G high-performance antenna technology was developed to handle the increased speed, capacity and bandwidth demand of today’s growing networks. Offering both embedded and external antennas as well as combination solutions, these sub-6 GHz 5G antennas achieve excellent broadband performance, particularly at the lower bands, and fit a range of applications and environment requirements, with a choice of mounting options and protocol combinations.
Antenova
Antenova Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of RF antenna modules for M2M, IoT and consumer electronic devices. Offering a broad range of wireless connectivity – GSM, CDMA, 3G, 4G, LTE, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®, ZigBee® and ISM – Antenova holds a strong position in the key market areas of Home Appliance, Automotive, Wearables, Healthcare, Industrial and Retail, Smart Cities and Smart Grid
Smarteq
Smarteq develops high-performance, robust and reliable antenna solutions. With over 70 years of experience in developing wireless solutions, Smarteq started off in the Automotive industry but now covers predominantly Energy, Vehicles and Industrial markets. This ensures Quality and trust processes for high-volume logistics with all the relevant certifications, such as IATF 16949 and ISO 14001.
Pulse Electronics
The wireless business unit of Pulse Electronics is a worldwide leader in wireless electronic component, antenna design and manufacturing. Pulse offers an extensive catalog line of antenna products including Embedded, Internal, In-Building, Fixed Site, Vehicular, Portable, & RF Components along with cable and mounting solutions.
CTi Antennas
CTi is a provider of high-quality antennas and accessories to M2M, Industrial, Transportation, Retail, Utilities and IoT markets. CTI’s antenna solutions feature a wide variety of mounting choices along with a number of different frequency options.