Custom Antenna Design Service

RF LYNCS specializes in custom antenna design and integrating small efficient antennas into mobile and fixed devices. These include handheld, body-worn, gateway, and base-station type products. Our approach is to identify the most cost-effective solution that meets the product requirements. This may involve selecting a commercial off the shelf (COTS) part, or designing a custom printed solution. From impedance matching through custom design and fast antenna verification, we have the expertise to make a difference.

NBioT

Cellular Antennas

3G | LTE | NBioT | ATT | Verizon | Sprint
Printed on YOUR PCB
MODEMS and Base Stations
Hand Held | Body Worn | OBD
With or without GNSS bands
Diversity Optimization & De-Correlation

ISM Antennas

ISM (868 | 900 | 2400 | 5800)
Printed on YOUR PCB
WiFi – 802.11 | Zigbee – 802.15.4
GPS | GNSS | BT & BTLE | 2.4 GHz
UWB Linear Polarised
RFID Coil Antennas

UWB Antennas

Ultra Wide Band Antennas
Circular polarised
Ideal for pattern diversity
Reduce multi-path effects
Planar balun for low height restrictions
OR center feed balun for best A/R

Custom Printed Cellular Antennas

Why use an expensive off the shelf cellular antenna? For a little NRE (non-recurring engineering) cost, RF LYNCS can print the antenna including matching components, in a 15 by 40 mm area illustrated in position A or B. The return loss and radiated efficiency performance will be similar to a COTS part using the same length of PCB. Yes, there are a few exceptions. Mainly small devices that require a custom 3D antenna to make the best use of the volume available, and NBioT where the antenna has to be larger due to the lowest operating frequency. Another location option is position C. Please ask for more information. If you are looking for cost reductions, then why not enquire? Contact RFLYNCS for state-of-the-art printed cellular solutions.

Custom ISM Antennas

RF LYNCS printed ISM antennas provide an opportunity to reduce substantially BOM cost. As illustrated, we primarily integrate two types of Omni-directional antennas on our customers PCBs: Printed F antenna (PFA), located at end of PCB in positions A or B; and printed magnetic field antenna (PMFA), located on a long edge of PCB in position C or D. Either of these antennas perform well compared to COTS parts when placed on the same physical size PCB. They have similar radiated efficiency, return loss, and peak gain. Call RF LYNCS now for a free consultation.

Wearable & Body Worn Devices

Wearable devices demand a unique antenna design approach. The physical size is relatively small, which limits both the radiating surface area and therefore bandwidth available. Also, the human body tends to detune the antenna and absorb a significant amount of radiated power. To help overcome these constraints, RF LYNCS wearable GPS, GNSS, WiFi, and BT solutions use a current driven antenna. This produces a strong magnetic near-field and is mainly unaffected by the human body. PMFA’s can be used to replace any COTS chip antenna part. They will take the same printed area and provide similar efficiency for an equivalent length PCB and the matching components cost less than 5c.

Antenna Impedance Matching

The purpose of the impedance matching circuit is to reduce the conducted power losses between the antenna and active electronics; and good transmission-lines design gives a low loss conducted RF signal path. To provide a robust solution, RFLYNCS takes the PCB materials, layer stack, component tolerances, matching topology losses and design margin into account.

Radiated Antenna Testing

We evaluate the radiated antenna performance using an on-site MVG StarLab. The full spherical 3D near-field antenna test system helps to provide the insight required to design state-of-the-art antennas. To evaluate performance we measure efficiency, peak gain, azimuth, and elevation cuts. A 3D image is used to help orientate the axis. Explore our complete antenna testing service here.

Workflow

The activities to integrate either a COTS or custom antenna into your device follow a typical workflow show below. The appropriate steps can be selected as required:

1. System Analysis

Schematic Review
Mechanical constraints
Environmental effects
Performance requirement
Antenna options (COTS v Custom)
Performance cost-benefit

Deliverables

Report including:
- COTS/custom antenna selection
- Design readiness
- Performance cost-benefit
Milestone meeting

Inputs

Schematic Diagram
STEP files
Use Case
Sample devise as available
Product Volume
Target pricing

2. Design & Prototype Antenna

Antenna Simulation
Prototyping
Initial Matching | Return Loss
Measure radiation pattern | Efficiency

Deliverables

Antenna Prototype
Performance measurement report
GERBER file (Custom antenna only)
Milestone meeting

Inputs

As above +
Enclosure

3. Antenna Integration Support

Transmission line design
PCB GERBER review

Deliverables

Final PCB Layout
BOM

Inputs

Schematic Diagram
Draft PCB layout

4. Antenna Impedance Matching

Final Matching | Return Loss
Measure radiation pattern | Efficiency

Deliverables

Performance measurement report

Inputs

Populated functional PCB
Schematics & PCB GERBR files

5. Active Tests

Cellular TRP | TIS

Deliverables

Carrier compliance readiness

Inputs

Populated operational PCB