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   / mobilefish  

This is part 47 of the LoRa/LoRaWAN tutorial.

In this tutorial I will explain the pros and cons of using PCB antennas and ceramic antennas.

In an RF system the antenna is a key component and can have a major impact on the device performance.
Selecting which antenna to use depends on: size of the device, costs and performance.
In general PCB antennas (aka trace antennas) and ceramic antennas (aka chip antennas) have an average antenna performance compared to an external antenna.

External antenna
An external antenna is mounted outside the device or it can be mounted on a remote location.
PCB or ceramic antennas are internal antennas and are built inside the device.
Pros:
- Good antenna performance compared to PCB or ceramic antennas.
Cons:
- Larger size.
- More expensive compared to PCB or ceramic antennas.

PCB antenna
A PCB antenna is a trace antenna printed on a circuit board.
A PCB antenna is feeded by a micro strip line from the radio module.
Pros
- Smaller size.
- Cheaper to manufacture.
- Costs less than an external antenna and ceramic antenna.
Cons
- Average antenna performance compared to an external antenna.
- Components in close proximity of the antenna severely detune the antenna.
An area around the antenna must be kept clear of components.
- A PCB antenna is highly susceptible to environmental interferences, for example when it is in close proximity of humans or animals.
- A PCB antenna can only be tuned by redesigning and manufacturing the PCB board again.
- Designing a PCB antenna requires a simulation tool.

To create a PCB antenna, check out this PCB UCA antenna layout created by Fabien Ferrero:
https://github.com/FabienFerrero/UCA_...
Check out his presentation at the Things Conference in Amsterdam in 2018 where he discusses the UCA antenna layout:
   • Fabien Ferrero - The Challenge of LoR...  

Ceramic antenna
A ceramic antenna (aka chip antenna) is a small module made of a ceramic material.
Pros
- Smaller size compared to a PCB antenna.
- Components in close proximity of the ceramic antenna does not cause severe detuning.
- A ceramic antenna is less susceptible to environmental interferences (humans or animals).
- Less PCB area is needed compared to a PCB antenna.
- A ceramic antenna can be tuned or even replaced without redesigning the PCB board.
Cons
- Average antenna performance compared to an external antenna.
- A ceramic antenna costs more compared to a PCB antenna.

Performance tests
A PCB, ceramic and monopole antenna performance is compared with a sleeve dipole antenna.
For the PCB antenna test, the Things UNO is used.
For the ceramic antenna test, the Things UNO (Beta version) is used.
For the monopole antenna test, the monopole antenna is used as described in tutorial 42.
For the sleeve dipole antenna, antenna C is used as demonstrated in tutorial 33 and 43.

For both The Things Uno (with PCB antenna) and The Things Uno Beta (with ceramic antenna) the same sketch is used:
https://www.mobilefish.com/download/l...
More information about this sketch and which libraries to use, see:
   • How To: The Things Uno Part 2 - Sendi...  
The sketch transmits 10 messages per minute.

For both the monopole antenna and sleeve dipole antenna tests the same end node is used, see:
https://www.mobilefish.com/developer/...
The end node uses the MCCI LoRaWAN LMIC Library:
https://github.com/mcci-catena/arduin...
The end node uses the following sketch:
https://www.mobilefish.com/download/l...
The sketch is modified to transmit 2 messages per minute.

For all four tests the transmission power is not modified and all the devices are positioned at the same location.
The logged data can be found at:
https://www.mobilefish.com/download/l...
Note: I am only interested which gateways have received the transmitted data.

One or more gateways were able to receive my transmitted sensor data, see:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=18SK...

The sleeve dipole antenna clearly has a better performance compared to the PCB, ceramic and monopole antenna.
My conclusion is: PCB, ceramic and monopole antennas are great antennas for short distances.

Check out all my other LoRa/LoRaWAN tutorial videos:
   • LoRa/LoRaWAN tutorials  

Subscribe to my YouTube channel:
   / @mobilefish  

The presentation used in this video tutorial can be found at:
https://www.mobilefish.com/developer/...

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