Installation Manual

IRIS OEM Edition Hardware Reference Manual
Doc. # 7430-0549-01 Rev. B Page 25
7 Antennas
7.1 Radio/Antenna Considerations
An antenna facilitates the transfer the reception of RF energy to and from free space. Care should
be taken in the antenna choice or design so it provides proper coverage for the environment
expected. Good antenna design is the most critical factor in obtaining good range and stable
throughput in a wireless application. This is especially true in low power RF transceivers and
compact antenna designs, where antenna space is less than optimal. However, several compact,
cost efficient, and very effective options exist for implementing integrated antennas.
To obtain the desired performance, it is required that users have at least a basic knowledge about
how antennas function, and the design parameters involved. These parameters include selecting
the correct antenna, antenna tuning, matching, gain/loss, and knowing the required radiation
pattern. Refer to the “Antenna Design Considerations” application note to understand antenna
basics, and aid in selecting the right compact antenna solution for the application.
Care should be taken to provide an antenna that provides proper coverage for the environment
expected. Range and performance are strongly affected by choice of antenna and antenna
placement within the environment. In addition, care must be taken to ensure compliance with
FCC article 15 regulations for intentional radiators. Because of its small physical size, the usual
antenna chosen is a length of insulated wire one-quarter wavelength long for the frequency of
interest. This type of antenna is often called a monopole antenna, and its gain is ground plane
dependent.
There are literally hundreds of antenna designs, but to simplify the default antenna for the OEM
reference board, an insulated wire attached to a right handed MMCX RF connector is used. The
length of the wire is one-quarter wavelength of an RF signal 2.4 GHz. This type of antenna is
often called a quarter wave whip monopole. Antenna lengths for the different radio frequencies
are provided in
Table 7-1.
Table 7-1. Antenna lengths for quarter wavelength whip antennas
Model
Whip Antenna Length
(inches)
M2110 (2.4 GHz)
1.2
Third-party or custom made antennas can also be used by attaching them to the MMCX
connector. For making your own antenna, the part numbers of the MMCX mating connectors are
shown in Table 7-2 and Table 7-3. These can be purchased from Digi-Key. There are two
manufacturers—Johnson Components and Hirose Electric Ltd. The mating connectors come in
straight and right angle. They also support two different standard varieties of coaxial cable—
RG178 /U and RG 316/U. There are also other vendors who sell MMCX to SMA conversion
cables.