User's Guide

Hardware description
Figure 17: Antenna tuning circuitry schematic
6.3.2 RF measurements
The LTE signals are propagated through a coaxial connector. This makes it possible to perform conducted
measurements or attach external antennas.
By default, when no cable is attached, the RF signal is routed to the onboard antenna. When connecting
the adapter, the internal switch in the SWF connector will disconnect the onboard antenna and connect
the RF signal from the nRF9160 to the adapter.
The connector is of SWF type (Murata part no. MM8130-2600) with an internal switch. An adapter
is available (Murata part no. MXHS83QE3000) with a standard SMA connection on the other end for
connecting instruments. The adapter is not included in the kit. The insertion loss in the adapter cable is
approximately 0.5–1 dB.
Figure 18: Connecting a spectrum analyzer
6.3.3 GPS
The nRF9160 has a dedicated GPS port to support global navigation, and the same antenna is used for
both LTE and GPS. The GPS signal is RX only, and there is a low-noise amplifier (LNA) that amplifies the
signal before it is fed to the GPS RF port on the nRF9160.
The GPS signals are propagated through a coaxial connector located between the antenna and the
LNA. This makes it possible to attach external antennas. The connector is of SWF type (Murata part no.
MM8130-2600) with an internal switch. An adapter is available (Murata part no. MXHS83QE3000) with a
standard SMA connection on the other end for connecting instruments. The adapter is not included in the
kit. The insertion loss in the adapter cable is approximately 0.5–1 dB.
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