How to design a PCB with antenna

In this video I explain under 5 minutes how to design a 50 ohm transmission line to your antenna on PCB.
Here is the link to the online calculator: chemandy.com/calculators/copl...
Feel free to join my free community to learn more tips & tricks and have access to a free mini course on PCB design: community.sentineo.com

[@jack0lson]

Thanks for making this video! one tip: If you are annoyed by the 'Heads-Up Display' following the mouse cursor, you can move it to the corner and hit Shift-G (Shift-G to move it, Shift-G again to dock it, Shift-H to hide it)

[@sentineo]

Thanks!

[@ElectricalTechnologies]

Love it to the point absolutely amazing ! You got one more subscriber.

[@sentineo]

Thanks, appreciate the nice words!

[@harishadzic50]

I just came upon this video and I am very happy that KZbin algorithm has recommend it. Useful, direct and practical content, exactly what we need. I hope you become one of the new KZbin PCB gurus like Phil's lab and Robert Feranec. Good luck and keep on going!

[@sentineo]

Thank you very much for the kind words, Haris! Glad you liked it!

[@tuttuti123]

I've been looking for this. Very helpful

[@sentineo]

Thank you Hariz, glad it was helpful!

[@matheusgalvao1127]

Your teaching is very good and you do the practical part directly in Altium, it was exactly the video I needed, thank you it helped me a lot.

[@sentineo]

Much appreciated, glad it was helpful!

[@Chillschrob]

Very concise and handy tutorial !🔥🔥

[@pietcallemeyn]

Thanks Robbe!

[@fase144]

Finding this channel today, I’m now eager to see more content from you 😊 subscribed

[@sentineo]

Thank you very much, appreciate your nice words! I try to upload a new video every week, stay tuned for more 🙂

[@D1e9o-SIIA]

Hello, first of all, thank you very much for these great contributions to your channel. My question is about what is the distance between vias for shielding the RF line to reduce crosstalk? How is the distance between tracks calculated to shield a 4G LTE/NB-IoT RF line and what diameter and hole should the vias be? thank you very much, greetings!

[@sentineo]

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated! Ideally, it's best not to place the shielding too close. Best to also respect the 3x linewidth rule here for spacing to via fences. In terms of diameters, I would go with your standard (minimal) via size. Respecting the distance however is important: rule of thumb for stitching via spacing (when it comes to RF shielding), is to have a distance of at least 1/10th of the wavelength of your signal. So for e.g. a signal of 1.9GHz, the wavelength is ~158mm - a distance of 15.8mm would be enough to effectively contain a pure sine wave.

[@nilanjantalukder5695]

Really informative video. Subscribed! Eagerly waiting for Impedance Matching network video.

[@sentineo]

Thank you Nilanjan, much appreciated! Impedance Matching video is coming soon! :-)

[@dannyperry8070]

How do you know what the impedance output of the signal generator is 50 ohms.

[@sentineo]

For this, it's always recommended to check the data sheet of your RF output stage. In this case, you can find this in the datasheet of the NRF9160.

[@andreasduzariev2482]

Nowhere can I find an answer on how to correctly calculate the length of the waveguide. Should the length of the waveguide match the wavelength? If the software calculation gives an excellent VSWR result at any length, then is there a need to adjust it to certain dimensions?

[@sentineo]

The length of the trace towards your external antenna doesn't really matter, as long as you maintain a constant characteristic impedance along that line (cf. the explanation in the beginning of this video). This is another story of course if you are designing a trace antenna on PCB. This video however is about the connection between an IC and an external antenna.

[@andreasduzariev2482]

@@sentineo ,Thanks, it's very helpful for me. I'm studying Bluetooth AoA design and it needs to be an antenna switcher, so I wasn't sure how long the waveguide could be extended. P.S. Sorry for "Google translate".

[@sentineo]

@@andreasduzariev2482 You're welcome, thanks for your kind comment!

[@mostafanfs]

Very informative!

[@sentineo]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jyreprejoles7604]

Is it possible to increase the range of a smartphone Bluetooth antenna?

[@sentineo]

If you are designing the electronic system yourself, the best you can do is make your matching 100% accurate. Take the casing into account for this as well. In that way you will be able to transmit the maximum amount of power all the way to your antenna. However, this has to be aligned with FCC requirements of course, so that will typically be the limiting factor for range in a well-designed system.

[@jyreprejoles7604]

Hi sir. I am planning to redesign smartphone Bluetooth antenna. Smartphone Bluetooth has its maximum range of 10 meters. I want to improve it by 11 meters. What is the best way to redesign an antenna, is it okay to use microstrip patch antenna (Polyimide substrate) and how can i avoid heating on the device. Thank you