Weak Antenna Signal Strength in PSOC4 BLE

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AlAl_1520441
Level 1
Level 1
5 replies posted 5 questions asked First reply posted

Hi,

Recently, I've designed a couple of boards based on psoc4 reference design provided in "CY8CKIT-142 PSoC 4 BLE Module Schematic" and AN91445 documents. The bluetooth signal strength is significantly low as it  measured around -80db in a distance approximately 20cm.

There are couple of things that I'm not sure  which affected the signal mostly. First, the thickness of the broad's layers which I'm not sure that the company really fabricated correctly. in the meantime, I don't know the exact thickness for the copper layers.

Second, in the matching network which I attached it here (wire thickness is 0.2mm).

If anyone knows the problem or if there is another thing that i didn't care about it, please let me know it.

Bests

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1 Solution

Also you asked what affects the issue the most all of the items you asked about.  You need to rent an RF network analyzer to check the VSWR of the circuit and also it will help you determine what you could do to tune the circuit. We used conductive copper tape to tune the circuits.  You want to insure your design can stand variations in PC board etching and copper thickness.

Microstrip Line

A microstrip line has a signal trace on top of a substrate with a ground plane beneath the substrate.

Figure 48

shows a snapshot of the cross-section of the microstrip line. The following

major factors affect the characteristic impedance

of a microstrip line:

Substrate height (H)

Dielectric constant of the substrate (εr)

Width of the trace (W)

Thickness of the RF trace (T)

remember this is a very high Frequency signal and needs correct design methods to work correctly.

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rola_264706
Level 8
Level 8
50 likes received 25 likes received 10 likes received

Looking at your design I think that your antenna feed line incorrect.  It should be straight and with few connections. See picture.

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Also you asked what affects the issue the most all of the items you asked about.  You need to rent an RF network analyzer to check the VSWR of the circuit and also it will help you determine what you could do to tune the circuit. We used conductive copper tape to tune the circuits.  You want to insure your design can stand variations in PC board etching and copper thickness.

Microstrip Line

A microstrip line has a signal trace on top of a substrate with a ground plane beneath the substrate.

Figure 48

shows a snapshot of the cross-section of the microstrip line. The following

major factors affect the characteristic impedance

of a microstrip line:

Substrate height (H)

Dielectric constant of the substrate (εr)

Width of the trace (W)

Thickness of the RF trace (T)

remember this is a very high Frequency signal and needs correct design methods to work correctly.

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Thanks for your comments. They were all useful for me

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