

Instead of taking your chances with a calculator, it is much easier to design a matching network when you use a signal integrity tool that iteratively calculates the component values you need in your network. If you input the wrong values into these calculators, they may require you to use components with negative capacitance or inductance, indicating an obvious user error. Interpreting the results from these calculators also takes some experience. They may only offer a small number of networks (usually one), severely limiting the capabilities you can consider in your design. Many manufacturers offer calculators for antenna matching networks online, but many of these antenna impedance matching calculators are limited in their capabilities. Printed antennas will have impedance values that depend on the geometry of the antenna, while chip and other pre-built antennas generally have a specific impedance value at the required frequency.
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When with an impedance matching calculator, you need to consider whether you will be working with a chip antenna, printed antenna, or an external antenna, such as a patch or rubber ducky antenna. Impedance Matching For Chip and Printed Antenna Learning to select and use the proper network requires carefully perusing datasheets for antennas and receivers/transceivers in your network. Impedance matching networks for antennas are designed to pull-up or pull-down the impedance of the load, as well as provide some filtration to the analog signal in the network. The best calculators will allow you to choose from several different networks to impedance match your antenna and will show you the values of the inductors and capacitors you need to use in your matching network.Įach impedance matching network will provide some additional benefits like filtration. These calculators will help you build an impedance matching network for a known source and load impedance values without needing to develop your own smith chart and ensure you can avoid reflection coefficients. If you look through search engine results, you’ll find plenty of links to calculators that can help you properly match the antenna tuner load impedance with your trace. Using an Antenna Impedance Matching CalculatorĪn antenna tuner doesn’t change the antenna itself so much as changes its impedance to match the transmission line source, for example changing the impedance from 50 ohm to 55. If you are working in an environment that presents noise at a specific frequency, or you want to isolate your antenna network from specific noise sources elsewhere on your board, picking the right network and component values is critical for ensuring signal integrity. Similar to the termination schemes that are typically used to impedance match traces to sources and loads on an interconnect, termination networks for antennas can provide filtration as well as matching to a specific impedance value. For example, when the signal transmission line trace has the same order as the wavelength of the signal, impedances must match or the signal will reflect and overheat the PCB. The goal is to prevent signal reflections at the load, ensuring that signal strength is not lost upon entering your receiver/transceiver. Matching networks are arrangements of components that match the impedance of a source and load. Unless you’ve worked with high speed, high frequency, RF, or other wireless technologies, you may not be familiar with transmission line impedance matching techniques or the networks that are used to define impedance values in your board. A PCB design package with the best design and signal integrity tools in a single program.
