What are the cornerstones of IoT designs

Proper Antenna design

Always handle your device as an integrated system together with the antenna. It is not only a piece of wire but a sophisticated component with several parameters and mechanical features. It’s very important to take antenna placement into consideration: whether it is an internal antenna placed inside the device´s enclosure or a body mount antenna placed on a metal sheet or a self adhesive antenna placed on the windshield of a truck. Antenna should be handled as a main component with huge impact on overall performance of the whole device and, of course, good antenna design is crucial when it comes to certification.

EMI suppression

EMI suppression is a great challenge even for experienced engineers, DC/DC converters, high speed interfaces, different RF components placed close to each other can result in certification failure and necessary redesign of the device. Use of shielded modules and high quality antennas can minimize the risk of such failure and therefore, close cooperation with antenna manufacturer is required.

Proximity and type of nearby components within an IoT device and how circuit boards are designed can result in interference for IoT RF systems. Device design that doesn’t take the impact of all components on RF performance into consideration can result in certification failure and the need to fix or redesign the product.

Certification

Many small companies and start-ups are struggling with high certification costs. This situation leads to slow adoption of IoT wireless technologies and force companies to use pre-certified modules in their constructions. Some experts claim that the cost of testing and certification could easily reach half of price of the device itself, especially for low cost sensor devices.

On the other hand, decreasing prices of test equipment (e.g. the EMC-SET - EMC Precompliance Set od spoločnosti Rohde & Schwarz) allows even mid sized companies to do pre-compliance tests inhouse.

When it comes to antenna certification, our partner company 2J has all necessary certificates available, whether it is an ISO16949, ISO9001, ISO14001, CE, IP, REACH or RoHS certificate.

For more information, please visit our webshop or if you have a bigger project and special requirements, don’t hesitate to contact our sales persons and consult your antenna design.Together with specialists from 2J we will guide you through the design process up to the fine tuning of the antenna in anechoic chamber at 2J facility.