Antenna placement - Hardware

21, Oct. 2024

 

Antenna placement - Hardware

I developed a device that can be mounted inside a waste container. The device is battery-powered with an expected lifespan of about 2 years and publishes hourly data. It is designed to monitor the following things:

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  • Container collections by the truck
  • The fill-rate of waste inside the container (i.e. 0% is empty, 100% is full)
  • Temperature (for potential fires)

My issue: I have been testing 15 units of this device for a while now in various areas - while it works, for a few locations the connectivity was excessively poor, which I attributed to bad antenna placement. I tried tackling this issue with a new design (see image), but would greatly appreciate additional feedback first.

In this design I will:

  • Use an SMA TG 22. antenna located at right side of the enclosure away from metal parts
  • Partially run the antenna trace from the Electron trough the PCB to avoid having to run a long cable
  • Move the battery further to the left (away from the antenna)
  • A large area of the PCB GND planes will be removed underneath the antenna

The devices are mounted almost upside-down inside the container, so the signal would mostly travel through the PCB.

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Are there any improvements Im forgetting about that could improve the connectivity more here?

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