Design methodology for wireless nodes with printed antennas

Abstract

The need for mass-produced inexpensive wireless devices operating under strict energy constraints poses new challenges in the system design methodology. This paper presents a methodology for designing wireless nodes in which a low cost, reliable antenna is realized by printed circuit traces. We show how to combine the analysis from 2.5D and 3D EM simulators with the PCB design tools to create predictable nodes with printed antennas that meet stringent power and data transmission range goals. The presented approach is applied to the design of a IEEE802.15.4 wireless node deployed in several indoor environments.

Microfabricated ion traps

“…As explained in Section V B high power dissipation leads to an increase of the temperature of the ion trap structure and also reduces the quality factor of the loaded resonator. PCB substrates intended for hf devices generally exhibit a low rf loss tangent (values of tanδ = 0.0031 are typical [87]) and if UHV compatible can be used for ion traps. Other factors reducing the quality factor are the resistances and capacitances of the electrodes.…”

Infrastructure for Testing Nodes of a Wireless Sensor Network

“…It also has an integrated received signal strength indicator (RSSI) which gives a discrete value for received signal power that can be read from an internal register. The transmit and receive gains of the onboard antenna, respectively G T and G R , have both been experimentally found to be -8 dB from prior work in (Chenard, Zilic, Chu, & Popovic, 2005).…”

Energy Efficient Software-Based Self-Test for Wireless Sensor Network Nodes

“…A 2.4GHz IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee RF transceiver [17] has 8 programmable transmission power levels and a built-in received signal strength indicator (RSSI). The gains of the printed antenna, G T and G R are both 8dB [20]. The results in Table 6 show that our RF module meets the specification [18].…”

“…The node contains a TI MSP430 microcontroller, a CC2420 RF transceiver and a printed antenna integrated directly on a PCB, as detailed out in [20].…”

“…The RF module consists of the RF transceiver, a balun circuit and a printed antenna, the latter two detailed out in [20]. A 2.4GHz IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee RF transceiver [17] has 8 programmable transmission power levels and a built-in received signal strength indicator (RSSI).…”