nRF52840 Custom Board and Antenna Designing

RE: nRF52840 Custom Board and Antenna Designing

Rajeev K R — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 16:53:39 GMT

Hi Simon,

We had a PCB design where www.waveshare.com/core52840.htm was used instead of directly interfacing the nRF chip. We later improved the design and used a 48 pin Qfn package and track antenna done by Mr. Shabinkumar .

We now have excellent Bluetooth Range

Thanks.

RE: nRF52840 Custom Board and Antenna Designing

Simonr — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 05:27:09 GMT

So what is custom about the PCB then? Can you share HW files of your custom board so we can do a review? And have you done any testing with the nRF52840 DK to see if you can achieve better results with that?

As mentioned. Step 1 would be to narrow down whether we're dealing with a HW or SW issue.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: nRF52840 Custom Board and Antenna Designing

Rajeev K R — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 15:28:23 GMT

Hi Simon,

This is the Board I am using, nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.0 Module, Small Size, Stable Performance (waveshare.com)
the environment is Outdoor: concrete floor, open air.

[quote userid="75734" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/110540/nrf52840-custom-board-and-antenna-designing/480465"]Can you also share some details on what environment you're testing the BLE range in,[/quote]

RE: nRF52840 Custom Board and Antenna Designing

Simonr — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:59:08 GMT

[quote user=""]The antenna we're currently using is [insert specific antenna details here].[/quote]

Were you supposed to add a datasheet or link to the antenna you're using here?

Your board seems very small and might not have the best ground plane, and the 32MHz crystal looks like it's very close to the antenna + that I'm not sure if all the matching components for the antenna is there. All these things could be contributors to bad antenna performance, but without the HW files (schematics as .pdf and gerber files) this is just educated guessing from my end.

Can you also share some details on what environment you're testing the BLE range in, and if you've tested the application in the same environment on I.E. a nRF52840 DK to try to narrow down the issue to either HW or SW.

Best regards,

Simon