How far the 2.4G can transimit stably

[Carey]

I used 51802 made a PCBA module for 2.4G transimit , and use 24LU1 as a usb dongle , both of them used PCB printed antenna and haven't used PA. I want to know , in generally speaking, how far does the two 2.4G modlue can transimit data each other?

[Jørn]

Hello carey

This is a complicated question as it is highly dependent on design and environment.

In an ideal world, without any reflections, additional attenuations or noise sources, using 4dBm output power and the considering the nRF24's -82dBm sensitivity (at 2Mbps) you would have almost 200 meter range (free space propagation loss).

However because of attenuation due to resistive losses and mismatch in the electronics design, antenna efficiency, reflections, obstacles and other noise sources your range will in practice be much shorter. 6dB loss corresponds to a halving of the distance.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to have a guess at these losses as they will vary greatly depending on the quality of your design, whether you're outside or inside, what the walls of the building you're in are made of, interior decoration, whether there are other RF sources nearby, trees, distance from antenna to reflective surfaces etc. If you really want to know how well your design is performing you will need to do some controlled tests in a known test environment where losses and noise sources are known.

Best regards

Jørn Frøysa