Hi,
We have a prototype application which requires an NRF52 based peripheral to be inside a metal cabinet and to connect via BLE to a central while maximising the link range as far as possible.
In production the intention is to have an external antenna, with a coax connection running from the peripheral to an antenna mounted on the outside of the cabinet. For prototyping we are using the NRF52 DK.
Following the advice at:
we had naively assumed that by purchasing the Murata SWF/SMA adapter and connecting a 50ohm 2.4Ghz antenna (a high gain OEM WiFi antenna with magnetic mount) to the coax port on the NRF52 DK we would be able to test our application. The result has not been great, with the signal almost worse than without the antenna connected at all!
After further research we found the whitepaper at:
infocenter.nordicsemi.com/.../nwp_017.pdf
It appears we will need to tune the antenna to match the NRF52 DK. However, we have no access to a Vector Network Analyzer in our lab to undertake this work.
Is our only option now to engage a specialist RF consultant with access to a VNA to help us build the matching network or is there anything we can do ourselves in the lab to allow us to move forward more quickly?
