ibeacon Distance Increase

Question

Hello there, 
 I am working on the iBeacon project. 
 I want to get the distance to 50m. 
 Now it detects 5-10 meters. 
 Soldermask on antenna 
 Project inspired: 
 
 Thanks.

AmbystomaLabs · Accepted Answer

You can not do much wrong on the firmware other than setting the tx power incorrectly. Just look in the api reference manual for the correct api command to set the tx power. Max for 52832 is 4dBm. 
 Assuming you are broadcasting at full power then either the antenna is poorly designed or incorrectly matched to the nRF. 
 Normally the cap and inductor on the nRF just match it to 50ohm. There should be a separate matching network for the antenna. 
 Matching requires a VNA and someone who knows how to use it. But, if you wish to post your layour, I can comment on obvious errors.

awneil · Answer

AmbystomaLabs said: either the antenna is poorly designed or incorrectly matched to the nRF. 
 or both! There could also be other aspects of the design that adversely affect performance; eg, case material, badly placed components - especially big metal things like the battery - etc, etc, ... 
 Poor power supply could also have an effect? 
 What the beacon is sitting on ... 
 Orientation of the beacon relative to the Android device 
 
 etc, etc, ...

AmbystomaLabs · Answer

You should start first by checking the range using a basic ble ranging app on Android. The android device will not care that it broadcasts as iBeacon. 
 On iOS, Apple does some strange things in their core location framework that severly limits the useful range of iBeacons. Its just an iOS issue as the same beacon will perform fine under core bluetooth. 
 If under droid or core bluetooth you are still not seeing the range you expected than as awneil suggested look into improving your link budget. 
 but a basic 52832 DK can easily do 50 meters line of sight. If this is a custom board then you likely did not addess the RF matching correctly.

ibeacon Distance Increase

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