Plastic enclosure over reference design

[Victor Nascimento]

How does a Plastic enclosure affects the performance of my RF antenna?

I'm designing the PCB + housing and as it have to be small, i'd rather use a BALUN + Chip antenna to save space. As I am a undergrad student, anyone with more experience can help me on this?

Thanks in advance

[Locky]

The balun is only for providing a Single-Ended Signal from the Chip to the Antenna. However due to your PCB and Enclosure there will be additional loading seen by the antenna. Therefore it is always recommended you have a Pi-Network between your Balun and Antenna to further match Antenna to the PCB. This will also allow you to adjust your center frequency to offset for the detuning of the plastic enclosure.