GPS Antenna Design for nRF 9160

[vkadal]

In  my custome PCB design, I am using the CHIP antenna , the same used in nRF 9160 DK, that is P822601 from ethertroncis.  Can this antenna work for GPS too? If not can you share me the reference design for the GPS antenna? 

[vkadal]

Can I have a single antenna  to cover NB-IoT and GPS? What are the merits and demerits of having single antenna as well as dual antenna? 

[JONATHAN LL]

Hi Kadal,

Using one antenna for two things is more complicated and more difficult to get optimal performance for both use cases but it is possible. Using two antennas requires more space since you need more hard ware but it is often easier to tune for better performance for both use cases. 

We have both single and dual antenna support in our reference design. The nrf9160 DK uses 2 antennas, one for Cellular and one for GPS. Our Thingy91 product uses 1 single antenna for both cellular and GPS.

Have you seen the Guidelines for nrf9160?

You can get the latest HW files for the 9160DK here, and for the latest Thingy91 here. 

We also offer feedback on schematic and PCB layouts so if that is of interest you can create a new DevZone ticket(private or public) and call it something along the lines of nrf9160 HW review.

Regards,
Jonathan

[vkadal]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Let me close the ticket