The Pharoah antenna from Antenova covers popular LTE frequencies while producing signals in a small ground plane.

IoT devices need to keep getting smaller, but they also need to transmit and receive signals effectively. Your design’s ground plane plays in important role in RF signal performance. The Pharoah SR4L073 antenna from Antenova uses half the footprint compared to the company’s other models. At 37 mm × 13 mm × 3.3 mm surface-mount package, the Pharoah still covers the popular LTE frequency bands:

• 698 MHz – 824 MHz
• 824 MHz – 960 MHz
• 1710 MHz – 2200 MHz
• 2300 MHz – 2400 MHz
• 2500 MHz – 2690 MHz

According to Antenova, an antenna’s performance is directly related to the length of its ground plane. At the lowest 4G frequency, 698 MHz, the wavelength (λ) for electromagnetic radiation is 42.95 cm. Most antennas require a ground plane of a quarter wavelength. Thus, they need a space of 107 mm to operate effectively. The Pharaoh antenna uses about half of that area.

Antenova recommends a four-layer PCB with a stackup shown below.

Applications include:

• Telematics and OBD tracking devices
• Pet Trackers
• Wearables such as Fitness bands
• Bike Trackers
• M2M/Remote monitoring
• POS terminals
• Small IoT sensors
• Drone communications