NINA-B1 series - System integration manual
UBX-15026175 - R16
Design-in
Page 41 of 63
C1-Public
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Provide a ground plane large enough according to the related integrated antenna requirements.
The ground plane of the application PCB may be reduced down to a minimum size that must be
similar to one quarter of wavelength of the minimum frequency that has to be radiated, however
overall antenna efficiency may benefit from larger ground planes.
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Proper placement of the antenna and its surroundings is also critical for antenna performance.
Avoid placing the antenna close to conductive or RF-absorbing parts such as metal objects, ferrite
sheets and so on as they may absorb part of the radiated power or shift the resonant frequency of
the antenna or affect the antenna radiation pattern.
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It is highly recommended to strictly follow the detailed and specific guidelines provided by the
antenna manufacturer regarding correct installation and deployment of the antenna system,
including PCB layout and matching circuitry.
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Further to the custom PCB and product restrictions, antennas may require tuning/matching to
comply with all the applicable required certification schemes. It is recommended to consult the
antenna manufacturer for the design-in guidelines and plan the validation activities on the final
prototypes like tuning/matching and performance measures (see Table 7).
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RF section may be affected by noise sources like hi-speed digital buses. Avoid placing the antenna
close to buses such as DDR or consider taking specific countermeasures like metal shields or
ferrite sheets to reduce the interference.
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Take care of interaction between co-located RF systems like LTE sidebands on 2.4 GHz band.
Transmitted power may interact or disturb the performance of NINA-B1 modules.
3.3.3
On-board antenna design (NINA-B112 only)
Keep a minimum clearance of 5 mm between the antenna and the casing. Keep a minimum of 10 mm
free space from the metal around the antenna including the area below the antenna. If a metal
enclosure is required, NINA-B111 with antenna pin has to be used.
It is recommended to place the NINA-B112 module so that the internal antenna is in the corner of the
host PCB (Pin 15/16 should be in the corner) as shown in Figure 29. The antenna side (short side
closest to the antenna), positioned along one side of the host PCB ground plane is the second best
option. It is beneficial to have a large ground plane on the host PCB and have a good grounding on the
NINA-B1 module.
Figure 29: NINA-B112 with internal antenna
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Take care when handling the NINA-B112. Applying force to the NINA-B112 module can damage
the internal antenna.
