5.4 Integration Guidance
The following recommendations are provided for the host device:
● Place the Tile close to the edge of the host PCB, preferably on a corner
● Use a solid GND plane on an inner layer (for best EMC and RF performance).
● Place GND vias close to module GND pads as possible. An example layout can be
found in
Figure 8.
● Route traces to avoid noise being picked up on VCC supply.
● RF Trace keep out areas:
○ Ensure there is no copper in the keep-out areas on any layer of the host PCB as
can be seen in
Figure 8
.
○ Locate all mounting hardware and metal as far as possible from the Tile to not
impede antenna performance.
5.5 Antenna Debugging
To quickly verify antenna connection to Tile:
1. Turn on the Tile
2. After bootup, issue
$RT 1*17
. The noise floor the Tile hears (in dBm) will begin
displaying at a rate of once per second
3. While the Tile’s LED is blinking red rapidly (indicates it has not yet acquired a GPS fix)
a. Touch the Tile’s antenna with your hand or with another object. The noise floor
measurement should noticeably change
b. The Tile will not transmit until it has a GPS fix
and
it hears a Swarm Satellite.
There is no risk of the Tile transmitting during this procedure if the red LED is
blinking rapidly
October 2020
Swarm Tile Manual - Rev 1.10
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