Using Coaxial Port on CYW920719 Carrier Board

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chbu_3912491
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To preface, I am an undergraduate student with minimal knowledge of RF antennas. I am currently using the CYW920719 evaluation board and exploring options to use the CYW20719 chip standalone on a custom PCB.

I have two questions:

1. What coaxial cable do I need to purchase for the external antenna port on the CYW92017 Evaluation Board (located on carrier module)?

2. Is it advisable to use an external antenna not printed onto PCB? For example: designing a coaxial port onto a PCB and using a wire as an antenna.

After reading through the hardware design guidelines​, and Cypress's antenna design specifications​, I see no mention of an external antenna design and only a PCB printed antenna. Is this a viable option for design or should I stick to a PCB printed antenna?

Also, I would like to test how an external antenna would perform on the evaluation board; however, the CYW92017 product guide does not mention the specifications of the coaxial port located on the carrier board.

Thank you very much in advance,

Christian.

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WinstonF_61
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100 likes received 100 sign-ins 50 solutions authored

Hi Christian,

Considering that you are referring to the CYW920719Q40EVB-01 development board for your test, my answers are given below.

1) The Module board has a UFL Connector which is a standard, you should be able to get a UFL to SMA or UFL to UFL cable.

You could snip one end of the cable to attach other types of antennas if you wish to experiment.

2) The use of external antennas is quite common, you need to make sure that they are designed for the 2.4Ghz band since that is the BT Band. External antennas are quite standard and most will have an SMA type connector or some PCB type would also have a cable with UFL connector at one end.

Most BT/BLE applications call for small form factors and hence we mainly include the PCB type antennas in our designs & guides and the external antennas are readily available one only needs to make sure its the correct frequency band (2.4gHz) in the case of BT, and provides adequate Gain for the application.

Note: to use the UFL connector for external antennas, you need some changes on the module board.

Refer to the schematic for the eval kit. You need to move C67 to the position (A-C) default (B-C) which connects the on board PCB antenna.

pastedImage_0.png

Hope this helps.

Winston.

Regards
Winston

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WinstonF_61
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
100 likes received 100 sign-ins 50 solutions authored

Hi Christian,

Considering that you are referring to the CYW920719Q40EVB-01 development board for your test, my answers are given below.

1) The Module board has a UFL Connector which is a standard, you should be able to get a UFL to SMA or UFL to UFL cable.

You could snip one end of the cable to attach other types of antennas if you wish to experiment.

2) The use of external antennas is quite common, you need to make sure that they are designed for the 2.4Ghz band since that is the BT Band. External antennas are quite standard and most will have an SMA type connector or some PCB type would also have a cable with UFL connector at one end.

Most BT/BLE applications call for small form factors and hence we mainly include the PCB type antennas in our designs & guides and the external antennas are readily available one only needs to make sure its the correct frequency band (2.4gHz) in the case of BT, and provides adequate Gain for the application.

Note: to use the UFL connector for external antennas, you need some changes on the module board.

Refer to the schematic for the eval kit. You need to move C67 to the position (A-C) default (B-C) which connects the on board PCB antenna.

pastedImage_0.png

Hope this helps.

Winston.

Regards
Winston