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Chassis antenna

Robert Lin4
Prodigy 10 points

We're looking into the feasibility of putting a bluetooth le remote control w/ iBeacon on our product.  A possible stumbling block we ran into was that our housing is completely made of aluminum and there was a concern that the bluetooth signal would get blocked by our housing.

Is it feasible to just use the housing as the antenna?

Are there any certification problems with something like that?

  • 0
    TI__Guru 56590 points

    Hello Robert,

    It is not a good idea. It might be possible in theory to use such a structure as an antenna, but we will not be able to support it. For example when the outer shell acts as the antenna, a human hands will add a ever-changing capacitance to different places on the antenna which might change all the critical antenna parameters such as impedance , efficiency, directivity, etc. Then there also is a high risk of not being compliant with regulations as harmonics and spurs might suddenly arise. Also the device will be more sensitive to ESD damage when the antenna is so easily accessible to the surrounding area. So to design this antenna correctly can turn out to be a nightmare.

    Is there no openings in the casing at all?

    Can you for example modify the design to leave open some space to insert a dipole antenna along the edges?

    You could also try to use on of our PCB antennas from our reference designs and see how much of the signal will penetrate the casing. It will be attenuated quite a lot but you might get link over a limited range.