RF Coverage of CC2538EM

Serdar Köse

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: Z-STACK

I did a simple outdoor test (line of sight) between two CC2538EM (+smartrf06eb) boards that has GenericApp of Z-Stack.

The default TX power is 0 dBm on the SW, and the datasheet says the receiver sensitivity is -97 dBm. I don't know what is the gain/loss of the on-board antenna and miss-match, but if I assume 4 dB on each side, I would expect to have >100 m coverage according to the path loss formula. However, the boards lost the link about 20 m distance. Is it normal to have coverage about 20m between two CC2538EM or do I miss something to take into the calculation?

over 11 years ago

0 YiKai Chen over 11 years ago

Guru 735695 points

It sounds abnormal to me. In general, it should be more than 50 meters in free space. Do you use PCB antenna on board?

0 Serdar Köse over 11 years ago in reply to YiKai Chen

Genius 3360 points

I use the PCB antenna. Is the receive sensitivity a fixed value or can it be changed on the SW?

0 YiKai Chen over 11 years ago in reply to Serdar Köse

Guru 735695 points

RX sensitivity is fixed. Do you modify anything on Z-Stack? I suggest you to use SampleLight and SampleSwitch to test range first. It should be easy to have 50 meters in your testing.

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RF Coverage of CC2538EM