Embedded WiFi antennas with frequencies up to 6GHz

The new W Series Embedded WiFi Antennas offer a wide range of standard solutions with ultraminiature form factors, PCB or FPC antenna technologies capable of supporting single- and dual-band operating frequencies up to 6GHz, performance-enhancing foam coatings, and various mounting options to enable maximum design flexibility, easy implementation, quicker time-to-market, and reliable, well-matched performance for exceptional network coverage and high-speed data rates in wireless applications extending across the agricultural, commercial, consumer, computing, industrial, medical, and telecommunications markets.

W Series antenna options include support for 2.4, 5, and 6GHz frequency bands, integrated foam coatings on component backsides to minimise antenna detuning on various surfaces, several different mounting adhesives to ensure material compatibility and enable maximum placement flexibility, and various cable lengths, diameters, colours, and connectors.

Applications include wireless gateways, access points, routers, and large area networks (WLANs), smart home systems, industrial machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, digital signage, and a wide variety of other cross-market devices and equipment that employ WiFi, Bluetooth, and ZigBee communications protocols.

Houda Rais, RF Product Manager for AVX’s EMEA marketing division, said: “Our new W Series Embedded WiFi Antennas are especially designed to meet the needs of today’s wireless product designers, who are contending with steadily increasing cross-market demand for miniaturised devices and systems that deliver high-reliability mobile connectivity with superior signal sensitivity, exceptional network coverage, and ever-higher data rates to satisfy widespread consumer demand for faster uploads and downloads and higher-quality mobile streaming.

“Available in a wide range of standard solutions tested and proven to provide reliable, well-matched performance over a wide frequency band, the new ultraminiature W Series antennas proactively address an array of individual application requirements to ease and hasten both design-in and time-to-market. In addition, both semi- and fully-custom designs are available upon request to address any potential outliers.”

AVX’s new W Series is comprised of three families of embedded WiFi antennas: the W1, W2, and W3 Families, all of which weigh just 0.3g, measure just 0.4mm in height, support three PCB/FPC thicknesses (0.1, 0.4, and 0.8mm), exhibit 50Ω unbalanced feed-point impedance, and comply with the latest RoHS directives.

All three families are available with FPC or PCB antenna technologies, three tuning options (tuning on plastic wall, tuning for foam on plastic wall, and tuning with ribs), three adhesive mounting options for compatibility with FPC, PCB, or PCB+ foam materials, three standard cable lengths (50, 100, and 150mm) and diameters (0.81, 1.13, and 1.37mm) with black or gray cable jackets, and three standard connector options: U.FL, W.FL, or MHF4 connectors in down, up, left, or right orientations with respect to PCB silkscreen printing. They are also available without adhesive, without connectors, and with an optional ferrite bead.

Lead-time for the new W Series Embedded WiFi Antennas is currently seven weeks. Standard packaging is in individual PE bags, and the antennas are also supported by clear documentation and, when needed, the expertise of RF engineers well experienced in integrating antennas into an array of wireless devices.