M2M & IoT Design Challenges

Multiple RF Antenna Integration Challenges in Miniature Designs

The M2M & IoT Industry has seen new insights with lots of application adapt this environmentsuch as automotive industry, telematics, fleet owners, utility companies, security providers,healthcare services and other M2M users, as well as M2M systems integrators, one challenge isfiguring out which vendors have innovative technology that can make them stand out in a crowdedmarketplace.In the case of M2M, innovation centres on antennas since the antenna is critical to maintainingreliable, high-performance wireless connectivity.

There are several reasons why it’s challenging to design antennas that can meet M2M’s demandingrequirements:Limited space: M2M modules frequently are inside equipments that appear to have ample roomfor antennas, such as vending machines, water meters or medical devices. But appearances can bedeceiving because M2M modules are often as space constrained as Smartphone’s and tablets. Inthe cell phone market, years of experience determined the best antenna placement. Within theexotic M2M space, the antenna is the last part thought about and is often seen as just anothermechanical component. For example, in the case of a water meter, while it is much larger than acell phone, there is still a very small amount of real estate available for the antenna, and notnecessarily in the optimum location, with many interfering parts around it. Limited space makes itdifficult to find room for the larger antenna volumes required for lower frequencies such as 400MHz, 700 MHz and 900 MHz

RF-hostile environments: M2M modules can be installed in unusual environments, which impedetheir ability to connect. For example, utility meters often are installed in underground vaults andvending machines can be deep inside buildings. In many cases, the module is mounted inside thedevice, whose RF unfriendly metal housing further de-tunes the antenna.Frequency shifts, head, hand or other de-tuning effects: The physical environment around an M2Mmodule often changes. Sometimes it’s sudden, such as when a home health nurse holds a patientmonitor in a way that de-tunes the antenna. Other times, it is a foreseeable placement that causesthe de-tuning, such as a machine placed close to a wall. Antenna de-tuning can cause an M2Mdevice to lose its connection to the network and thus be unable to transmit mission critical data.

The M2M market itself creates another set of challenges for antenna and component vendors. Forexample, M2M is often price-sensitive in terms of the build-of-materials, but also time-to-market,so vendors have limited ability to spend months designing a custom antenna solution becausedevelopment time is a cost. An off-the-shelf antenna might appear cheaper and a quicker way toachieve the timeline, but there’s a good chance that it won’t be able to meet the uniquerequirements of each device because its design isn’t flexible enough to accommodate a variety ofRF-environments and frequency bands. An off-the-shelf antenna requires integration services froman experienced antenna expert to successfully bring a product to market. However, many M2Mvendors don’t usually have the large RF engineering staffs that their Smartphone and tabletvendors count on to integrate a custom solution and go through the iterative design process untilthe product meets operator certification.

M2M vendors also face many of the same challenges as their Smartphone and tablet peers, whichhave to contend with an annual 25% reduction in the space available for the RF front end. At thatrate, it won’t be long before the entire front end will need to squeeze into the space once occupiedsolely by the antenna. For M2M vendors, the good news is that they can benefit from advances inactive antenna system technology developed to help Smartphone and tablet designers cope withever shrinking spaces.

Active antennas are key

All of these engineering and marketplace requirements are challenging for antenna vendors thathave limited or no M2M experience and provide standard, off-the-shelf passive antennas: in manycases, their products will not meet their customers’ needs for providing reliable, high-performanceconnections for mission-critical applications.

Antenna vendors with extensive experience integrating multi-band antennas into small-volumedevices – not only Smartphone’s and tablets, but also a wide variety of M2M form factors are keyto a successful product. This experience enables the antenna vendor to quickly identify both thechallenges and the best solutions to provide a design rapidly and cost-effectively, instead ofspending months of multiple iterations to find something that will meet the customer’sperformance requirements.

Additionally, the antenna vendor should be set-up as a global platform company with designcentres in key regions around the world to be close to customers. This is key as the product movesfrom the design phase with the original equipment manufacturers, or an original designmanufacturer, to production at a contract manufacturer’s facility. The platform approach enableslocal support with a seamless transition through the product’s life cycle. Put simply, theexperienced vendor has “been there, done that” enough times that it can leverage its designexpertise and global platform approach to swiftly and efficiently deliver a high-performance designfor its customer and move to production quickly.

For the antenna vendor to successfully face upcoming challenges, a key component is a portfoliothat includes active antenna systems, which can be dynamically tuned, through active componentsincluding supporting the development of algorithms, to cover significantly wider bandwidths,achieve smaller physical volumes and provide more degrees of freedom in the design process. Anactive antenna system’s flexibility enables minimal modifications to meet unique customerrequirements, such as installing the antenna system by a metal surface or supporting LTE bands aswell as fallback to 3G/2.5G/2G bands, such as when a tele-medicine provider wants to have asingle SKU connect to patients nearly anywhere. Additionally, active antennas’ flexibility helpsM2M vendors pass carrier certification on the first attempt, so the devices get to market fasterbringing in revenue streams sooner.

A quick way to address all the challenges as well as the overall scalability of the business is toprovide an antenna system module with minimal customization. The ability to dynamically senseand optimize the antenna system enables an active antenna system to maintain optimalperformance and connectivity even when the module is installed on any type of surface, evenmetal, that would wreak havoc with a passive antenna. The flexibility of an active antenna systemdesign, along with closed loop impedance matching, enables M2M vendors to develop a singleplatform that can be quickly and cost-effectively integrated to meet the unique requirements ofeach new application. By comparison, passive designs typically require extensive and expensivecustomization and are unable to cover the large bandwidths required for 2G/3G/4G and ISMimplementations due to the limited space available.

The M2M market is booming because it provides solutions to real-world problems: minimizingtruck rolls, tracking high-value cargo and connecting patients with physicians, to name just a few.This module-based approach is the first step toward a new way of thinking about RF design forM2M devices and other markets. A plug-and-play foundation enables solutions that are repeatableand flexible enough for nearly any M2M application – not only delivering the highest levels ofperformance but also setting the innovators from the rest of the pack.

Source: rcrwireless.com