Numerous application cases of Industrial, Scientific, and Medical Radio Frequency (ISM-RF) products indicate that the printed circuit board (PCB) layout of these products can easily exhibit various defects. It is often found that the same IC installed on two different circuit boards can show significant differences in performance metrics. Variations in operating conditions, harmonic radiation, … Read more
1. Considerations for 433M RF Hardware Design 1. Place matching circuit components close to each other and near the chip; if the matching circuit is too far away, it may lose its matching effect. 2. For a two-layer board, it is recommended that the line width of the matching circuit be 0.5mm, and the copper … Read more
Produced by Zhien Smart Chip As Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) technology continues to develop, throughput has become an important metric for evaluating the performance of Bluetooth devices. This article discusses the factors influencing Bluetooth LE throughput and compares the performance of two Bluetooth LE MCUs (including the author’s company and competitor N) under different environments. … Read more
1 Introduction This article summarizes the hardware design experience based on a certain Bluetooth module and is intended for hardware design reference only. 2 Antenna Design 2.1 PIFA Antenna Design 2.1.1 Size Requirements The size of this antenna is derived from theoretical calculations based on frequency characteristics and has been validated through practical design experience, … Read more
Source: Electronic Enthusiasts From Human Interface Devices (HID) to Internet of Things (IoT) remote sensors, designers face many choices for wireless connections across numerous applications. One of the most fundamental design decisions, and one that many designers find tricky, is whether to use a standard RF interface (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or ZigBee) or a … Read more
For IoT product developers, time to market is a significant challenge and a potential competitive advantage. Silicon Labs, also known as “芯科科技”, has recently launched the pre-certified xGM210x module series based on the Wireless Gecko Series 2 multi-protocol wireless SoC platform, which helps reduce the R&D cycle associated with RF design and protocol development, allowing … Read more
Part One: Design Guidelines for Mixed-Signal Circuit Boards The operation of analog circuits relies on continuously varying currents and voltages. Digital circuits operate by detecting high or low levels at the receiving end based on predefined voltage levels or thresholds, which corresponds to determining the logical states of “true” or “false”. Between the high and … Read more
Introduction:Everyone knows that impedance should be continuous. However, as Luo Yonghao said, “In life, there are always times when you step in something unpleasant,” PCB design also has its moments of impedance discontinuity. What should we do? Characteristic Impedance Characteristic Impedance: Also known as “Feature Impedance”, it is not a DC resistance, but a concept … Read more
The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to transform various industries, making design decisions around wireless connectivity components increasingly complex. Engineers often face a dilemma when selecting components for their IoT applications, having to choose between IC and wireless modules. Both options have unique advantages and trade-offs that impact design complexity, cost, scalability, and time to … Read more
[Fundamentals] 3W Principle Power Supply Management and Plane Segmentation About Dead Copper (PCB Islands) Where is the Reference Plane for Routing? How to Quickly Estimate PCB Trace Resistance: Square Statistics [PCB Fabrication and Materials] Basic Knowledge of PCB Fabrication Classification of Substrate Materials for Printed Circuit Boards Classification and Selection of PCB Materials Differences in … Read more