RF, wireless and connectivity
Getting the radio to work on a crowded board — LoRa, Wi-Fi 6, cellular, GNSS and RTK.
RF is where embedded projects quietly go wrong. The digital section works, the firmware works, and the range is a third of the datasheet figure because a ground plane was cut under a feed line.
The parts that decide whether it works
A 50 Ω feed is only 50 Ω if the stack-up supports it and the fabricator holds it. Keep-outs have to be respected on every layer, not just the top. Ground stitching around the feed has to be dense enough at the operating frequency. The antenna needs the ground plane its datasheet assumed. None of this is exotic — it is just unforgiving, and it cannot be fixed in firmware.
Radios integrated in real designs
| Class | Parts used |
|---|---|
| Sub-GHz | LoRa / LoRaWAN 868 MHz — Würth Daphnis-I |
| Wi-Fi / BLE | Wi-Fi 6 modules, Bluetooth LE 5.1, Espressif ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 |
| Cellular | Quectel RM520N-GL (5G / LTE) |
| Positioning | Septentrio Mosaic-X5 and u-blox ZED-F9P — GNSS with RTK |
| Marine | Comar R400NG AIS receiver |
| Grid | RF-PLC hybrid for smart metering and grid applications |
Regulatory reality, early
Which bands you may use, at what power, with what duty cycle, depends on where the product ships. That constrains the radio choice, which constrains the antenna, which constrains the board. Decided at architecture stage it costs nothing. Decided after layout it costs a respin.
Common questions
Straight answers
Which radios have you actually integrated?
LoRa/LoRaWAN at 868 MHz using Würth Daphnis-I, Wi-Fi 6 with Bluetooth LE, Quectel RM520N-GL 5G cellular, Septentrio Mosaic-X5 and u-blox ZED-F9P GNSS/RTK, Comar R400NG AIS receivers, and an RF-PLC hybrid for smart-grid work. Espressif ESP32-S3 for Wi-Fi/BLE at the MCU end.
Can you design a custom antenna?
No — and you should be suspicious of a small design house that says yes. We integrate proven antennas and modules, control the feed and the ground, and route the board so the antenna performs to its datasheet. Custom antenna design and chamber-verified tuning belongs with a specialist, and we will bring one in rather than improvise.
Several radios in one small enclosure — is that a problem?
It is the problem. Co-existence gets planned at architecture stage: band separation, duty-cycle coordination, physical separation, shielding and filtering. Discovering an interference issue at pre-compliance is expensive; discovering it in the block diagram is free.
Do you handle certification?
We design for it and support you through it — band planning, pre-compliance measures, and the design changes that come out of a chamber session. The certification itself runs through an accredited test house.
Evidence
Where this has been applied
Hero: system architecture diagram as a clean vector drawing, not a photo. Sensors on the left, compute in the middle, bandwidth figures on the arrows. This case study's value is the thinking, so show the thinking.
Edge-compute architecture for an unmanned surface vessel
Three architectures compared on real bandwidth budgets, so the platform decision was made on evidence rather than TOPS figures.
Hero: Altium 3D render of the rigid-flex assembly in its folded, installed geometry. A flat board render sells none of the difficulty.
Flight-controller carrier for a tube-launched UAV
Teardown, clean-room re-implementation, and a rigid-flex carrier that fits inside a launch tube.