Components & Connectors

For applications with RF unfriendly housings, Panasonic Industry has introduced the dual-mode PAN1316C module which is an antenna-less variant of its PAN1326C2.

The dual-mode PAN1316C supports Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth Classic and is ready for the connection of an external antenna via bottom pin and is also equipped with the PAN1326C2’s host controlled interface (HCI) Bluetooth radio frequency (RF) module. 

It has been designed to meet the needs of modern device housings to fulfil several criteria at the same time, namely being compact, rugged or waterproof although this might lead to radio waves hitting an impermeable housing structure. To address, this Panasonic Industry offers the PAN1316C “to circumvent a housing’s apparent RF unfriendliness”.

It module has a small footprint of 58.5mm² (9.0 x 6.5 x 1.8mm). It is equipped with the CC2564C Bluetooth core IC from Texas Instruments and is claimed to offer best-in-class performance – about twice the range of other Bluetooth Low Energy solutions. 

In addition to a UART interface, the module contains an audio/voice codec interface which is a dedicated  programmable  serial  port  that  provides  the  logic  to interface  to  several  kinds  of  PCM  or  I2S  codecs. The module has a wide operating temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees C. The supply voltage range is 1.8 to 4.8V. 

The PAN1316C is pin-compatible with previous generations of Texas Instruments-based Bluetooth HCI modules.

The Panasonic Group develops products for consumer electronics, housing, automotive, industry, communications, and energy sectors worldwide.

Panasonic Industry Europe is part of the global Panasonic Group and provides automotive and industrial products and services in Europe. 

The company’s portfolio covers key electronic components, devices and modules and extends to complete solutions and production equipment for manufacturing lines across a broad range of industries. 

http://industry.panasonic.eu

Able to operate in both Europe’s 868 MHz bands and the US 915 MHz bands, Lama is a small, dual-band antenna from Antenova. 

The Lama (part number SRFI065) was developed for small, connected devices operating on the LP-WAN networks including LoRa, Sigfox, Wi-SUN and MIoTy. It uses the ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) frequencies in Europe and America or both, which means that one product design can be sold in both US and European markets. 

The Lama antenna is suitable for small, networked devices operating across wide geographic areas in IoT applications, especially in smart agriculture, smart cities and tracking, advised Antenova. 

The small antenna is suitable for designs where real estate is limited. The flexible printed circuit (FPC) antenna measures 35 x 10 x 0.1 mm and is supplied with a standard 100mm RF cable with I-PEX MHF connector. This shape allows it to be mounted several different ways in a design.

The antenna performed equally well in tests for the 868 and 915MHz bands, reported Antenova, showing a peak efficiency at 60 per cent and maximum VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio) of 1.5:1 for both frequency bands.

The LP-WAN networks, also known as ISM, use frequencies 863 to 870MHz in Europe and 902 to 928MHz in the US. They are licence-free bands which are typically used to connect large fleets of low powered devices which transmit small packets of data across large physical distances at low bit rates.

Typical agricultural application examples are those using cloud-connected sensors to measure ground moisture or temperature or to track livestock, e.g. cattle.

In smart cities it is suitable for remote-controlled applications such as meter reading, environmental monitoring and connected services, controlling street lighting, parking sensors or waste bins.

In other IoT sectors, the Lama antenna fits commercial applications in cold chain transport, distribution, logistics and tracking of goods and containers. 

Antenova’s Michael Castle commented: “The Lama antenna targets . . . growing markets which will need large volumes of devices on all continents of the world. For example, we estimate there could be 45 million connected street lights worldwide by 2025.”

Antenova provides consultancy and testing services and a selection of online tools and calculators to help designers achieve a successful integration and a high performance wireless device. 

http://www.antenova.com