Dual-band LoRa Antenna : Design and Experiments

Fabien Ferrero Mouhamed
Bhoye
Toure

LEAT DS4H,
Departement
Electronique

Universite Cote d’Azur, CNRS Universite
Cote
dAzur
Sophia Antipolis, France Nice,
France

[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—In this study, a dual-band miniature antenna for frequency bands have different propagation characteristics that
LP-WAN covering 433MHz and 868MHZ bands is designed to suits with specific application. As an example, 433MHz ISM
fit into a 90*30mm terminal. Design methodology based on the band has a two times longer wavelength which provide a
use of two lumped components inserted in the radiating element
is presented. The optimized antenna is fabricated and assembled better penetration in building and basement. The objective
with electronic components and battery. A measurement is per- of this study is to analyze the possibility to use a dual-band
formed to assess radiation performance in anechoid chamber. The miniature node with communication capability on both 433
terminal has a total efficiency of -6dB and -4.5dB at respectively and 868MHz ISM bands. Several designs have already been
433MHz and 868MHz with a dipolar radiation pattern. The proposed for LP-WAN at 433MHz [5] or 868MHz [6]. Multi-
performance of the terminal is evaluated in a real environment
and show similar performance at 433MHz and 868MHz. band miniature antenna solution have been published for radio
,FZXPSET—IoT,
multi-band,
small
antenna,
LP-WAN sensing [7], energy harvesting [8] or medical application [9].
However, these designs used complicated optimization process
I. I NTRODUCTION necessitating a long development process. In this paper, I
propose a solution using lumped component to ease the tuning
The ongoing digital evolution of our society is mainly driven
a the radiating element.
by the exponential evolution of communication technologies.
The last decade has given a mobile internet connection to more
that 2.8 billion of people. After connecting people, the next
decade is going to connect more than 125 billion objects to the
internet [1] through the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution.

Fig. 2. Inductor effect on reflection coefficient at 433 and 868MHz.

II. D UAL - BAND ANTENNA

Fig.
1.
Geometry
of
the
proposed
structure
A. Design methodology
The terminal is based on a 1.6mm-thick 90*30mm Printed
Requirements
for
IoT
application
is
usually
completely
dif- Circuit board (PCB). The substrate material is composed with
ferent
from
classical
users
needs.
Then
dedicated
communica- Epoxy FR4 with a permittivity of 4.4 and tanD of 0.03. The
tion
technologies
have
been
recently
proposed
to
provide
long
design of the dual-band antenna is inspired by the Inverted F
range,
robust
and
low-power
communication
known
as
LP- antenna presented in Figure 1 which was using the geometry
WAN.
Most
LP-WAN
standards
as
LoRa
[3]
and
Sigfox
[]
are
of the Universite Cote d’Azur logo. In order to decrease the
using
the
ISM
band
at
868MHz.
Considering
that
thousands
fundamental resonance of the radiating element, an additional
of
objects
will
be
connected
in
a
single
cell
will
induce
many
10*25mm clearance in the ground plane is created. In the
packet
collision.
The
use
of
multiple
band
for
communication
clearance, a 1mm wide meander line is connected to the
is
a
solution
to
extend
network
capacity.
Moreover,
different original feeding of the ”UCA” antenna. In order to control the

‹,((( 243
fundamental resonance, a lumped inductor is inserted between
the feeding line and the UCA shape. A capacitor is also placed
between the ”A” letter and the feeding line as shown in 1.

Fig. 4. Amplitude of the current at 433 and 868MHz

Fig. 3. Capacitor effect on reflection coefficient at 433 and 868MHz.

As shown in Figure 2, the inductance parameter can be used

to tune the 433MHz resonance frequency. In order to tune the
higher resonance around 868MHz, the capacitance will tune
both 433 and 868MHz resonance, as described in Figure 3.
Thus, by controlling the inductance and capacitance, it is easily
possible to control the two resonance frequencies.
Amplitude of the current at the two frequency resonances
is presented in Figure 4. As predicted, at 433MHz resonance
current amplitude is similar on the meander and on the logo
letters. When 868MHz is considered, the current are stronger
on the meander and smaller on the logo.
B. Simulated performance Fig. 5. Simulated Radiation and Total Efficiency at 433MHz
The final inductor and capacitor values are presented in
Table I. As shown in the table, it is important to consider
the value of the component at the working frequency (espe-
cially for the inductor) and the quality factor. A low quality
factor will add important losses. Simulated radiation and total
efficiency are presented on Figure 5 and Figure 6 with a total
efficiency of -5.8dB at 433MHz and -4.3dB at 868MHz.
C. Prototyping and radiation measurement
The antenna is fabricated on a two-layer 1.6-mm thick
FR4 substrate. A LoRa transciever based on SX1276 chip is
soldered on the top of the board. The transciever is controlled
by a 8MHz ATMEGA328p micro-controller from Microchip
soldered on the top side of the PCB. The board is powered
thanks to a AA lithium battery placed on the bottom side
of the board. The board is measured in a Total Radiated
Power mode (TRP) by setting the transciever in a continuous Fig. 6. Simulated Radiation and Total Efficiency at 868MHz
wave mode with a 14dBm power. This measurement method
remove any effect that could be induced by the feeding cable
used in classical radiation measurement. A peak realized TABLE I
gain of -4.1 dB and -2.2 dB are respectively measured at P ROTOTYPE C OMPONENTS PARAMETERS
433MHz and 868MHz. This measurement confirms simulation Components Part Value L@868MHz Q factor
by considering that the directivity of such antenna is close to Inductor 22nH 23.1nH 22.8
2dBi because of the dipolar radiation pattern (as shown in Capacitor 0.8 0.8 253
Figure 4.

244
 in the previous paragraph. For each geographic point, the
433MHz and 868MHz are measured with the terminal in a
vertical position. A reference board based on [2] working only
at 868MHz is also used. The results for the 3 configurations is
presented in Figure 11 with the Signal to noise ratio measured
in the gateway plotted with a cumulative distribution function.
Results show simular performance for the three configurations.
It was generally observed that the 433MHz get better SNR in
indoor environment when the 868MHz was superior in open-
field.

Fig. 7. Simulated 3D radiation pattern for 433 and 868MHz.

Fig. 10. Map of the test field realized with gateways marked with a yellow
circle and the measured point marked with a red cross

Fig. 8. Picture of realized prototype.

III. F IELD TEST

In order to evaluate the performance of the dual-band
system in a real environment, a field test is realized in the
Valrose Campus in Nice. Two gateways working respectively
at 433MHz and 868MHz are installed on the fith floor of a
building placed over a small hill. The 433MHz gateway is
using a printed 2dBi planar dipole antenna shown in Figure 9.
The 868MHz antenna is using a 6dBi commercial colinear
antenna. The mapping is performed with a range varying
from 50 to 500m with more than 200 measured points. The
details of the zone measured are indicated in Figure 9. The
mapping is realized with the dual-band terminal presented
Fig. 11. Cumulative Distributive Function of the measured positions.

IV. C ONCLUSION
In this study, a dual-band miniature terminal is designed
and fabricated in order to assess the wireless communication
performance at 433MHz and 868MHz. Results show that the
two bands have similar results is similar antenna size are
Fig. 9. Picture of reference antenna used at 433MHz. used. 433MHz show a better penetration in building when

245
the 868MHZ get advantage in open-field, mainly due to the
higher gateway antenna gain and higher efficiency.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Mr Toure would like to thanks DS4H for the opportunity
to work during one year on a research project. CREMANT is
acknowledge for measurement support.
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