With today’s release of Oxion, a new AI-powered configurator tool for Ignion’s virtual antenna technology, ipXchange is proud to present an ipXperience interview with Ignion CEO Jaap Groot to explain what differentiates this technology in more detail and how engineers can use Ignion’s virtual antenna technology to create more compact, versatile connected devices.
What is a virtual antenna?
To begin, Jaap outlines the heritage of antenna technology and where you may have seen a virtual antenna before – in fact, it is not an antenna as the component itself does not radiate. The key function of this technology is to boost the frequency response of a ground plane so that it resonates at a desired communication band. This makes the ground plane useable as an antenna for a given wireless protocol, or multiple wireless protocols using a single ground-plane antenna.
That said, unlike standard external antennas, tuning the combination of a booster and a ground-plane antenna within a product is very tricky. This is especially so in the presence of other components like batteries. Complexity increases further as an end product becomes more compact, but this is also where Ignion’s virtual antenna technology shines as they can easily serve multiple wireless protocols without adding bulk to the PCB.
Ignion’s solution
Ignion’s virtual antennas support a wide frequency range of 450 MHz to 10.6 GHz, covering almost all wireless protocols, with the exception of mm-wave and 5G. This makes them extremely useful not just for mobile devices and asset trackers, but also for companies building smart metering products for a global marketplace; virtual antenna technology can be easily tuned via switchable matching networks to serve the different communication bands around the world, without redesigning the PCB.
Ignion’s solution also proves easier to configure than existing alternatives, and this is made all the more accessible thanks to Ignion’s new AI-powered configurator tool: Oxion. This RF design tool was trained using the many virtual antenna configurations that Ignion has produced for its customers. It is able to produce a full guide for the required matching networks and integration considerations in seconds. This innovation provides instant support to engineers who may not be well versed in RF design but need to integrate multiple wireless protocols for their next project.
If you’re interested in taking your RF design to a new level, learn more about Ignion’s solution by following the link to the board page below. We’ll be catching up with their team at Embedded World (booth 4A-302), where we hope to see Oxion in action – ipXchange are at 4A-101, so come see us too!
Keep designing!
Enjoyed this interview? Watch ipXchange’s first encounter with Ignion back at Hardware Pioneers Max 2023, where we also chatted with Nordic about the Thingy devices that Jaap showed during the interview:
Ignion’s Virtual Antennas: A versatile, scalable connectivity solution for ultracompact IoT products
Cortex-M33 SiP saves energy, space, and component count for battery-powered cellular IoT designs!
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