Ignion has announced a one-of-a-kind three-port Virtual Antenna component with simultaneous triple radio covering cellular, GNSS, and Wi-Fi/BLE.
The surface-mounted passive component, called OMNIA mXTEND, turns the ground plane of a printed circuit board (PCB) into a high-efficiency radiating element that can operate between 400 MHz and 8,000 MHz, allowing device manufacturers to choose specific radio bands without requiring size modifications.
Compared to three independent antennas, OMNIA mXTEND provides extra degrees of freedom, requiring a single clearance area while enabling superior long-range connectivity performance across multiple frequencies, making it suitable also for remote monitoring applications.
The advanced multi-block design minimizes radio coupling, enhancing performance, reducing the matching network BoM and facilitating certifications – a crucial factor for IoT devices where every dB counts.
Results of measurements on an evaluation board demonstrate that the average efficiency of an OMNIA mXTEND device is greater than 55% from 790 MHz to 960 MHz (cellular), over 75% in the 1.561 MHz – 1.606 MHz range (GNSS), and greater than 65% between 2.400 MHz and 2.500 MHz (Wi-Fi/BLE). Peak gains for these frequency ranges are 0.9 dBi, 4.0 dBi, and 3.5 dBi respectively, with corresponding maximum VSWR figures of 2.61:1, 1.5:1, and 2.0:1.
OMNIA mXTEND sets a new standard in multi-radio IoT design with its plug-and-play simplicity, reducing the need for complex RF adjustments and accelerating time-to-market for multi-radio projects. Ideal for applications like asset tracking, automotive telematics, smart metering, and industrial IoT, OMNIA enables seamless connectivity while reducing material use – delivering both performance enhancements and sustainability gains.
In the development of OMNIA mXTEND, Ignion collaborated with Nuvathings to integrate this three-port antenna component into the HELIUS-TSL datalogger, a key device in smart farming applications. By supporting NB-IoT, LTE-M, GNSS, and Bluetooth connectivity, the datalogger enables real-time monitoring of critical soil metrics, including moisture, pH, and nutrient levels. This seamless multi-radio connectivity allows farmers to fine-tune irrigation, manage soil quality, and increase crop yields while minimizing the use of water and fertilizers.
