Nowadays, the main challenges faced by smart meter manufacturers, when designing a new metering device, are price, size, global coverage, long range and considering surrounding environments that could affect the overall performance.Any wireless smart metering device’s data transmission has to be completely reliable,therefore, the antenna is a critical component in such device.First, chip antenna technology is perfect for providing cost savings in your smart meter production. It is often a lower cost component than an external antenna or FPC, and, by being SMD pick and place, it provides savings on assembly costs. Second, Virtual Antenna® components use the PCB to resonate, which enables high performance in space constrained device designs
In summary, when designing a Smart Meter Device, the customer should think about the antenna at the early stage of the design process, as the location, PCB dimension and overall mechanics of the product will all determine/impact the overall performance of the antenna.
