Taoglas debuts NB-IoT antennas

Taoglas, which specializes in antenna designs, announced the first three antennas in its Extensis range of narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) antennas..

The launch includes the world’s smallest ceramic NB-IoT antenna that covers supports Bands 8 (880-960 MHz) and 20 (791-862 MHz), as well as Band 5 (824-894 MHz) to allow IoT devices—such as asset trackers—to work across different regions and different carriers. Its low profile (2mm) and small footprint (14.1mm x 8.3mm) make it the world’s smallest NB-IoT antenna.

Taoglas is also introducing an ultra-thin, flexible multiband antenna that supports all LTE bands—including the new Band 71 that will be used for NB-IoT in the U.S. This antenna features the company's patent-pending Taoglas Boost technology, which delivers up to a 2 dB improvement in antenna performance when integrated into small devices. Taoglas Boost is particularly suited to designs with shorter ground planes, allowing IoT and other device designers to bring to market a wider range of smaller devices that would otherwise not have been able to meet certain stringent carrier certification requirements.

The third antenna in the Extensis range is the patent-pending FXUB64 flexible ultrawideband antenna, which has been designed for all working frequencies in the 600-3000 MHz spectrum, covering all Cellular, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, ISM and AGPS, including LTE Band 71. The ultra-thin (130mm x 20mm x 30*0.2mm) polymer antenna is delivered with a flexible peel-and-stick body with excellent efficiencies on all bands. Taoglas is the world’s first to include LTE Band 71 in an off-the-shelf cellular antenna product. The antenna is compliant to T-Mobile’s new 600MHz over-the-air (OTA) requirements when properly integrated into the customer’s device.

“Narrowband IoT is emerging as a go-to LPWAN option for applications that need to support a large number of devices, especially in challenging environments such as indoors or underground,” said Ronan Quinlan, co-CEO, Taoglas. “The incredibly low profiles and small footprints of the Extensis antennas along with their multiband capabilities make them an excellent choice for device designers who need to shrink their devices without sacrificing performance. Having access to three bands on one antenna also allows them to plan for global deployments.”