Wearable fitness tracker antenna design case study
Striiv required a new integrated, high-performance antenna that would provide better battery life and Bluetooth wireless performance for its next-generation Fusion 2 and Fusion Bio 2 wearable tracker devices. The challenges were that the antenna size had to be small enough to fit in the tiny device package and also had to be inexpensive to produce in quantity, both of which typically limit antenna performance.
It was also important to complete the design quickly and get it into prototyping and production design without holding up the schedule, so the design process had to be reliable even though working with physics can be a very uncertain process.
The Striiv design team chose National Instrument’s AntSyn antenna design, synthesis, and optimization software for the design of a high-efficiency, inexpensive Bluetooth antenna for these latest devices. The initial designs were created in AntSyn in only a matter of days and the final synthesized design was complete in less than two weeks.
The synthesized design was also imported into Analyst 3D finite-element method EM analysis software, along with the CAD model of the tracker components so in-situ performance could be simulated. The design was scaled and tuned to accommodate the packaging with a prototype ready to go in another week.
Tests with the first prototype showed excellent performance and no further design cycles were required, enabling the Striiv team to meet its tight cost and schedule requirements without sacrificing performance. Using the AntSyn synthesized design approach enabled Striiv to receive initial models in just a matter of days, drastically cutting design time.
The AntSyn antenna synthesis tool and related support expertise allowed Striiv to shorten and simplify the design process and reduce risk, enabling the company to meet its very aggressive development schedule.
“We chose NI AWR software because of the proven success of AntSyn and Analyst, as well as the support team’s responsiveness to our requirements and tight schedule,” said Mark Ross, vice president of engineering at Striiv.
“The designs worked from the very start and removed the iteration and experimentation usually required in antenna design efforts. NI AWR software helped us to deliver a higher performing wireless wearable product in less time while also reducing design and manufacturing costs significantly when compared to prior similar efforts.’’
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