At last week’s Electronica show in Munich, Spanish RF connectivity firm Ignion announced a three-port virtual antenna to support simultaneous cellular, GNSS, and wifi and BLE radios.

The surface-mounted passive component, called Omnia MXtend, turns the ground plane of a PCB into a high-efficiency radiating element that can operate between 400 and 8000MHz, allowing device manufacturers to choose specific bands without requiring size modifications.

Compared with three independent antennas, it provides extra degrees of freedom, requiring a single clearance area while enabling better long-range connectivity across multiple frequencies. This also makes it suitable for remote monitoring applications.

“If you want to operate for the three radios, you need three spaces to place each antenna, and that can be a problem on a small PCB,” said Sondos Mehri, R&D engineer at Ignion. “But with this product, you only need one space. Also, the matching work with three antennas can be complex. We optimise the space and supply the matching.”

The multi-block design reduces radio coupling, enhancing performance, reducing the matching network BoM and facilitating certifications, a crucial factor for IoT devices where every dB counts.

The release also marks a step towards eco-friendly IoT by reducing material use by up to four times and cutting manufacturing emissions compared with producing multiple antenna components. Engineered for efficiency and low power requirements, Omnia can extend device lifecycles, directly contributing to a reduced environmental CO₂ footprint.

Results of measurements on an evaluation board demonstrate that the average efficiency of an Omnia MXtend device is greater than 55% from 790 to 960MHz cellular, over 75% in the 1561 to 1606MHz GNSS range, and greater than 65% between 2400 and 2500MHz for wifi and Bluetooth LE. Peak gains for these frequency ranges are 0.9, 4.0 and 3.5dBi, respectively, with corresponding maximum VSWR figures of 2.61:1, 1.5:1 and 2.0:1.

The antenna is said to set 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. Suitable for applications such as asset tracking, automotive telematics, smart metering and industrial IoT, it enables seamless connectivity while reducing material use, delivering performance enhancements and sustainability gains.

In the development of Omnia MXtend, Ignion collaborated with Nuvathings (www.nuvathings.com) 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.

“They need cellular for connectivity, GNSS for location and Bluetooth for local connections,” said Mehri. “It is also very good in terms of battery life.”

The datalogger is used in a smart farming application to provide seamless connectivity for sensors monitoring soil moisture, pH, nutrient levels and other variables. This seamless multi-radio connectivity allows farmers to fine-tune irrigation, manage soil quality and increase crop yields while reducing the use of water and fertilisers.

Learn more about Omnia MXtend at ignion.io/landing-page/discover-omnia-mxtend.