Taoglas Cuts the Footprint of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Integration — By Piggybacking an Antenna Onto RJ45

Internet of Things (IoT) specialist Taoglas has announced a Wi-Fi antenna with a difference: it's designed to piggyback onto an RJ45 socket as a space-saving measure in space-constrained devices.

"The FXM100 Wi-Fi antenna is a great example of our focus on innovation and solving tough customer challenges, like designing antennas for metal surfaces and awkward layouts," claims Taoglas chief operating officer Olivier Robin of the company's latest antenna design. "Our antennas give customers better performance with more flexibility, making it easier to add wireless technology to their devices."

While the most space-constrained device designs tend to opt for compact surface-mount chip or PCB antennas, there's typically a big boost to signal strength to be had with even the smallest of dedicated antennas — not least because they can be positioned closed to the edges of cases and away from sources of noise. The Taoglas FXM100 is designed for projects combining wired and wireless connectivity, and saves space by piggybacking onto an RJ45 socket — as used for wired Ethernet, among other things.

The omnidirectional dipole antenna is tuned, the company says, for 2.4GHz, 5.8GHz, and 7.1GHz operation, and while it's being positioned as a Wi-Fi antenna is also suitable for Bluetooth radios. Installation is simple: peel and stick the foam pad at the rear onto the RJ45 socket and pop the pigtail connector — available in configurable lengths — onto the radio.

Taoglas is showing the FXM100 off at Embedded World North America this week, with interested parties invited to contact the company for pricing and availability; more information is available on the company's website.