Antennas for Asset Tracking

Stronger signals, smaller trackers, global reach

Asset tracking devices face severe RF challenges. We help solve them early and right:

  • Unpredictable device orientation

Omnidirectional GNSS reception → faster fixes & longer battery life in any position.

  • Ultra-compact, multi-band designs

Ground-plane radiation delivers high efficiency even on sub-20 mm boards.

  • Global rollouts with one SKU

One multiband antenna covers LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS — tune matching network for region.

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Built for asset trackers. Proven in 100M+ devices.

Why leading OEMs choose Ignion

All-in-one, multi-radio coverage

LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS, BLE — one multi-radio antenna solution handles them all.

High efficiency in tight spaces

Up to 70% efficiency thanks to ground-plane radiation design.

Tune the network, not the antenna

Same part number across models — just adjust L/C for region or layout.

Works in metal-rich environments

Stable performance in vehicles, containers, appliances, or sealed housings.

Multiband capability without regional drop-off

Avoid inconsistent performance across regions — maintain high efficiency on LTE-M/NB-IoT worldwide with simple matching tweaks.

Certification-ready

Our RF team optimizes your layout to avoid TRP/TIS failures before lab time.

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RF headaches solved before they cost you

RF challenge
How we solve it
  • Unpredictable device orientation leads to missed GNSS fixes and slow TTFF.
  • Omnidirectional linear polarization keeps gain uniform in all direction.
  • Ultra-compact PCB can reduce efficiency and increase battery drain.
  • Ground-plane radiation achieves up to 70% efficiency on compact boards.
  • Multiple SKUs for global bands add complexity to BOM and cause rollout delays.
  • One antenna + tuned match = design once, deploy anywhere.
  • Cert failures (TRP/TIS) cause delays and costly retests.
  • Pre-cert optimization by Ignion RF team.
  • Harsh install environments result in detuning, especially with potting.
  • Matching network tuning corrects shifts without redesign.
  • Inconsistent performance across regions hurts reliability and KPIs.
  • High efficiency maintained across LTE-M/NB-IoT bands with matching tweaks.
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360º engineering support

Integration support for asset tracking

From first layout to lab-ready prototype, our 4-step RF Engineering Support helps you design smarter and certify faster. Get expert insights across:

  • Feasibility validation (PoC)
  • Simulation + tuning
  • Pre-certification testing
  • Noise/RSE debugging

What do you get:

  • Simpler antenna-first product design
  • Higher design confidence
  • Fewer surprises at certification
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Omnidirectional GNSS Advantage

GNSS that works when space and orientation don’t

In real asset-tracking deployments, devices are often small, buried in cargo, wedged in metal enclosures, or mounted at odd angles. These conditions can slow satellite fixes and drain batteries fast — especially for antennas that depend on a fixed, face-up orientation.

Our advantage

  • Small-form-factor efficiency — GNSS average often > 70% on compact boards.
  • Omnidirectional, linear reception — maintains more uniform satellite visibility in any orientation for quicker, more consistent TTFF.
  • Simpler integration — one multi-radio component (LTE-M/NB-IoT + GNSS + BLE) without patch stack height or separate GNSS antenna component if single radio supports multiple wireless protocols.

If it’s small, jammed in random orientations, or space is tight → an Ignion omnidirectional Virtual Antenna® can get you quicker, more reliable fixes with simpler integration.

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NN03-310

Best for multi-band LTE-M / NB-IoT + GNSS trackers

  • Efficient low + high band coverage.
  • Fits metallic or dense housings.
  • Ideal for high-volume, multi-region SKUs.
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TRIO mXTEND™

Operating range

400 - 8000 MHz

Dimensions

30.0 x 3.0 x 1.0 mm

Asset Tracking
Cellular
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NN03-320

Best for multi-band GNSS L1/L5 + LPWAN

  • Omnidirectional GNSS performance for orientation-independent fixes.
  • Wideband GNSS coverage in ultra-compact designs.
  • Ideal for high-accuracy, mobile tracking.
Learn more

DUO mXTEND™

Operating range

1500 – 10600 MHz

Dimensions

7.0 x 3.0 x 2.0 mm

GNSS
UWB
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NN02-224

Best for Low-band LPWAN (NB-IoT/LTE-M) only

  • Optimized for low-band efficiency.
  • Performs well even on small PCBs.
  • Perfect for cost-sensitive, sealed installs.
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RUN mXTEND™

Operating range

698 – 8000 MHz

Dimensions

12.0 x 3.0 x 2.4 mm

IoT
Ultracompact
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What our customers are saying

“High-performance, ultra-compact antenna solution, which covers the global cellular and the GPS connection in just one antenna component, and technical support were key considerations when we chose Ignion.”
Sébastien Amiot, Chief Executive Officer at SAMEA Innovation.
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Need Help With Your Asset Tracking Device?

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    Asset Tracking FAQs

    1. Why does PCB size affect an asset tracker's cellular performance?

    A Virtual Antenna® booster excites the PCB ground plane and the ground plane does the radiating, which makes the length of the tracker board the size of the radiating element. Low band gives way first as the board shrinks, because at 698 MHz the wavelength is longest relative to the ground plane available to radiate it. GNSS is not constrained this way, because at 1.5 GHz the ground plane is already electrically large whatever the board size.

    2. How much cellular efficiency does an asset tracker lose as the PCB gets smaller?

    Low band is where the loss concentrates. Ignion measured six board sizes with a TRIO mXTEND™ booster. At 698 MHz:

    - a 142 × 60 mm board reaches 72.5%
    - a 120 × 50 mm board 51.7%
    - a 107 × 50 mm board 36.9%
    - a 100 × 50 mm board 30.6%
    - a 75 × 50 mm board 17.0%
    - a 50 × 50 mm board 7.0%

    High band holds up far better on the same boards, staying between 56.8% and 73.7% at 1710 MHz until the 50 × 50 mm board, where it falls to 42.5%. GNSS behaves the opposite way and improves as the boards get smaller.

    3. How does a compact tracker board affect GNSS performance?

    Across six board sizes from 142 × 60 mm down to 50 × 50 mm, Ignion measured GNSS total efficiency between 63.1% and 72.2%, improving slightly as the board gets smaller. Board size is a cellular constraint rather than a GNSS one.

    4. How can one asset tracker antenna design cover the bands of every region?

    A Virtual Antenna® booster takes its operating band from the passive matching network beside it rather than from its own geometry, so moving an asset tracker into a new region changes a few passive component values and leaves the antenna part, the footprint and the board untouched. A resonant antenna would need a new part and a new layout for the same move. Between them the mXTEND™ components span 400 to 10600 MHz, which is why the band plan is a matching network question rather than a component question.

    5. How much clearance do Ignion's boosters need on an asset tracker board?

    Clearance is board area kept free of copper, components and traces on every layer, including directly beneath the component, and a larger area generally performs better. On Ignion's 107 × 50 mm asset tracking reference board, the TRIO mXTEND™ cellular booster uses a 12 × 50 mm clearance area, which the design guide gives as the minimum for full NB-IoT and LTE-M performance. The DUO mXTEND™ GNSS booster uses 8 × 4 mm, barely more than its own footprint, which is what lets it fit on a crowded asset tracker board.

    6. Can one antenna component cover both cellular and GNSS on an asset tracker?

    One component can be matched across both, and Ignion's asset tracking design guide is explicit that performance will not be optimal when it is. Giving each technology its own component lets each be optimised for its own bands, which maximises performance and minimises interference between them. The reference asset tracker uses a TRIO mXTEND™ for cellular and a DUO mXTEND™ for GNSS for that reason, each with its own matching network.

    Where board space rules that out, a two-port configuration of the TRIO mXTEND™ (NN03-310) covers:

    - Cellular at 824 to 960 MHz and 1710 to 2170 MHz
    - GNSS at 1561 MHz, 1575 MHz and 1598 to 1606 MHz

    How much does nearby metal, concrete or body contact cost antenna efficiency?

    Anything conductive close to the board couples into the radiating ground plane and takes efficiency with it. Ignion measured a 107 × 50 mm tracker board carrying a TRIO mXTEND™ cellular booster and a DUO mXTEND™ GNSS booster, which also affects the result. The figures are cellular low band, 698 to 960 MHz, against 39.6% in free space:

    - against wood at 0 mm, 41.0%
    - against concrete at 0 mm, 25.2%
    - against metal at 0 mm, below 1.0%
    - with the metal moved to 20 mm, 14.9%
    - in body contact at 0 mm, 3.7%

    Distance recovers most of it, which is why the mechanical decision about where the board sits in the enclosure is an RF decision.

    8. Does nearby metal or concrete mean retuning the matching network?

    Concrete costs efficiency but shifts no frequency, so the matching network can stay as it is. Metal both costs efficiency and moves the response, so it has to be reconfigured for the specific device-to-metal distance the mechanics settle on. Wood changes almost nothing either way.

    9. How is an asset tracker's TRP estimated before a prototype exists?

    Estimated total radiated power is module output power plus antenna total efficiency expressed in dB, which makes the efficiency figure the thing that sets the certification margin, and it can be read from simulation long before hardware exists.

    Carrier TRP targets vary by band and power class, so the margin has to be checked band by band rather than as one number for the device.

    10. Does Ignion support carrier certification for asset tracking devices?

    Ignion runs pre-certification over-the-air measurement on the physical prototype for cellular, covering conducted power, conducted sensitivity, total radiated power and total isotropic sensitivity. The measurements are the ones the accredited labs run, so a thin margin surfaces while there is still time to close it.

    11. Can another radio be added to an asset tracker later in the design?

    How much work it takes depends on whether the antenna already in the design has a spare port. A TRIO mXTEND™ booster hosts more than one radio, so a second radio can take a free port and the work stays in the matching network. If every port is taken, the tracker needs a second antenna component, which is a new part and a new layout rather than a retune.

    Either way the new radio shares the ground plane with the ones already there, so the design needs a fresh assessment on the Oxion™ platform.

    12. What does the Oxion™ platform return for an asset tracker design?

    Submit the PCB size, the bands needed and the placement options, and the Oxion™ platform returns predicted antenna efficiency, a suggested matching network topology and a bill of materials. Results are guaranteed within 24 hours and typically arrive in minutes.

    13. Does Ignion review asset tracker PCB files before prototyping?

    Ignion reviews the Gerber files before the first board is built. An engineer checks antenna position, clearance area, matching network topology and feeding lines, which is where most avoidable performance loss is designed in.

    14. How does Ignion shorten time to market for asset tracking devices?

    The antenna decision moves in front of the layout instead of after it, so a band or placement change becomes a matching network edit rather than a board respin. Cartrack, a South African fleet management manufacturer, cut its design cycle by more than 50% by reusing one Virtual Antenna® approach across multiple tracker and fleet platforms instead of selecting a new antenna for each.

    15. Which Ignion antenna booster suits an asset tracker?

    The choice follows the radios the tracker carries and the board area left for them. A TRIO mXTEND™ (NN03-310) measures 30.0 × 3.0 × 1.0 mm and is configurable from 400 to 8000 MHz, which makes it the cellular workhorse with the strongest low band. A DUO mXTEND™ (NN03-320) measures 7.0 × 3.0 × 2.0 mm, covers 1500 to 10600 MHz and runs two ports, which suits GNSS alongside Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

    Do you need more information?

    Contact us