Definitive Tracking Antenna Design Decisions

Tracking Antenna PCB Peripherals

The following peripherals are planned to be supported by tracking antenna PCB.

Block Diagram

TrackingAntennaHighLevelBlockDiagram.drawio.png

VBAT-5V @ 5A Buck Converter

Set lower resistor value R2 = 10k

image-20240126-065114.png

R1=73.2k

Select Fsw to be 470kHz. Mid range switching frequency that is a balance between switching losses and improved smaller ripple and inductor.

 

Input caps should be rated for 50V (about 2x max VBAT to protect against SW node overshoot)

Put a 0.1uF decoupling capacitor on input to filter out high frequency noise.

Use Eq below to calculate input capacitance requirement

Let allowable voltage ripple be 2% of Vin (0.02*25.2 = 500mV pk to pk)

Iout = 5A

f = 425kHz

Vout = 5V

At max VIN (6*4.2=25.2V), Cin ~= 3.7uF

At min VIN (4*3.2=12.8V), Cin ~=5.6uF

 

At 12.8V and 25.2V, about 3*4.7uF, 50V caps should provide enough input capacitance.

 

Put 4.7uF, 35V MLCC connected to VCC

 

The inductance is calculated first

Let current ripple deltaI be about 0.4*5A=2A pk to pk

f = 425kHz

Vout = 5V

Vin = (Vin_min + Vin_max)/2 = (12.8+25.2)/2 = 19V

L = 4.3uH

Current 6.8uH inductor would give 1.27A deltaI pk to pk or 25% current ripple. We should be good to keep inductor as is (see linked inductor)

Saturation current should be greater than 5A + 1.27/2A = 5.635A. Current inductor has saturation current of 6.64A, should give enough buffer even with tolerance and temp derating.

 

VBAT-12V @ 3A Buck Converter

Note typical component values for 12V Vout and 2.1MHz switching frequency. A 2.1MHz switching frequency will provide us with higher switching losses (reduced efficiency) but a faster transient response and lower output voltage ripple (as well as a smaller inductor and output caps).

Graph below represents VIN to 5V Vout efficiency at 2.1MHz (not fully representative of our scenario). At loading conditions of 1A-3A we can potentially expect efficiency values of 80%-90% based on VIN and loading conditions.

Â