LoPy in Metal Enclosure - Issues with external antenna?

[joearkay]

Has anyone had good experience enclosing a LoPy in a metal enclosure?

Due to the environment, we'll be putting the LoPy and some other PCBs in a steel enclosure, much like this one

We'll be using the standard LoPy LoRa antenna (which I believe is a Dipole) and the SMA connector, through the steel wall of the enclosure.

I'm however concerned that the connection of this steel enclosure to ground (via the SMA connector) will detune the antenna and cause some issues.

Does anyone have experience with this?

I'm thinking that I could use an insulated SMA bulkhead to pass through the wall of the enclosure, to keep them electrically separate?

Thanks

[joearkay]

@jmarcelino Thanks for these resources - I'll definitely give them a read.

[livius]

@jmarcelino
really good resource - especially i do not saw previously antenna guide pdf (link) provided by you, thank you

[jmarcelino]

@joearkay
Sigfox provides a very good resource on antennas for ISM bands:

https://build.sigfox.com/antennas

Highly recommended reading especially the Antenna Design Guide

[joearkay]

@robert-hh Interesting. Thanks. I didn't think it would have much of an effect, as the 'Ground' on the antenna connector is connected to system ground anywa.

[robert-hh]

@joearkay The dipole antenna should be relative immune to ground plane effects, caused by the steel box. You might even use a wavelength/4 antenna using the steel box as the ground plane.