From Low Frequency to Microwave, we provide custom wireless / RF circuit design solutions tailored to your specific requirements and needs, or modifications to existing designs. We have experience with a wide variety of transmitter, receiver, and transceiver solutions in a range of frequencies and standards, including broadcast, ISM, WLAN, cellular, avionics, and medical.We can tackle a project from many different starting points: concept, prototype, or production reworks. When starting from a concept, we will first develop a system-level block diagram, and drill down into the RF circuit design. If needed, we can also design any antennas required. PCB design for prototypes is also an in-house service, allowing us to supervise the layout for good RF performance. At this phase, we can build a number of prototypes and test the system performance. After first revisions, we can test for FCC/EMI specification conformance.
RF circuit design is a specialty, not a sideline. Sanders RF has provided radio frequency (RF) consulting and design services since 2006 – transmitters, receivers, antennas, PCB layout, full wireless systems, and electrical design consulting for the circuits around them. Our team holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering. If your circuit doesn’t work, doesn’t exist yet, or has a part that’s no longer made, that’s exactly the kind of work we do.
Call us at (919) 374-0773 to get started.
When you need an RF circuit designed from scratch
Blank schematic. New product. You know what it needs to do – you need someone to design the RF side of it.
- Full RF circuit design from concept through production-ready schematics and PCB layout
- Transmit/receive chains, oscillators, filters, modulators, couplers – microwave frequencies included
- Antenna design: LPDA, Yagi, monopole, PIFA – matched to your system architecture and link budget
- System-level design: spread spectrum, RFID, radar, custom wireless architectures
- 15+ issued RF patents on our principal designer’s record – we’ve done this before
When your RF circuit isn’t performing right
Transmit range is too short. Receiver performance is off. Something is wrong and you haven’t been able to pin it down.
- RF circuit troubleshooting – we look for the root cause, not just the symptom
- Transmit range problems: output power, antenna mismatch, spurious emissions, path loss miscalculation
- Receiver performance issues: sensitivity, noise figure, selectivity, desensitization
- RF circuit modification that addresses the root cause, not a workaround
- Analysis backed by ADS, LTspice, and lab measurements
When your RF component is discontinued
End-of-life notice landed. The part that made your design work is gone. You need a modern replacement that still meets spec.
- End-of-life RF component replacement – full redesign around a modern equivalent
- Performance testing of the new design against the original specifications
- PCB layout updates in Altium Designer or Siemens PADS
- Supply chain disruptions don’t have to mean a product redesign from scratch – often the RF circuit modification is more targeted than you think
RF Design Capabilities
RF Circuit Design
- End-of-life component replacement – swap out obsolete parts with modern equivalents without redesigning the whole board
- Receivers – sensitivity improvements, superheterodyne, direct conversion, super-regenerative (RKE)
- Transmitters – range improvements, high and low power (up to 1 kW)
- Oscillators – VCOs, XOs, VCTCXOs
- Phase-locked loops and synthesizers, DDS
- Modulators and demodulators
- Filters – active, passive, and electronically tunable
- Couplers, matching networks, and transmission lines (microstrip, stripline, coaxial)
- Audio, digital, and power supply circuits
- Radar, RF ranging, and pulse
Antenna Design
- LPDA, Yagi, monopoles, PIFA, and others
System Level Design
- System architectures, modeling, simulation
- Link budgets, intermodulation and noise figure analysis
- Spread spectrum/frequency hopping communication systems
- Digital/Analog communications systems
- RFID
PCB Layout
We specialize in PCB layout for EMC and RF using Altium Designer and Siemens PADS. We can import and export most formats, new designs or modifications of an existing version.
Computer-Aided Design
- We use ADS (Keysight), and many other programs, including LTspice (Analog Devices).
- Prototype design and refinement of prototypes for high volume production
Have a product with an RF performance issue or an obsolete part?
Tell us what you’re working with – we’ll tell you how we’d approach it.