IoT Academy: Hands-On PCB Antenna Masterclass

This live, practical course teaches you the workbench skills you actually need to understand antenna behavior, make reliable measurements, identify problems and tune your PCB antenna for real-world hardware.

Motivation

At some point in their careers, most embedded developers will need to work with antennas. Yet, for many, RF design still feels like black magic.

Because antenna integration is often neglected in the design phase, critical mistakes are easily made. Many developers simply do not know how to properly select or implement a PCB antenna and university courses are usually too theoretical to help you at the workbench.

Don’t be intimidated. We built this course to change that. We are here to bridge the gap between heavy academic theory and real-world application, giving embedded developers the exact know-how and practical experience needed to tackle antenna design with absolute confidence.

About the Course

In this course, you will master the fundamental antenna parameters and learn exactly what they reveal about your design so you can finally read commercial datasheets and compare specifications without guessing.

You will discover what a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) actually measures and how to calibrate it correctly to guarantee trustworthy results every time you test. Armed with reliable data, you will see firsthand how real-world variables like dielectrics, ground planes and enclosures physically alter antenna behavior, enabling you to use free software to visualize impedance, calculate precise matching networks and apply practical tuning principles directly to your own hardware.

Above all, this is a highly practical experience. While we provide the essential theoretical background at an easy-to-understand level, our primary focus is hands-on practice. You will not just watch slides, you will be guided step-by-step to make your own live measurements and work directly with real PCB antennas on physical boards using your VNA. We will perform these live measurements together, ensuring you gain the confidence to apply these techniques immediately at your own workbench.

Curriculum

Timeline:

• One session per week.
• 2 hours each long.
• One peer-reviewd assignment per week.

The course is spread into four sessions of 2h hours each. 15m: Recap → 40m: Core Content → 10m: Break → 40m: Practical Exercises →15m: Summary & Q&A

WEEK 1: Antenna Fundamentals & Datasheets

• Learn core parameters: Return Loss, VSWR, Efficiency and Gain.
• Understand the relationship between impedance and antenna performance.
• Read and interpret commercial antenna datasheets.
• Understand what antenna specifications mean in practice.
• Take your first VNA measurements with real hardware.

Goal: Build a solid foundation and understand what your measurements are telling you.

WEEK 2: VNA Basics & Calibration

• Understand exactly what a VNA measures.
• Learn the purpose of calibration and when it is required.
• Learn practical calibration rules and common mistakes.
• Understand cables, adapters, extensions and their impact on measurements.
• Perform practical measurement exercises to achieve repeatable results.

Goal: Confidently set up your VNA and trust the measurements you obtain.

WEEK 3: Antenna Detuning & Tuning

• Understand how dielectrics, ground planes, enclosures and nearby materials can detune an antenna.
• Learn how real-world hardware changes antenna behavior.
• Perform hands-on tuning with Freetrack antennas.
• Use Smith charts to visualize impedance and identify matching opportunities.
• Calculate and apply practical matching solutions.

Goal: Learn how to diagnose and correct antenna detuning.

WEEK 4: Impedance Matching

• Deep dive into impedance matching concepts.
• Understand why matching networks work.
• Perform practical matching exercises directly on your desk.
• Connect theory, measurement and physical hardware.
• Review the complete antenna tuning workflow.
• Final Q&A and course wrap-up.

Earning A Certificate

Learning RF design requires active practice. To ensure you are truly mastering the concepts, you can complete one hands-on assignment each week to earn a Certificate!

To help everyone learn together, every submission is peer-reviewed by a fellow participant. This allows you to receive direct feedback on your workbench results while seeing how other engineers approach the exact same RF challenges.

Upon successfully handing in all four weekly assignments and completing your assigned peer reviews, you will earn a digital Certificate of Completion from the IoT Academy to use as a formal record of your professional development and hands-on RF training.

Required Equipment

This is a hands-on course, so you will need your own hardware to participate fully.

Please have the following ready at least 1 week before the course starts.

1. Freetrack Antenna Kit

The Freetrack Antenna Kit is used throughout the practical antenna exercises. The Kit consists of five PCBs. On each PCB is a different PCB antenna and a VNA calibration Kit.

The Kit can be purchased via Elecrow with worldwide shipping.

Since the kit is required for the course, with each kit comes a 125 EUR coupon code that can be applied to the course at checkout.

2. VNA

You will also need a VNA. In the course we will use the NanoVNA V2 Plus4 Vector Network Analyzer. But any other VNA (2GHz min) will do.

You can buy the NanoVNA V2 Plus4 from the official site

Picture of the VNA

3. RF Cables and Adapters You should have:

• 2x Port Savers: SMA Female Jack to SMA Male Plug Straight Adapter
• 3x Coax Cable: SMA Male to U.FL Coax cable

You can buy this as in bundle at Superbat

3. Tools For modifications on the PCB:

• Soldering iron
• File or multifunction rotary tool (Dremel)
• Copper Tape (nice to have)

Your Instructor

Sascha Thiergart will be your guide through every live session. With years of hands-on experience in embedded systems and antenna design, he focuses on the practical steps required to successfully measure, match and tune antennas for real hardware. His goal is simple: Help you understand what is happening on your PCB and know what to do about it.

Community and Communication

Sessions will take place in online webinars. We will use some online conferencing tool like Zoom, Google Meet, Discord or similar. More information will be shared before the course begins.

For communication outside the sessions we are using a discord server with dedicated group channels. Course materials and assignments will be shared on this platform. Ask Sascha questions, discuss your measurements, exchange ideas and share your designs with fellow participants. The community and reference materials give you a place to continue learning and applying what you have learned after the course ended.

Registration and Payment

Next course dates

FAQ