MAX-8 / MAX-M8 - Hardware Integration Manual 
UBX-15030059 - R05  Design  Page 12 of 31 
Production Information     
2.4  Antenna and Antenna supervision 
The MAX-8 / MAX-M8 modules are designed for usage with an active antenna, see section 2.4.2 
2.4.1  Antenna design with passive antenna 
☞  A passive antenna can be used, but require an external LNA and SAW for best performance.  
A design using a passive antenna requires more attention to the layout of the RF section. Typically, a 
passive antenna is located near electronic components; therefore, care should be taken to reduce 
electrical noise that may interfere with the antenna performance. Passive antennas do not require a 
DC bias voltage and can be directly connected to the RF input pin RF_IN. Sometimes they may also 
need a passive matching network to match the impedance to 50 Ω.  
Figure 6 shows a minimal setup for a design with a good GNSS patch antenna. 
 
Figure 6: Module design with passive antenna (for exact pin orientation see 
MAX-8 Data Sheet 
[1]
 
and 
MAX-M8 Data Sheet
 
[2]) 
☞  Use an antenna that has sufficient bandwidth to receive all GNSS constellations. See Appendix. 
Figure 7  shows a design using an external LNA  and SAW  to increase the sensitivity for best 
performance with passive antenna.  
 
 
Figure  7: MAX-8C/Q and M8C/Q  modules  design with passive antenna and an external LNA and SAW (for exact pin 
orientation see the 
MAX-8 Data Sheet 
[1]
 
and 
MAX-M8 Data Sheet
 [2])