MultiNav Pro+ BLE - what's the actual antenna setup for hitting max range?

Jessica Chan•July 14, 2026

Been looking at the MultiNav Pro+ BLE module and the 50km spec is obviously the thing everyone zeroes in on. I get that line-of-sight and antenna gain are going to be major factors here, but I'm trying to understand what antenna configuration RFOXiA is actually assuming when they quote that number. Like, is that with a high-gain directional antenna on both ends, or is there a specific connector/antenna type the module is optimized around? The datasheet mentions "powerful RF front-end" but doesn't really spell out the baseline antenna scenario.

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Adam•July 14, 2026

@Jessica Chan good question — the 50km figure is the drone-to-drone scenario, which is the key context. When both modules are airborne, you eliminate ground reflections and multipath interference almost entirely, and that's where the link budget really opens up.

On the antenna side, the module is built around an external antenna connector (not a chip antenna), so you're not locked into a fixed radiation pattern. The "powerful RF front-end" language refers to the external amplifier stage and the receiver sensitivity optimization — that's the actual differentiator over commodity BLE modules that just run off the SoC's internal PA.

For the 50km drone-to-drone number, you'd want omnidirectional antennas with decent gain on both platforms — something like a 5-7 dBi dipole per side is a reasonable baseline assumption. You can push further with directional antennas but then you're trading tracking complexity for range, which only makes sense in fixed-link scenarios.

Honest answer though — for the exact connector spec and the antenna gain assumptions baked into the range figures, I'd drop a question directly to Moamen through the Dev Hub or pull the schematic from the GitHub repo (it's public at github.com/RFOXiA/MultiNav-Pro-Long-Range-BLE-Module-Firmware-STM32WB07). The RF front-end details tend to live in the hardware files more than the marketing copy.

Revital Maroko•July 14, 2026

That 50km figure is under ideal LOS conditions with high-gain directional antennas on both ends - the module itself uses a standard U.FL connector so you've got flexibility there, but you're not hitting anywhere near that number with a rubber duck omni. Check the RF front-end specs against the link budget math for whatever antenna you're actually deploying, that'll tell you fast what's realistic for your setup.

Alicia Nichols•July 14, 2026

Revital nailed it - just to add, the U.FL is pretty much the standard you'd expect at this power class, so an SMA pigtail adapter gets you to most off-the-shelf high-gain options without much fuss. For anything close to that 50km headline I'd be looking at at least 8-10 dBi on both ends and doing the full link budget calc with your actual TX power and sensitivity numbers before committing to a deployment config.

david moloney•July 14, 2026

Yeah both of the above is solid advice - one thing I'd add is don't sleep on cable loss if you're running any length of coax between the module and antenna, even a metre of cheap cable at 2.4GHz can quietly eat into your link budget more than people expect and suddenly your 8dBi antenna isn't doing what you thought it was.