Vehicle Platform Effects on Performance of Flexible, Lightweight, and Dual-Band Antenna for Vehicular Communications

Abstract

This paper highlights the impact of the ground, of the vehicle surroundings and of the car body on signal transmission and reception of a dual-band microwave antenna tested on two automotive plastic parts on a convertible vehicle for cellular and Cellular -Vehicle To Everything (C-V2X) communications. The implemented antenna operates at 975 MHz and 5.5 GHz and facilitates the future vehicular communications in vehicles without steady rooftops. Four experiments are performed with the antenna placed (a) in the Satimo near field system; (b) on a stanchion at an outdoor range facility without the presence of a car; (c) at the outdoor facility in the side mirror of the convertible vehicle; and (d) on the trunk lid of the same vehicle. Antenna co-and cross-polarization radiation patterns are measured and results indicate that the ground and the vehicle's body affect the radiation performance of the antenna. The presence of ground causes an increase in the antenna's cross-polarization level. The reflections caused by the car's body perturb the omni-directional radiation pattern of the antenna and may degrade the vehicular microwave signal transmission due to the presence of nulls.

Antennas in the Internet of Vehicles: Application for X Band and Ku Band in Low-Earth-Orbiting Satellites

“…Through the elliptical patch, the grounding branch, and the T-shaped branch, the surface current at the operating frequency between the patch antenna elements is effectively blocked or absorbed in this design, thereby reducing the mutual influence and achieving a broadband effect [18]. The multifrequency effect is secured by combining two bow-tie-like curves so that the antenna can achieve resonance in different frequencies, and the extended twists and turns make the antenna operate at a lower frequency [19]. An X-band patch antenna with a coplanar waveguide (CPW) structure which can be directly connected to the antenna and transmit receiver modules without additional wiring is proposed.…”

Star Shaped Fractal Conformal MIMO Antenna for WLAN, Vehicular and Satellite Applications

“…Many researchers are working towards the design of flexible, fractal, and MIMO antennas for vehicular communications. Various antenna models proposed for vehicular applications are presented in [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. A dual band antenna operating for WLAN and WAVE frequency bands is proposed in [2].…”

Effects of plastic vehicular covers on radiation characteristics of lightweight, dual‐band antenna for vehicular communications

“…In particular, it was observed that the ground created a significant increase to the cross‐polarization level of the antenna. The antenna performance in [17] was studied in a far field setup taking into account the disturbances caused by the outside environment. It is important to isolate the effect of the plastics from the effect of the vehicle body, the ground and the outdoor environment on the antenna performance to understand how each factor affects the antenna.…”

“…It is important to isolate the effect of the plastics from the effect of the vehicle body, the ground and the outdoor environment on the antenna performance to understand how each factor affects the antenna. In contrast to the study presented in this paper, the different shapes and surfaces of the automotive parts were not taken into consideration in [17]. In this research the antenna performance is measured in a near field system, with absorbing structures around the antenna under test (AUT), limiting the measurements to examine only the effect of the shape and the surface of the automotive part on the antenna radiation pattern.…”

“…In this paper we investigate non-mettallic and curved surfaces as candidate positions to place a dual-band C-V2X anten. In [17] a similar antenna design is tested outdoors, on a real convertible car, to investiate the effects of the entire vehicle platform and especially of the ground on the antenna performance. In particular, it was observed that the ground created a significant increase to the cross-polarization level of the antenna.…”