Automotive Antenna Design and Applications

Book excerpt: The steady evolution of wireless communication technologies continues to pave the way for the implementation of innovative services and devices in modern vehicles. These include analog and digital audio broadcasting radio, satellite radio, GPS, cell phones, and short range communication devices. Such applications require the use multiple antennas operating in different frequency ranges. Automotive Antenna Design and Applications thoroughly examines traditional and new advanced automotive antennas, including the principles, designs, and techniques used to reduce antenna dimensions without significant degradation of communication quality. The contents of this book are based on cutting-edge data collected from numerous technical papers, patents, and patent applications. It presents an overview of many commercially available automotive antennas and covers features that have become standard in automotive applications, such as printed-on car glass antennas, reduced-size helical antennas, multiband compact, printed-on dielectric and patch designs in a single package. Includes simulation examples of antenna parameters that significantly speed up the design process using software packages such as FEKO, NEC, IE3D, and Genesys Highlighting the practical aspects of antenna design, the authors present passive and active designs and describe the entire design process, including antenna simulation, prototype sample fabrication, and laboratory test measurements. The book also covers the production adjustments that can result from the demands of the real car environment. The presentation of numerous examples of passive and active automotive antennas greatly enhances this reference’s value to professionals, students, and anyone else working in the ever-evolving field of antenna design and application.