Advances in Automotive Antenna Technology

　　Advances in Automotive Antenna Technology

　　Advances in automotive antenna technology are at a critical juncture, responding to a core industry trend today: the rapid evolution from standalone passenger vehicles to complex networks of connections between vehicles and mobile or fixed radios. This evolution, driven in large part by the need to continually balance architecture and device performance, has resulted in several key technological breakthroughs in automotive antenna systems. Electronic drive, braking, and especially navigation systems all rely on efficient transmission and reception of radio and other wireless signals with minimal signal loss. Important industry advances in antenna technology range from large-scale changes such as the development of smart antennas to subtle but significant innovations in antenna design, manufacturing, placement, and application.

　　Smart Antennas

　　Antennas with the prefix “smart” in the automotive field are antennas that enable machine-to-machine communications via wireless protocols, and then extend to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication systems. Traditional antennas usually use RF coaxial cables to transmit signals between the base station radio unit in the car and the body antenna, while smart antennas use integrated antennas and RF modules. Through unified digital interface cables, they greatly reduce the reliance on long cables and significantly reduce the cost of wiring, installation and long-term upgrades.

　　A typical smart antenna is a standalone unit that integrates multiple antennas, radio components, cables and interfaces. As a customized communication solution, this type of system can support a variety of protocols and applications, including global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), two-way short-range communications based on dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), 3G, 4G, LTE, satellite radio systems, and standard amplitude modulation/frequency modulation (AM/FM) functions, and its cost design can also adapt to the corresponding application scenarios.

　　Recent Advances in Antenna Technology

　　The ongoing exploration of automotive antenna design has resulted in refined improvements in the design of existing antenna types:

　　Bee sting antennas: Standard on many vehicles today, these antennas have been upgraded by shortening the antenna length and integrating a signal booster unit, while adding feed circuitry to support DAB, DAB+, and mobile protocols.

　　Shark-blade antennas: Blending form with function, these devices integrate multiple narrowband antennas on a custom circuit board. Advances in these devices include optimized circuit board design and integration of components that support GPS, DARS, and SDARS reception, while maintaining a low profile and compact design that matches vehicle design specifications.

　　Glass-mounted antennas: Hiding the majority of the antenna element at the edge of the vehicle's glass surface provides greater flexibility and expands TV reception and web video streaming capabilities beyond traditional antenna functionality. Microstrip patch antennas are widely used in the automotive field due to their low production cost, small size and easy integration into the interior of the car where space is at a premium.

　　Spoiler-mounted antennas: The integration of traditional radio and microelectronic antennas into the vehicle has led to the innovative technology of spoiler-mounted antennas. First developed in the 1990s, this technology improves space utilization by embedding antenna elements into existing spoilers.