[Design Focus] Automotive-grade antennas for transportation applications

Increasing automobile complexity is driving advancements in automotive communication systems, and antennas play an important role in such networks. A present-day vehicle has at least five to 10 antennas installed for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication applications.

The antennas are not only confined to applications such as telematics, navigation, and passenger safety but also include applications like tire-pressure monitoring, remote keyless entry, and collision detection. These antennas are used in extreme conditions and, therefore, should be weather resilient and waterproof.

Abracon’s IATF 16949 quality standard establishes a quality management system’s requirement specifically for the automotive sector. Abracon’s newly launched automotive-grade external antenna solutions have IATF 16949 and ISO 9001:2015 certifications. These solutions are IP67-rated and have level 3 PPAP available upon request.

Thanks to modern trends in the automotive sector, antennas are no longer limited to AM and FM functions but are also used for applications requiring navigation, cellular 5G/4G/LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, and advanced satellite radios.

Telematics is one such application in the automotive industry that involves using different protocols such as cellular, WiFi/ Bluetooth and GNSS. It is used in commercial vehicle fleets to provide information on vehicle location, vehicle use like speeding, harsh braking or turning, and vehicle maintenance requirements. It can also be used to connect vehicles in a fleet with each other. This application requires antennas with multiple protocols for its operation.

Abracon’s 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 combinational automotive antennas, such as the AECS1806C03Z and AECS1806D07Z, are perfect solutions to support such applications. They are external IP67-rated shark fin antennas that are panel or screw mounted onto the roof of the vehicle with cables connecting to the roof of the vehicle, with cables connecting to the telematics device.

The AECS1806C03Z solution supports multiple protocols such as 4G/LTE, WiFi, and GNSS, whereas the AECS1806D07Z has 4G/LTE MIMO along with AM/FM and GNSS. MIMO antennas help in mitigating multipath issues and increasing reliability of wireless communication in urban environments. Both solutions have active GNSS with high LNA gain.

Autonomous driving and asset tracking are other applications in the automotive industry involving the use of efficient and defect-free hardware. In such scenarios, the automotive-grade antennas serve as unique solutions for making the automobile’s communication networks highly sensitive and reliable. All GNSS satellites transmit RHCP signals.

Therefore, GNSS antennas must be right-hand circularly polarized to receive such signals with high efficiency. Abracon’s AECW0401G4Z is an active GNSS solution with right-hand circular polarization. This high-gain solution has an inbuilt active LNA to provide high-positioning accuracy with multi-satellite constellation support. This antenna is IP67-rated for outdoor, weather-rugged applications and can be mounted onto the roof or panel using screws.

Drivers used to commonly experience “recalculating” or “rerouting” navigational issues while traveling in older-generation vehicles. These errors resulted from less precision in the automotive navigational system caused by continuously changing signal delays. Using multi-constellation GNSS antennas in the navigation system removes such errors.

Abracon’s IP67-rated AECP0401G4Z is a high-gain external puck antenna operating in the 1561MHz ~ 1602MHz frequency band. This low-profile solution has magnetic mounting and is right-hand circularly polarized. It is a high-gain solution with an inbuilt active low-noise amplifier (LNA), which is used to achieve precision by receiving the weak RF signals and enhancing them for additional processing without adding noise or distortion. The AECA0401G4Z antenna solution is like the AECP0401G4Z but has an adhesive mounting type.