EP3619769B1 - Antenna arrangement for a vehicle - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an antenna arrangement for a vehicle, in which a first antenna structure is arranged in a housing of an impedance converter and a second antenna structure is arranged in or on a vehicle window.

Due to new services and increasing demands on the quality and data rate of wireless services, the number of antennas to be installed in the vehicle is constantly increasing. In addition to positioning antennas in the area of the bumper and on the roof, the window area of vehicles offers potential installation space for antennas. Under glass antennas, such as in the area of the mirror base holder or in the area of the rear window, or adhesive film solutions are currently known.

DE 103 14 094 A1 discloses a vehicle antenna which is applied to a pane and has an integrated amplifier circuit, the antenna allowing use both for mobile radio services and for broadcast services.

DE 699 26 826 T2 discloses a glass antenna assembly for a vehicle. The transmitting and receiving device of the vehicle includes a window antenna for mobile radio and broadcasting and an impedance converter.

DE 101 14 769 A1 discloses a broadband active receiving antenna. The window antenna for a vehicle includes an amplifier circuit.

The DE 10 2009 051 605 A1 relates to a multi-band fin antenna for a vehicle. The multiband fin antenna has at least one transmitting and one receiving antenna element from the group AM / FM antennas, telephone and RKE antennas, GPS antennas, SDARS antennas, stacked patch antennas, DAP antennas, WLAN antennas, WIMAX antennas or DRM antenna. The antenna elements are arranged under a common fin-shaped outer cover on the outside of the vehicle. In the interior of the fin-shaped outer cover there is an antenna board on which the antenna elements are arranged. Electronic matching or amplifier circuits with transceiver, tuner or receiver are arranged on both the upper side and the lower side of the antenna board.

The KR 2012 0068102 A discloses a patch antenna on a printed circuit board disposed in a predetermined housing. The patch antenna receives a GPS satellite signal. A bump signal receiving film antenna is attached to a vehicle window. A conductive seal for signal transmission is connected to a circuit board. The conductive gasket is connected to the ground wave signal receiving film antenna. The patch antenna uses either an antenna with a feeder pin or an antenna for surface mounting. The bump signal receiving film antenna includes one or more conductive patterns that provide a DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) frequency or a WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) frequency.

From the DE 20 2013 007872 U1 a multi-band fin antenna for mobile use is known, with at least one transmitting and one receiving antenna element, at least one circuit board for matching and / or amplifier circuits, the aforementioned means being enclosed or encapsulated by a fin-shaped cover, and furthermore with connection means for electrical signal routing to be supplied or fed terminal devices. Within the space enclosed by the fin-shaped cover there is an antenna radiator for an authority radio band, with an external adapter unit being provided to maintain the required bandwidth for the authority radio band, which is connected to the antenna radiator via a high-frequency cable and, in this regard, the high-frequency connection cable is designed as a transformation element.

The arrangement of telephone antennas in a vehicle is subject to various difficulties. An arrangement of a telephone antenna on the roof of the vehicle is visible and problematic with regard to an overall impression of the vehicle. An implementation of the telephone antenna in a dashboard of the vehicle can have a high attenuation potential and cause disturbances in the built-in electronic components. In the area of a bumper of the vehicle, a telephone antenna must be constructed to be particularly robust and protected and is therefore expensive to implement. The deep installation position can have a detrimental effect on the reception performance of the telephone antenna. In addition, telephone antennas and television antennas can interfere with each other due to partial overlaps in the frequencies used.

The invention is therefore based on the object of providing an antenna structure for arrangement in and / or on a vehicle, which offers better performance and partially uses existing component structures so that the antenna structure can be implemented as space-saving and inexpensively as possible.

An object of the present invention is an antenna arrangement for a vehicle. The antenna arrangement has at least one second electronic circuit, at least one first antenna structure, at least one third electronic circuit, at least one second antenna structure and at least one impedance converter. The impedance converter has a housing. At least one first electronic circuit for passively or actively matching an impedance and for amplifying a signal of a broadcast antenna with at least one electrical input and at least one electrical output is introduced into the housing of the impedance converter. According to the invention, the at least one second electronic circuit for connecting to the at least one first antenna structure for sending and receiving data and the at least one third electronic circuit for connecting with the at least one second antenna structure for sending and receiving data are arranged in the housing.

The impedance converter is usually arranged in the area of the dashboard of a vehicle and is connected to an antenna for providing broadcasting services. The antenna for providing broadcasting services is usually arranged outside the vehicle in a roof area and is thus spaced apart from the impedance converter. By introducing an antenna into the housing or on the housing of the impedance converter, a further antenna can be integrated into the vehicle in such a way that negative interactions between the antennas are minimal on both sides. The antenna arranged in or on the housing can be, for example, an antenna for providing a car-to-car communication link, a Bluetooth antenna, a WLAN antenna and the like.

The implementation of a first antenna structure in an already existing impedance converter does not require any additional installation space in the vehicle. The existing housing of the impedance converter can be used for the first antenna structure. The short distance between the second electronic circuit and the first antenna structure, which are both integrated in the housing of the impedance converter, also prevents transmission losses and increases the performance of the first antenna structure.

A television antenna can negatively interfere with cellular antennas such as LTE antennas. The antenna arrangement according to the invention makes it possible to dispense with one or more analog television antennas on a vehicle window and to use the resulting space for at least one mobile radio antenna on the vehicle window (for example for UMTS, LTE, G5 services). This results in more options, since television and many other services that go beyond TV can also be provided via mobile radio antennas. Negative interactions between the different antenna structures, for example a television antenna and a cell phone antenna, can be excluded.

In one embodiment of the antenna arrangement, the at least one second antenna structure is arranged on or in a vehicle window. Such an arrangement of the second antenna structure proves to be advantageous since the window of a vehicle offers a larger area and thus many possibilities for attaching or integrating the antenna structure. For example, more powerful antennas with larger dimensions can be used, as a result of which certain reception characteristics can be optimized. The second antenna structure can be a continuous structure, such as a Foil, or be designed as a structure of thin wires and therefore imperceptible to a driver.

In a further embodiment, the at least one first antenna structure and the at least one second antenna structure can be adapted to different frequencies. This enables the first and second antenna structures to be adapted to different frequencies. Different frequency ranges can thus be covered by the different antenna structures and spatially separated from one another. The spatial spacing of the first and the second antenna structure from one another and the different frequency ranges covered by the respective antenna structures can also prevent negative interactions between the antenna structures or antennas.

According to a further embodiment of the antenna arrangement according to the invention, the at least one first antenna structure receives high frequencies and the at least one second antenna structure receives low frequencies. For example, the second antenna structure can be designed for low frequencies, such as less than 1 GHz, and can be arranged on the window of the vehicle. For low frequencies it can be advantageous to make the antenna structure larger in order to optimize its reception characteristics. The arrangement in a window area of the vehicle allows the space required to enlarge the antenna structure. The window area can be, for example, a rear window or at least one side window of the vehicle. Since the second antenna structure covers a different frequency range than the first antenna structure, both antenna structures can be operated next to one another without being able to register any influence of the antenna structures or antennas on one another.

According to the invention, the at least one third circuit is connected to the at least one second antenna structure via at least one electrical line. The impedance converter can in this case preferably be spaced apart from the second antenna structure. The structure is analogous to the existing broadcast systems. A ground connection is established via the housing of the impedance converter. The second antenna structure, for example arranged on a pane, is connected to the housing of the impedance converter via a cable, for example via a so-called pigtail cable. The cable has a non-negligible influence for high frequencies, which is, however, negligible for low frequencies. The installation position of the first and second antenna structures can thus be optimized according to the desired frequencies or frequency ranges to be received by the antenna structure according to the invention. According to a further embodiment of the antenna arrangement, the at least one first antenna structure and the at least one second antenna structure are radio antennas. The first antenna structure is preferably used to create a WLAN connection or a Bluetooth connection and the second antenna structure is used for cellular communications such as GSM, UMTS, LTE, 5G and the like. Different antennas take on different frequency ranges. As a result, the antennas can be optimally controlled and designed for the respective frequencies. The spacing of the first and second antenna structures can also prevent mutual influences from potentially occurring destructive interferences.

According to a further embodiment of the antenna arrangement, the at least one second antenna structure is partially integrated into a film as a film Disc or integrated into a body part of a vehicle. Antenna structures on the vehicle window, for example in the form of a silver print, are suitable for receiving low frequencies.
The film can be integrated into the pane during the manufacturing process. When the antenna structure is integrated into the bodywork, an antenna structure can be introduced into a casting mold, for example in a manufacturing process for plastic parts. In the case of metallic body parts, the second antenna structure can be integrated into an area parallel to a paint job.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the antenna arrangement, the one second antenna structure is arranged as a film in areas on a pane or on a body part of the vehicle. The window can for example be a front window, a rear window or a side window of the vehicle. The front window or a rear window offers a large area for the attachment or integration of the second antenna structure, which offers many possibilities of arrangement. In addition, similar structures and cabling are often already available that can be used for the arrangement of the second antenna structure. Alternatively or additionally, the second antenna structure can be glued on or melted on subsequently. This also enables vehicles to be retrofitted.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the second electronic circuit and the at least one first antenna structure are arranged on the first electronic circuit of the impedance converter. As a result, the impedance converter can be expanded directly by the antenna and its control. Using SMD components and optimizing the packing density on a printed circuit board of the impedance converter, an additional antenna and a corresponding Transceiver with the electronic components of the impedance converter are arranged on a common circuit board.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the at least one first antenna structure is arranged outside the housing of the impedance converter. In this way, the antenna structure can be designed, for example, as a film and wound around the housing of the impedance converter or attached to it. In this way, the performance of the at least one first antenna structure can be increased, since attenuation by the housing can be omitted.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the at least one first antenna structure is integrated into the wall of the housing of the impedance wander. As a result, the first antenna structure can be integrated into the housing during the manufacture of the housing of the impedance converter. For example, the antenna structure can be placed in an injection mold before a plastic is injected to produce the housing. In particular, the required installation space can be further reduced as a result.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the at least one impedance converter is arranged in a front area of the vehicle or in a rear area of the vehicle. This allows an optimized installation position of the impedance converter in a vehicle. In particular, by positioning the impedance converter in this way, a loss-minimized communication connection to neighboring vehicles, data services, mobile radio services and the like can be implemented.

Figur 1

in einer schematischen Darstellung eine Antennenanordnung gemäß einer erfindungsgemäßen Ausführungsform;

Figur 2

in einer schematischen Draufsicht ein Fahrzeug mit zwei erfindungsgemäßen Antennenanordnungen;

The invention is shown schematically on the basis of embodiments in the drawings and is described further with reference to the drawings. It shows:

Figure 1

in a schematic representation an antenna arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2

in a schematic plan view a vehicle with two antenna arrangements according to the invention;

In Figure 1 an antenna arrangement 1 according to an embodiment of the invention is shown in a schematic representation. The antenna arrangement 1 has an impedance converter 2. The impedance converter 2 is arranged in a housing 4 and can be connected to other components in an electrically conductive manner via plug connections 6. A first antenna structure 8 is integrated into the housing 4 of the impedance converter 2. In addition to the electronic circuit of the impedance converter, a second electronic circuit for operating the integrated first antenna structure 8 and a third electronic circuit for operating a second antenna structure 10 arranged outside the housing 4 are introduced into the housing 4 of the impedance converter 2. For the sake of clarity, the electronic circuits integrated in the housing 4 are not shown. The second antenna structure 10 is connected to the third electronic circuit via an electrical line 12 and is arranged here, for example, on a rear window 14 of a vehicle 16.

Figure 2 shows a schematic plan view of a vehicle 16 with two antenna arrangements 1 according to the invention. The two antenna arrangements 1 are arranged in the area of the rear window 14 of the vehicle 16. In particular, the respective housings 4 of the impedance converters 2 are integrated in C-pillars of the vehicle 16, the second antenna structures 10 being arranged on both sides of the rear window 14 and via electrical lines 12 to the respective third electronic circuits that are within a respective housing 4 of a respective Impedance converter 2 are arranged, are connected.

List of reference symbols

1

Antenna arrangement

2

Impedance converter

4th

casing

6th

Plug connections

8th

first antenna structure

10

second antenna structure

12

electrical line

14th

rear window

16

vehicle

Claims (9)

1. Antenna arrangement (1) for a vehicle (16), having at least one second electronic circuit for operating at least one first antenna structure (8), at least one third electronic circuit for operating at least one second antenna structure (10) and at least one impedance converter (2), wherein the impedance converter (2) has at least one first electronic circuit introduced into a housing (4) of the impedance converter (2) for the passive or active adjustment of an impedance and for amplifying a signal of a radio antenna with at least one electric input (6) and at least one electric output (6), characterised in that in the housing (4) the at least one second electronic circuit is arranged, which is connected to the at least one first antenna structure (8) for sending and receiving data, wherein the at least one first antenna structure (8) is attached onto or into the housing (4), and in the housing (4) the at least one third electronic circuit is arranged, which is connected to the at least one second antenna structure (10) for sending and receiving data via at least one electric line (12), wherein the second antenna structure is arranged outside the housing (4).
2. Antenna arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the at least one second antenna structure (10) is configured to be arranged on or in a vehicle windscreen (14).
3. Antenna arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the at least one second antenna structure (10) is designed as a foil and is configured to be arranged in part on the vehicle windscreen (14) or to be integrated into the vehicle windscreen (14).
4. Antenna arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the at least one second antenna structure (10) is designed as a foil and is configured to be integrated partly into a body part of the vehicle (16) or to be arranged on a body part of the vehicle (16).
5. Antenna arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one first antenna structure (8) and the at least one second antenna structure (10) are configured for or adjustable to different frequencies.
6. Antenna arrangement according to claim 5, wherein the at least one first antenna structure (8) is designed to receive high frequencies and the at least one second antenna structure (10) is designed to receive low frequencies.
7. Antenna arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one first antenna structure (8) and the at least one second antenna structure (10) are radio antennas.
8. Antenna arrangement according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one first antenna structure (8) is integrated into a wall of the housing (4).
9. Antenna arrangement according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the at least one impedance converter (2) is arranged in a front region of the vehicle (16) or in a rear region of the vehicle (16).

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