JPH06232619A - On-vehicle transmission/reception module and mounting method of on-vehicle transmission/reception module to vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an on-vehicle transmission/reception module which is mounted on a vehicle by a vehicle manufacturer almost without changing external appearance of the vehicle. CONSTITUTION:An on-vehicle laser head 35 is made up of a main body section 1 and a number plate section 32. The main body section 1 has a slot antenna 21 and mounted on a rear side of the number plate section 32. A material able to transmit a radio wave is adopted for a material of the number plate section 32, and a number is printed on the surface. The main body section 1 is usually mounted to a number plate mount section 41a of a vehicle 40 by a vehicle manufacturer to adjust a radiation shaft of a radio wave radiating from the slot antenna 21. The number plate section 32 is usually mounted on the front side of the main body section 1 at a maintenance shop or the like after registration of the number.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an on-vehicle transmission / reception module mounted on a vehicle or the like and used for inter-vehicle communication or for measuring an inter-vehicle distance or a relative speed with a traveling vehicle ahead or behind.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Generally, a vehicle-mounted transceiver module used for measuring a distance between vehicles, a relative speed to a vehicle traveling forward (or rearward), and for inter-vehicle communication is a front portion (or a rear portion) of a vehicle. ) Is attached. Here, an antenna capable of obtaining a large gain is required for a high-performance transmission / reception system, and therefore an antenna having a large outer dimension is required. Therefore, the ratio of the area occupied by the transceiver module in the front part (or the rear part) of the vehicle is high,
If the transceiver module is simply attached to the vehicle, the appearance of the vehicle is significantly changed, which is not preferable in vehicle design.

Therefore, the applicant of the present application has proposed, in Japanese Patent Application No. 5-260, to mount the transceiver module on the back surface of the license plate. This is because the transmission / reception module having a large external dimension can be attached to the vehicle without substantially changing the appearance of the vehicle. By the way, when the transceiver module is attached to the vehicle, it is necessary to adjust the radiation axis of the radio wave radiated from the antenna. On the other hand, in the current vehicle registration procedure, a number is issued from the competent government agency to a vehicle that has been assembled by a vehicle manufacturer, and after registration, a number plate is attached to the vehicle.
Therefore, in order to comply with the current vehicle registration procedures, after registering the assembled vehicle at the manufacturer at the competent government agency, the transmitter / receiver module must be attached to the back of the license plate at the maintenance shop etc. and the radiation axis must be adjusted. I have to.
For this reason, there is a problem that the manufacturer cannot adjust the radiation axis of the transmission / reception module.

Therefore, the present invention is to provide a vehicle-mounted transceiver module which can be mounted on a vehicle by a vehicle manufacturer without substantially changing the appearance of the vehicle.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the vehicle-mounted transceiver module according to the present invention is
(A) a license plate portion made of a material capable of transmitting radio waves, and (b) a main body portion having at least an antenna portion and arranged on the back surface of the license plate portion. To do. Materials that can transmit radio waves include PC (polycarbonate resin), PBT (polybutylene terephthalate resin), F
RPP (fiber reinforced polypropylene resin), ABS resin and the like are preferable. This is because radio waves can be transmitted with low loss.

In the above structure, when the vehicle-mounted transceiver module mounted on the front part (or rear part) of the vehicle is used as a radar, the radio waves radiated from the antenna part of the main body are transmitted through the license plate part. After a part of the vehicle reaches a vehicle traveling forward (or rearward), it is reflected by the traveling vehicle, passes through the license plate portion again, and enters the antenna portion.

Further, when the on-vehicle transmission / reception module is used for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, the communication information is converted into radio waves at the time of transmission, the radio waves are radiated from the antenna portion, transmitted through the license plate portion, and forward (or rearward). It transmits to the antenna part of the transmitting and receiving module of the vehicle traveling.
On the contrary, at the time of reception, the radio waves (communication information) radiated from the antenna part of the transceiver module of the vehicle traveling in the front (or the rear) pass through the license plate part and reach the antenna part of the main body part. To receive.

Furthermore, since the main body of the on-vehicle transmission / reception module is arranged on the back surface of the license plate,
The appearance of the vehicle is almost unchanged. Further, the method for mounting the on-vehicle transmission / reception module according to the present invention on a vehicle is as follows: (c) The main body portion having at least the antenna portion is mounted on the license plate mounting portion of the vehicle to radiate radio waves radiated from the antenna portion. It is characterized by including a step of adjusting the axis, and (d) a step of mounting a license plate portion made of a material capable of transmitting radio waves on the surface of the main body portion.

In the above method, the main body of the transceiver module is usually attached to the license plate mounting portion of the vehicle by the vehicle manufacturer, and the radiation axis of the radio wave radiated from the antenna portion is adjusted. On the other hand, the license plate portion of the transmission / reception module is usually attached to the surface of the transmission / reception module main body portion at a maintenance shop or the like after a number is issued from the competent government agency and registered.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an on-vehicle transmitting / receiving module according to the present invention and a method of mounting the on-vehicle transmitting / receiving module on a vehicle will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the vehicle-mounted transceiver module is used as a millimeter-wave vehicle-mounted radar head that measures, in particular, an inter-vehicle distance and a relative speed to a traveling vehicle ahead (or behind).

The on-vehicle radar head 35 comprises a main body 1 and a license plate portion 32 (see FIG. 3). 1 and 2 are views showing the main body 1 of the vehicle-mounted radar head 35. The main body 1 is a non-radiative dielectric waveguide (Nonr
adiative DielectricWavegu
ide, hereinafter referred to as NRD guide) 2 and a slot antenna 21.

The NRD guide 2 is generally composed of a base material 4 having a conductive film 3 on its surface, dielectric strips 5 and 6, a conductive flat plate 7 and a supporting member 8. The conductive film 3 and the conductive flat plate 7 are arranged in parallel with a support member 8 arranged on the outer peripheral portion of the base member 4 in a state in which a certain distance is secured, and the dielectric strips 5 and 6 are provided between them. Each is inserted. As a material for the dielectric strips 5 and 6, a low loss material such as a fluororesin, a polyethylene resin, or a polystyrene resin is used.

Slots 20 are formed in a grid pattern on the conductor plate 7, and the substantially rectangular portion in which the slots 20 are formed functions as a slot antenna 21. The small piece 7a separated from the conductor flat plate 7 by forming the slot 20 is held by being bonded to a protective film 30 (see FIG. 2) made of a material capable of transmitting millimeter waves with low loss. . Holes 25 for attaching the license plate portion 32 are provided on the left and right of the upper portion of the conductor plate 7.

One end of the dielectric strips 5, 6 is
The bent portions 10 and 11 each have the same radius of curvature. The bent portions 10 and 11 are arranged such that their vertices face each other, and form a 90 ° bend directional coupler 12. Further, the bent portion 10 is connected to the circulator 14, and the bent portion 11 is connected to the terminator 16. A switch 17 and a mixer 18 are arranged adjacent to the circulator 14. A Gunn oscillator 15 is disposed adjacent to the switch 17.

The operation of the main body 1 will be described. The millimeter wave emitted from the Gunn oscillator 15 propagates through the dielectric strip 5 via the switch 17, the circulator 14 and the directional coupler 12. In the dielectric strip 5, the millimeter wave leaks to the outside of the dielectric strip 5, and the leaked millimeter wave is radiated to the outside of the NRD guide 2 from the slot 20 of the slot antenna 21 formed on the conductor plate 7. . On the other hand, the slot 20 of the slot antenna 21
The millimeter wave incident on the inside of the NRD guide 2 propagates through the dielectric strip 6 and is guided to the mixer 18 via the directional coupler 12 and the circulator 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, the license plate portion 3
Number 2 is formed on the surface of the 2 by printing or pressing, and mounting holes 33 are provided on the upper left and right sides. As the material of the license plate portion 32, a material that can transmit millimeter waves with low loss is used. Specifically, PC (polycarbonate resin), PBT
(Polybutylene terephthalate resin), FRPP (fiber reinforced polypropylene resin), ABS resin and the like are used.

Next, the mounting of the radar head 35 on the vehicle will be described. As shown in FIG.
The main body 1 is attached to the license plate mounting portion 41a of the front bumper 41 of the vehicle 40 so that the slot antenna 21 faces the front of the vehicle 40, and the emission axis of millimeter waves emitted from the slot antenna 21 is adjusted. Is done. Further, the license plate portion 32 is provided with the conductor flat plate 7
By inserting screws into the holes 25 provided in the hole 25 and the holes 33 provided in the license plate portion 32 and fixing the screws, the main body 1
Mounted on the surface of. At this time, the main body 1 is set to be disposed inside the outer periphery of the license plate 32. Therefore, the main body portion 1 is located on the back surface of the license plate portion 32 and is barely exposed on the surface of the vehicle 40.
The appearance of the vehicle 40 is almost unchanged.

FIG. 4 is an equivalent electric circuit diagram of the radar head 35 having the above structure. The operation of the radar head 35 mounted on the vehicle 40 will be described with reference to FIG. The millimeter wave emitted from the Gunn oscillator 15 of the main body 1 is radiated in the forward direction of the vehicle 40 from the slot 20 of the slot antenna 21 via the switch 17, the circulator 14, the directional coupler 12, and the dielectric strip 5. . The radiated millimeter wave passes through the license plate portion 32, and a part of the millimeter wave reaches a vehicle traveling ahead, and is then reflected by this vehicle. The reflected millimeter wave passes through the license plate portion 32 again and enters into the NRD guide 2 through the slot 20 and enters the vehicle 40 through the dielectric strip 6, the directional coupler 12, the circulator 14, and the mixer 18. It is transmitted to the mounted signal processing unit. In this signal processing unit, an inter-vehicle distance or the like is calculated based on the transmitted millimeter wave, and the result is displayed on a liquid crystal image device or the like installed in the vehicle 40.

Next, the procedure for attaching the radar head 35 to the vehicle 40 will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, step 1
Then, at the vehicle manufacturer, the assembled vehicle 4
The main body 1 of the radar head 35 is attached to the number plate attachment portion 41a of 0. Then, the radiation axis of the millimeter wave radiated from the slot antenna 21 is adjusted. In step 2, the vehicle 40 whose radial axis has been adjusted is shipped from the manufacturer. Next, in step 3, a number is issued from the competent government agency (land transportation office) to the vehicle 40 shipped from this manufacturer, and the vehicle 40 is registered. After registration,
In step 4, the license plate section 32 is attached to the surface of the main body section 1 of the radar head 35 mounted on the vehicle 40 at a maintenance shop or the like.
Is installed. Then, in step 5, the vehicle 40 is stored by the user.

Therefore, when the radar head 35 is mounted on the vehicle 40, only one new license plate portion 32 of the radar head 35 needs to be added to the existing license plate type, and the existing vehicle registration system and vehicle are required. There is no need to change the distribution system. The in-vehicle transmission / reception module according to the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be variously modified within the scope of the gist.

The structure of the main body is arbitrary and may be a combination of a strip line and a patch antenna. Further, the on-vehicle transmission / reception module may be provided in the rear part of the vehicle. Further, the main body portion having only the antenna portion may be provided on the back surface of the license plate portion. In this case, parts other than the antenna part may be mounted in the hood of the vehicle. In any case, it is preferable that the main body portion having at least the antenna portion has a size set within the area of the license plate portion, but it may protrude from the license plate portion unless the appearance of the vehicle is significantly changed.

Further, the number characters may be formed on the surface of the antenna radome by printing or pressing so that the antenna radome also has a function as a license plate portion. Here, the antenna radome is a dielectric protection member for protecting the on-vehicle transmission / reception module from rain, snow, ice, etc., and its material is required to be thin and have good weather resistance. Specifically, PC, PBT, F
Resins such as RPP and ABS are used.

The arrangement and size of the antenna part of the main body are arbitrary. In addition, the vehicle-mounted transceiver module has an inter-vehicle communication function in addition to the radar function of the above-described embodiment.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the main body portion having at least the antenna portion is arranged on the back surface of the license plate portion, the main body portion is almost not exposed on the vehicle surface. No, the appearance of the vehicle is almost unchanged.
As a result, a vehicle-mounted transceiver module that can be mounted on the vehicle can be obtained with almost no change in the appearance of the vehicle.

When mounting on a vehicle, the main body of the transmitting / receiving module can be mounted on the vehicle by the vehicle manufacturer, and the radiation axis of radio waves can be adjusted. On the other hand, the license plate part is attached to the surface of the transmission / reception module main body part at a maintenance factory or the like after a number is issued from the competent government agency and registered. As a result, the vehicle-mounted transceiver module can be attached to the vehicle without significantly changing the existing vehicle registration system and vehicle distribution system.

Further, this on-vehicle transmission / reception module is
It can be designed independently of the vehicle, and can be made highly productive and maintainable. Furthermore, since the vehicle manufacturer can mount the main body of the on-vehicle transmission / reception module on the vehicle, it is possible to prevent low-performance modules other than genuine products from entering the market.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a main body of a vehicle-mounted transceiver module according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a vehicle-mounted transceiver module is mounted on a vehicle.

FIG. 4 is an equivalent electric circuit diagram of a vehicle-mounted transceiver module.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for mounting the on-vehicle transmission / reception module on a vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main body part 2 ... NRD guide 21 ... Slot antenna 32 ... License plate part 35 ... Vehicle-mounted radar head (vehicle-mounted transceiver module) 40 ... Vehicle 41a ... License plate mounting part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle-mounted transceiver module using radio waves, comprising: a license plate portion made of a material capable of transmitting radio waves; and a main body portion having at least an antenna portion and disposed on the back surface of the license plate portion. An in-vehicle transmission / reception module comprising: 2. A step of mounting a main body portion having at least an antenna portion on a license plate mounting portion of a vehicle to adjust a radiation axis of radio waves radiated from the antenna portion, and a material capable of transmitting radio waves. And a step of mounting the license plate part on the surface of the main body part.