As reported by Continental
Regensburg/Rosenheim. The new Intelligent Antenna Module is designed to integrate multiple antennas as well as the corresponding transmission and reception electronics into one unit. It enables wireless communication between the vehicle and its outside environment as well as inside the passenger compartment for applications like telephone, GPS, remote keyless entry, tire pressure monitoring system, WLAN, radio, TV or future car-to-car communication. The antenna module links via a digital bus to various control units in the vehicle, which process the data and make applications available to the user.
Continental and Kathrein, the world’s oldest antenna manufacturer, have designed the Intelligent Antenna Module to solve several challenges currently presented by wireless mobile communication. It lowers complexity, reduces costs and improves performance. Since the electronics are located directly at the antenna, less wiring than today is required. The system uses a single data bus connection to shuttle reception and transmission data between the antenna module and the end devices instead of up to ten coaxial cables required by conventional solutions. The concept is highly scalable. Tailored to the needs of the car manufacturer, any mixture of coaxial and databus connections is possible which will reduce the number of cables, connectors and elaborate intermediate amplifiers. With fewer components, the cost and weight of the vehicle can be substantially reduced.
The Intelligent Antenna Module also boosts performance. Attenuation loss caused by coaxial cables is eliminated. In addition, the complete analogue transmission chain, which is sensitive to interference, is now integrated into one housing where it is shielded against undesirable electromagnetic influences.
The Intelligent Antenna Module substantially reduces complexity. Currently radio receivers and transmitters are spread over many control units inside the vehicle. For instance, it is quite complicated for several applications in various control units to use one single piece of information. If the location information from the GPS signal is needed by a navigation system as well as by an eCall emergency call system, at present two GPS receivers and antennas are typically required, since every vehicle that has a navigation system is not necessarily equipped with an eCall system as well, and vice versa. The Intelligent Antenna Module provides this information to all application centrally via the databus, and only one GPS receiver is required.
Since most services use country-specific frequencies, there are country-specific variants of many control units that feature radio electronics. In the future, it will be possible to relocate all of these into the antenna module. This also alleviates the life cycle problem; radio standards and wireless transmission technology, which are changing rapidly to keep pace with entertainment electronics in particular, have to be implemented only in antenna electronics that are designed especially for those functions. Up to now, this modification has been complex and costly, and several control units containing many other components had to be approved afterwards. This is no longer the case. And the coordination activities of the car manufacturer are simplified since only one development partner has to adapt the electronics to the new standards – the developer of the antenna module.
Regensburg/Rosenheim. The new Intelligent Antenna Module is designed to integrate multiple antennas as well as the corresponding transmission and reception electronics into one unit. It enables wireless communication between the vehicle and its outside environment as well as inside the passenger compartment for applications like telephone, GPS, remote keyless entry, tire pressure monitoring system, WLAN, radio, TV or future car-to-car communication. The antenna module links via a digital bus to various control units in the vehicle, which process the data and make applications available to the user.
Continental and Kathrein, the world’s oldest antenna manufacturer, have designed the Intelligent Antenna Module to solve several challenges currently presented by wireless mobile communication. It lowers complexity, reduces costs and improves performance. Since the electronics are located directly at the antenna, less wiring than today is required. The system uses a single data bus connection to shuttle reception and transmission data between the antenna module and the end devices instead of up to ten coaxial cables required by conventional solutions. The concept is highly scalable. Tailored to the needs of the car manufacturer, any mixture of coaxial and databus connections is possible which will reduce the number of cables, connectors and elaborate intermediate amplifiers. With fewer components, the cost and weight of the vehicle can be substantially reduced.
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| Photo: Continental |
The Intelligent Antenna Module also boosts performance. Attenuation loss caused by coaxial cables is eliminated. In addition, the complete analogue transmission chain, which is sensitive to interference, is now integrated into one housing where it is shielded against undesirable electromagnetic influences.
The Intelligent Antenna Module substantially reduces complexity. Currently radio receivers and transmitters are spread over many control units inside the vehicle. For instance, it is quite complicated for several applications in various control units to use one single piece of information. If the location information from the GPS signal is needed by a navigation system as well as by an eCall emergency call system, at present two GPS receivers and antennas are typically required, since every vehicle that has a navigation system is not necessarily equipped with an eCall system as well, and vice versa. The Intelligent Antenna Module provides this information to all application centrally via the databus, and only one GPS receiver is required.
Since most services use country-specific frequencies, there are country-specific variants of many control units that feature radio electronics. In the future, it will be possible to relocate all of these into the antenna module. This also alleviates the life cycle problem; radio standards and wireless transmission technology, which are changing rapidly to keep pace with entertainment electronics in particular, have to be implemented only in antenna electronics that are designed especially for those functions. Up to now, this modification has been complex and costly, and several control units containing many other components had to be approved afterwards. This is no longer the case. And the coordination activities of the car manufacturer are simplified since only one development partner has to adapt the electronics to the new standards – the developer of the antenna module.