Simulation model of a stripline with numerical calculations based on MoM for the evaluation of the glass antenna systems of vehicles in LW/MW frequency range

Abstract

The main task of an automotive antenna system is to ensure an optimal reception for the different multimedia services. The LW/MW frequency band is still important for radio reception in several countries like USA and Canada. One using procedure to measure antenna performance is to irradiate cars with a well defined homogeneous plane wave. This ca be realized by placing the cars under a stripline. Due to the increasing number of car models and car configurations as well as the short development time, EM simulations are needed more than ever. Numerical calculations give the possibility for antenna engineering to take important decisions about the placement and the design of antenna in an early stage of development. The Method of Moments (MoM) is one of the most popular calculation methods for EM antenna simulations due to acceptable accuracies in reasonable simulation time. AM antenna pattern are like most of antenna systems placed on the car windows. One challenge of MoM is the accounting of the dielectric effect in glass antenna structures. Therefore several approaches based on MoM were developed to account the non negligible effect of the glass material. In this article three of the most used approaches for glass antenna calculations are shortly described. The validation of the calculation methods is done by the comparison with the classic MoM. Furthermore, a new procedure to calculate the antenna reception with help of virtual stripline is presented. The application of this simulation procedure was validated with help of measurements under the stripline.