Interference Mitigation for Robust Automotive Satellite Navigation Achieved with Compact Distributed Antenna Sub-arrays

European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, pp. 1–5

Abstract

Conventional distributed antenna arrays with interelement spacing larger than half wavelength suffer from insufficient spatial sampling, and consequently unambiguous direction-of-arrival estimation of an incident interferer. An L-shaped inhomogeneous orthogonal distribution, with half wavelength distance between elements within each sub-array and extended distance of multiple wavelengths between sub-arrays, counteracts such drawbacks and allows for convenient installation on light commercial vehicles. To further decrease the installation footprint area, this paper focuses on the concept of an even more compact arrangement, with inter-element distance decreased to quarter wavelength within each sub-array. This introduces mutual coupling between elements that affects the received signal quality and potential interference mitigation. To cope with such destructive effect on the robustness of the arrays, a decoupling network is designed and implemented. The effect of such network on compact and distributed L-shaped arrangements, mounted on side mirrors of a passenger car, are analyzed and compared in terms of radiation patterns measured in our automotive antenna facility, and the interference mitigation performance derived from the measured data.

Authors 5

1. Syed N. Hasnain

   Technische Universität Ilmenau

   Affiliation as printed

   Thuringian Center of Innovation in Mobility, RF & Microwave Research Group, Technische Universit¨at Ilmenau, Germany

2. Ralf Stephan

   Technische Universität Ilmenau

   Affiliation as printed

   Thuringian Center of Innovation in Mobility, RF & Microwave Research Group, Technische Universit¨at Ilmenau, Germany

3. Marius Brachvogel Aachen Chair of Navigation

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Navigation, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

4. Michael Meureryz Aachen Chair of Navigation

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Navigation, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

5. Matthias Hein

   Technische Universität Ilmenau

   Affiliation as printed

   Thuringian Center of Innovation in Mobility, RF & Microwave Research Group, Technische Universit¨at Ilmenau, Germany