Printed 5G Antennas
In recent years, vehicle communication systems have bourgeoned, especially in Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. This paradigm shift can be attributed to the strong appeal to minimize roadway collisions which are responsible for the death of some 1.35 million persons every year around the world. V2V communication needs 5G antennas to maintain stable link whilst driving in a changing environment; and that poses an enormous engineering undertaking. To avoid modifying the vehicle structure or adding new structure to the vehicle, 5G engineers have no choice but print the communication antennas on the vehicle window’s glass. In addition, it is aesthetically more appealing. As a matter of fact, even if the original vehicle did not have such a system, it can easily be added during the lifetime of the vehicle. Nevertheless, it is not obvious on which glass the antenna shall be printed, i.e. front, back, side, or mirror? and maintain the linear polarization requirement of 5G vehicle communication. In a nutshell, it is a fascinating new 5G topic that shall be studied thoroughly.
Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Network
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HFWorks Modeling of a 5G Printed Antenna
To contribute to this research effort, we took a printed 5G antenna design from the Journal of Applied Science and simulated it using our virtual prototyping antenna software, HFWorks. We looked at two design issues related to this topic and endeavored to find the answer using simulation; the first is the effect of the glass on the antenna parameters; and the second is the investigation of the most suitable position to place the antenna.
An Isolated 5G Antenna
The antenna is simulated without the vehicle; the following results are obtained:
Insertion Loss for the Isolated Antenna without the Vehicle
Antenna Parameters for the Isolated Antenna without the Vehicle
Next, the antenna is printed on the passenger window, as shown below:
Finite Element Mesh for the Antenna Printed on the Passenger Window
Insertion Loss Comparing the Isolated Model and Car Model
The Antenna Parameters for the Car Model
From the above two figures, the metallic structure of the car deteriorates the insertion loss while it improves the gain and directivity. Therefore, printing the antenna on the passenger window is, surprisingly, advantageous for the antenna gain and directivity; despite the deterioration of the insertion loss, it is still acceptable because it remains below -10db for the 5G frequency band.
We also looked at the performance of the printed antenna on the windshield of the car, the model is shown below:
Finite Element Mesh for the Antenna Printed on the Windshield of the Car
Comparing the printed antenna on the passenger window versus the windshield, the insertion loss remains acceptable in both cases; however, the window model has a better gain, as demonstrated in the figure below:
Gain Pattern Comparing the Window (Red) to the Windshield (Blue)
Conclusion
The results indicate that printing the 5G antenna on the vehicle's window glass offers significant advantages in terms of antenna gain and directivity, despite a slight deterioration in insertion loss. This improvement can be attributed to the metallic structure of the car, which aids in guiding high-frequency waves. Additionally, positioning the antenna on the passenger window yields better performance compared to the windshield, making it both aesthetically pleasing and electromagnetically beneficial for vehicle communication systems.
