1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a Reception Antenna Arrangement for Satellite And/or Terrestrial Radio Signals on Motor Vehicles
2. Prior Art
Satellite radio signals in satellite radio systems such as in the satellite radio system known as the SDARS, are transmitted with circular polarization, as a rule. For reception regions with substantially free propagation, a directional diagram with an azimuthal round diagram with a gain of about 3dBi for angles of elevation greater than 20 or 30 degrees is required to receive these signals. Antennas of this type and the requirements that have to be satisfied by the directional diagram are described, for example in PATSIOKAS ET AL: Satellite; SAE 2001-01; ISSN 0148-7191,3/2001. The relatively high requirement with respect to the gain in the range of low elevation angles is conditioned by the low angles of incidence of the satellite radio waves that frequently occur because of the positions of the satellites.
To support the supply of satellite radio systems with satellite radio signals, such as with the SDARS system, additional terrestrial radio stations operating on a transmitting frequency that slightly deviates from the satellite radio frequency are provided. The terrestrially transmitted waves are vertically polarized. To receive these signals the object is to azimuthally aim for a round diagram of the receiving antenna with a heightened gain at low angles of incidence, and with the omission of high gain values in connection with steep radiation, i.e. for about the directional diagram of a vertical, linear antenna. A combination antenna of this type is also specified in the literature source cited above. Transmitting the same information content of additional terrestrial radio stations, which reaches the receiver with minor time offset, is provided particularly for populated regions. In the event of any discontinuance of the satellite radio connection caused by shadowing due to buildings, trees etc., the total receiving information is coordinated in the digital plane of the receiver and united to form the radio signal. To further support the transmission reliability for the radio signal, a second time-offset satellite signal is provided in connection with the SDARS systems with the same information content so as to secure an optimal reception result.
In urban areas, the wave directly incident from the satellite is frequently superposed by waves scattered on objects, so that a Rice distribution of the antenna reception signals occurs, and, if the direct sight connection to a satellite breaks off, even a Rayleigh distribution will frequently occur as well. Measurements have shown that the local signal fading, events caused thereby may lead to a substantial loss of information even at frequencies of around 2.3 GHz due to the depth of the signal fading and because of the low signal levels of the satellite radio signals in the receiver. Even though these effects are counteracted, for example in SDARS systems, with the help of the multiple supply with two satellite signals, and in urban regions with an additional terrestrial supply, a break-off or loss of the radio connection occurs only in isolated cases. Building this break-off up again takes up an annoying amount of time because of the required coordination and synchronization of the components of the information individually received in the receiver.
The invention provides an antenna arrangement for motor vehicles for the Ghz frequency range, for the reception of circularly polarized waves and/or vertically polarized waves by having a combination of dipole antennas. The spread of this antenna combination is in no spatial direction generally greater than ¾ of the received wavelength. In order to provide a diversity function, a reversing device is used wherein when, at least two signals are received from the dipole antennas where the signals are different in terms of diversity, they are alternatively supplied to at least one antenna connection point for diversity reception. Thus, one or more favorable reception signal can be selected.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to avoid this drawback in a reception arrangement and to substantially reduce the interference probability and thus significantly enhance the quality of the signals both in regions with undisturbed incidence of the waves, and in regions with multi-way propagation.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which disclose several embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the drawings are designed for the purpose of illustration only, and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.
In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:
a shows an antenna circuit arrangement as defined by the invention;
b shows a circuit similar to
a shows a frame type dipole antenna over a conductive plane;
b shows a vertical angle elevation diagram for the dipole of
c shows a second frame type dipole with gaps that are capacitively wired;
d shows a flattened vertical diagram for the dipole design of
a shows an electrical dipole disposed over a conductive ground;
b shows a horizontal phase diagram of the electrical dipole of
c shows a vertical phase diagram of the dipole of
d shows a three dimensional directional diagram of the reception signal of the dipole of
a, 7b and 7c show vertical directional diagrams of differently designed antennas of the “inverted-V”-type;
a shows a U-Adcock antenna disposed over a conductive surface of a vehicle;
b shows the horizontal diagram of a U-Adcock of
c shows the vertical diagram of a U-Adcock antenna of
d shows a three dimensional directional diagram for the U-Adcock antenna of
a shows an antenna arrangement as defined by the invention with dipole antenna with a terrestrial connection gate and a satellite connection gate;
b shows a reversing or change-over device for the antenna arrangement of
a shows an antenna arrangement as defined by the invention with dipole device with a terrestrial connection gate and a satellite connection gate;
b shows a reversing device for the arrangement of
a and 11b show the relative amplitude and the phase response of antennas as defined by the invention with dipole antennas over the azimuth angle Φ.
a and 15b show an antenna arrangement as defined by the invention with diversity systems for both satellite and terrestrial reception that are independent of each other and each have access to all available antenna signals.
Referring to
Thus, the Diversity efficiency n of the Antenna diversity system is: n=qd/qs
The drawback of a receiving system with an antenna for circular polarization and, if required, vertical polarization, with separate outputs, is that level fading of the type and in the order of magnitude shown in
According to the invention, it is possible to combine dipole antennas which are switched together with phase elements to generate a directional diagram for circular polarization for satellite reception, or provide vertical monopoles for receiving terrestrial signals, in order to derive a diversity function.
a shows a reception antenna arrangement 100 that represents the simplest form of the invention. This arrangement comprises a receiving antenna having dipole antennas D1 and D2 with arms 3 for the reception of circularly polarized satellite signals on satellite connection gate 6, a center leg M and for the reception of vertically polarized terrestrial signals on terrestrial connection gate 7. According to the invention, it is now possible in regions with multi-way propagation to receive on the ground, the superior terrestrial signal on the satellite connection gate 6 due to the level fading events occurring on both gates in a de-correlated manner, and vice-versa, to receive the more favorable satellite reception signal on terrestrial connection gate 7. This is accomplished with the help of a reversing device 2 that supplies the more favorable reception signal 4 to the antenna connection point 5 for a diversity reception. Moreover, with switched diversity antennas, reversing device 2 is accordingly controlled from the RF receiver. For satellite radio with combined terrestrial support, both a satellite receiver 18 and a terrestrial receiver 19 are used, each with its own separate input, whereby each input is connected to a corresponding antenna for both satellite and terrestrial reception as shown in
Referring to
The basic configurations of antennas with dipoles when combined with a similar antenna that is rotated in space by 90 degrees, and by superimposing their reception signals with a phase difference of 90 degrees, provide a directional diagram for circular polarization. Azimuthally speaking, a round diagram is always required for the signal received with circular polarization. However, different vertical diagrams are frequently required for different satellite orbits. All of the antenna configurations described in the following examples are suited for application in the present invention.
For example,
Referring to
Referring to
In
All of the basic configurations of the antenna dipoles D1, D2 shown in
a and 9b shows a reception antenna arrangement of the invention with a reception antenna 1 using the frame type dipole antenna shown in
In another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the reversing device 2 as employed in
An objective of the invention is to provide a diversity efficiency as extensive as possible, so that the error probability pd discussed above is notably reduced. The error probability was defined earlier as follows:
In comparison to the error probability with one individual antenna, this results in the diversity efficiency n of the diversity antenna system where n=qd/qs. The interference probability is reduced to pd by using a diversity function. The diversity efficiency n is thus stated as the ratio of the signal quality qd in the diversity mode, to qs in the single-antenna mode during a drive in the same Rayleigh reception field. The signal quality q is defined in the same manner.
A notable diversity efficiency requires that the individual reception signals be independent of each other. For the reception antenna arrangements as defined by the invention and shown, comparatively high values are obtained for n in the Rayleigh reception field because of the variability of the azimuthal directional diagrams based in one spatial direction, or the different azimuthal phase responses of the individual antennas with dipole nature.
Basic configurations of these diagrams of an antenna in
Thus, in
In a reception antenna arrangement 100 as defined by the invention that is efficient to the same degree, an antenna with substantially horizontal dipoles is used above a horizontally oriented, conductive base surface 9. To create a vertically polarized antenna M with dipole character, terrestrial connection gate 7 is formed in the carrier of the symmetrically supplied dipoles D1 and D2 by a high-frequency separator circuit 21 at the foot of this carrier as shown in FIG. 12. Here, the electrical dipoles both extend horizontally and vertically in a declining expanse starting from its symmetry point S to form an inverted V-dipole. The outputs of separator circuit 21 are connected to reversing devices 2 for selecting the reception signal that is actually more favorable to satellite receiver 18. Even though azimuthal omni-reception of the signal amplitude is obtained on both outputs A3 and A4, the azimuthal phase responses of the signals on the two outputs are basically different.
Fred=pd/pe=pe(n−1)
Furthermore, the two additional diversity antenna outputs A1 and A2 are created. Accordingly, together with output A3 for circularly polarized signals, and output A4 for azimuthal omni-reception, up to 3 signals are available in terms of diversity. The table below shows the number n of equivalent signals, which are statistically independent of each other according to the above definition when using the signals occurring on the respective outputs in a switching diversity arrangement.
Due to the variability of these diagrams in
To show the improvement achieved with the invention,
The antenna arrangement of
While only a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
102 09 060 | Mar 2002 | DE | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5952983 | Dearnley et al. | Sep 1999 | A |
6317098 | Andrews et al. | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6356242 | Ploussios | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6542128 | Johnson et al. | Apr 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20030164802 A1 | Sep 2003 | US |