S-Band Transmit/Receive Antenna Systems for Automotive Satellite Applications

It happened over a hundred years ago that Henry Ford introduced his famous Model T passenger car. At that time, variants and extra features were presumably rather irrelevant compared with the automobile itself, which represented the suitable response to the need of millions of new customers [1]. Since then, a vast range of changes, func- Q3 tions, improvements, and so on were designed and eventually taken into mass production. Among those, in particular since the 1920s, car radios were introduced for commercial (broadcast) and professional (communications) purposes [2]. Wireless communications nowadays represent an important area for the car industry, for infotainment (information and entertainment), comfort, environmental and safety-related services. In the field of connectivity, and specifically in the context of antennas for wireless functions, it may be of particular relevance to consider the proposition of a new European satellite technology based on S band, namely, the Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite Handheld standard [3] for the forward link and the European Telecommu- Q4 nications Standards Institute S-band Mobile Interactive Multimedia standard [4, 5] for the return link, both in S-Band. The mentioned standards are able to provide new satellite services for mobile terminals, such as broadcasting of radio, TV, and data contents, by using Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite Handheld and interactive services on the return link. This paper describes the activities related to the mentioned S-band system carried out by Calearo in the frame of the COSTARS (low COst S-band receive/Transmit Antenna for vehiculaR applicationS) project, co-funded by ESA-ESTEC [6]. In particular, the authors first briefly analyze the state of the art of the services present in the car industry from the perspective of automotive antennas, analyzing the current wireless applications and considering the amount of highly integrated functionalities already present, or being proposed. Then, the design and performances of a switchable dual polarized automotive transmission/reception antenna (COSTARS project) and usable for S-band automotive applications are introduced. The paper also includes a description of the antenna industrialization and production line and the related measurements performed during the project.