Optimization of In-Vehicle Connectivity through Simulation-Augmented Antenna Measurements

The growing dependency to mobile devices and internet-based services has led to high expectations for in-vehicle infotainment components and their interfacing potential with consumer electronics. As such, the optimization of antenna systems within the car is required to deliver an adequate connectivity performance. Characterizing electromagnetic field distributions radiated by structure-integrated antennas inside a car is extremely tedious, if not practically and economically impossible. This paper applies the approach of simulation-augmented measurements to address that problem in a concrete use case. Here, spherical near-field measurements of integrated WiFi and Bluetooth antennas are performed, which are used to generate an equivalent electromagnetic source. This numerical excitation is then inserted in a virtual car model, and used for performing a full-wave computation of the fields inside the vehicle. The assessment is realized for various conditions without and with driver and passenger, showing the relevance of the technique.