Vehicle antenna system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An antenna system for a motor vehicle having a substantially horizontal roof panel formed from an electrically conductive material and a glass panel raked down and away from the roof panel, comprising:
- a patch antenna including a grounding conductor and having a characteristic antenna impedance, said antenna being fixed to an inner surface of the glass panel adjacent to the roof panel; and
,a low impedance coupling, relative to the antenna impedance, between the grounding conductor and roof panel wherein the low impedance coupling comprises a conductive strip.
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Abstract
A high-frequency vehicle patch antenna such as for GPS or cellular communication systems is mounted close to the conductive roof panel on an interior surface of the vehicle windshield or backglass. Low impedance coupling to the roof panel is employed to alter the focus and gain characteristics of the antenna such that maximum antenna gain is more closely aligned to zenith, and gain improvements in the general direction over the roof panel and improved omni-directionality result.
60 Citations
10 Claims
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1. An antenna system for a motor vehicle having a substantially horizontal roof panel formed from an electrically conductive material and a glass panel raked down and away from the roof panel, comprising:
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a patch antenna including a grounding conductor and having a characteristic antenna impedance, said antenna being fixed to an inner surface of the glass panel adjacent to the roof panel; and
,a low impedance coupling, relative to the antenna impedance, between the grounding conductor and roof panel wherein the low impedance coupling comprises a conductive strip. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An antenna system for a motor vehicle having a substantially horizontal roof panel formed from an electrically conductive material and a glass panel raked down and away from the roof panel, comprising:
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a patch antenna including a grounding conductor and having a characteristic antenna impedance, said antenna being fixed to an inner surface of the glass panel adjacent to the roof panel; a conductive strip having width no less than substantially one-eighth of the wavelength of a desired signal frequency, said conductive strip being ohmically coupled to the grounding conductor and extending beneath the roof panel; and
,an adhesive disposed between the roof panel and conductive strip for adhering the conductive strip to the roof panel to establish a region of low impedance capacitive coupling, relative to the antenna impedance, between the conductive strip and roof panel. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. A method for modifying the maximum gain vector of a patch antenna including a grounding conductor to provide an improved gain pattern in the general direction over a conductive roof panel of a vehicle, the antenna having a characteristic antenna impedance and adapted for mounting to a glass panel on the vehicle which is raked down and away from the roof panel, the method comprising the steps:
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mounting the patch antenna to an interior surface of the glass panel substantially adjacent to the roof panel; and
,providing a low impedance coupling, relative to the antenna impedance, of the grounding conductor to the roof panel wherein the step of providing a low impedance coupling comprises the steps; providing a conductive strip; coupling the conductive strip to the grounding conductor; and
,coupling the conductive strip to the roof panel. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification