Adaptive Vehicular Antenna Layout for Shadowing and Cable Loss
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Solution Overview
Problem
As vehicles integrate more antennas for communication, the system becomes complex, leading to challenges in ensuring reliable and efficient communication, particularly with shadowing effects and increased cable loss, which affects performance and power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A vehicular distributed antenna system (vDAS) with shared software defined radio (SDR) instances dynamically selects the best antennas based on location, orientation, and obstructions, and powers down unnecessary antennas to optimize performance and reduce power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple antennas are mounted spaced apart to provide 360 degree coverage, then communication reliability is improved, but system complexity and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic antenna selection where the system continuously monitors signal quality metrics (RSRP, SINR) from multiple distributed antennas and dynamically selects the optimal subset for active use. This allows the system to maintain reliable communication by having multiple antennas available while reducing complexity by activating only the necessary number of antennas at any given time based on real-time conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters by adjusting which antennas are active based on measured signal characteristics. The controller monitors parameters like reference signal received power and signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio from each antenna, then modifies the active antenna configuration accordingly, transitioning between different antenna subsets to optimize the balance between reliability and complexity.
2Reliability
If multiple antennas are deployed for V2X and cellular communication, then communication coverage is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by activating only the minimum necessary number of antennas required to meet communication requirements rather than keeping all antennas continuously active. The controller evaluates signal quality metrics and activates sufficient antennas to maintain coverage while leaving others in low-power state, thus reducing overall power consumption while preserving communication coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic monitoring and reconfiguration of antenna activation states. The controller periodically assesses communication conditions and adjusts which antennas remain active, creating a rhythm of evaluation and adjustment that maintains adequate coverage while minimizing power consumption by keeping antennas in low-power states whenever possible.
3Reliability
If antennas are spaced far apart for optimal coverage, then signal reception is improved, but cable loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the unnecessary cable connections by implementing direct digital interfaces between selected antennas and the controller. Instead of using long analog cables that incur significant loss, the system establishes digital communication paths only for the antennas that are actively selected, eliminating the energy loss associated with long cable runs for inactive or less optimal antennas.
Data Source
AI summary
Exemplary embodiments are disclosed of vehicular adaptive distributed antenna systems (V-ADAS) or distributed antenna farms. In exemplary embodiments, the system may include antennas that are sharable with one or more software defined radio (SDR) instances. In exemplary embodiments, the system may be configured to be operable for dynamic selection of the best antenna(s) for the specific situation, e.g., for high reliability communication and/or power and performance optimization, rural versus urban, shadowing effects of the vehicle itself and/or nearby obstructions, etc. In exemplary embodiments, the system may be configured to power down one or more of the remote active antennas that are not needed.