Development of an automated environment for characterization and durability test of integrated antennas for automobiles

Abstract

During the last years, the automobile is transforming into a fully-communicated system, supporting all kind of communication types and standards (digital and analog radio, telephone, GPS and/or other positioning standards, TV, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, other dedicated protocols such as remote keyless). Different antennas are needed for each of those standards, which must be validated to fulfil specifications before being integrated in different parts of the vehicle. The objective of this Master thesis is to develop an automated, user-friendly environment for characterization and validation of different types of dual antennas developed by Ficosa Group. Characterization will be done through S-parameter measurements, thus the environment will support the calibration of the network analyzer, measurements, and validation by comparing against established patterns. The environment will also support durability tests by controlling a climatic chamber.