How to maximize your antenna design.

Let’s say you work with excavators. Your R&D team are in the process of adding GPS functionality to the vehicle. During the meeting one of the team members drops the question. “Where do we get the best radiation pattern from the antenna?”. The antenna in this case is a small puck that is connected to the vehicle through the body.

How would you even make the setup to test this in reality? Using expensive equipment to measure the energy coming into the antenna at different places on the vehicle?
Or … just simulating it in CST Studio?

Below we are going to look at three different positions of the GPS antenna and how it performs attached to the vehicle. We have three different scenarios. The blue dot represents the GPS puck antenna. The scenario to the right has two steel bars added for protection of the antenna. Which position and setup is the most efficient?

After a couple of simulations, we can clearly see that radiation pattern from the middle picture is best. The pattern is more homogeneous than the other ones which will have high impact when it comes to receiving data.

By using the simulation data, the R&D team could easily decide on where to place the antenna on the vehicle. The team can now with high confidence be sure that the GPS communication will work as it should and that the vehicle could be released as scheduled.

Would you also like to simulate with CST Studio?

Zellaco is the official distributor for Dassault Systemes CST Studio Suite® in the Nordic countries. Get in contact with our team of software and hardware experts for a demo or simulation of your hardware.
We are here for you and your project.