Publications

In the era of automated and connected driving, more and more cars will be equipped with wireless transmission technologies such as mobile communications 4G (LTE) and 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and V2X. For the technical implementation of V2X-communications, different standards like cellular-V2X from the cooperation 3rd Generation Partnership Project and ITS-G5, based on the WiFi standard 802.11p from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, are under consideration. The electromagnetic environment of cars and the corresponding exposure of the general public to wireless emission will be significantly influenced by new radio technologies. Under all circumstances, it must be ensured that the exposure of the electromagnetic fields inside a car does not cause any harmful effects on humans. In order to quantitatively assess the resulting exposure, the generated exposure must be correctly recorded and evaluated according to their specific time-frequency spectra. This paper describes a new measurement procedure suitable for the V2X-standard ITS-G5 together with various exposure measurements performed in different cars with WiFi, Bluetooth and ITS-G5. In comparison of all wireless standards studied here, the V2X-service generated the highest electric field strengths inside a car, when a transmitting di-patch antenna was mounted on the windscreen inside the driver's cabin. The maximum fraction of the corresponding ICNIRP reference level amounted to 15.1 %. We conclude that the total exposure of wireless on-board automotive devices will be dominated by ITS-G5, if the transmitting antenna is located inside the passenger cabin. As V2X-communications will increasingly penetrate road traffic, the resulting exposure should be carefully monitored, in order not to exceed the corresponding reference levels for general public.

For frequencies in the GHz-range, anechoic chambers are usually evaluated using ray-tracing techniques to locate disturbing reflections off the chamber walls. Most approaches reduce this wave-absorber interaction to a specular reflection, although the absorbers may extend over several wavelengths in size and display a rough surface. In order to develop more realistic ray-tracing models, the reflection characteristics of absorbers must be evaluated based on physical wave phenomena. In this paper, a measurement method is proposed which extends the established NRL-arch to measure the angle-dependent reflectivity for non-specular cases. First measurement results of commercial pyramidal absorbers in the frequency range between 1GHz and 10GHz indicate that the assumption of specular reflections is not justified, as power is reflected over a wide angular range with approximately the same intensity. This effect is, to our knowledge, currently not implemented in ray-tracing methods. These results contribute to a better understanding of the properties of RF absorbers to improve the efficiency of their use.

Radar sensors play an important role in automated driving technologies. However, the rising number of sensors deployed to enable autonomous driving functions leads to enormous validation efforts. While simulations are a possible approach to accelerate the validation process, the development effort for realistic sensor models increases significantly. Data-driven sensor models offer the possibility to replicate sensor data accurately and efficiently. Using real measurement data, the sensor output can be simulated without the detailed parametric modeling of the wave propagation and sensor effects. In this paper, the radar signatures of a passenger vehicle under a constant aspect angle are analyzed in real measurements. Then, a data-driven approach for stochastically modeling the radar target detections is presented. The model is trained with real sensor data to achieve a high degree of realism. A qualitative comparison between the simulated and measured detections reveals promising results.

From mid of 2020 to mid of 2021, the 3G mobile radio network in Germany was gradually replaced by the successor technologies 4G and 5G. Therefore, dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) was introduced in the 2100 MHz band, which allows a parallel operation of 4G and 5G. There is an increasing need of public information with regard to a possible change in human RF exposure associated with 5G and DSS. Hence, investigations were carried out to study the instantaneous and maximal exposure of persons to base stations in the 2100 MHz band. Our study shows, that the instantaneous exposure has remained comparable before and after the introduction of 4G/5G with DSS. Regarding the maximal RF exposure, code-selective measurements of 3G and 4G with DSS show no significant change in exposure. To analyze the maximal exposure to 5G with DSS, code-selective measurements have been applied for the first time and compared with the 4G exposure in the same band. The results show no significant difference in maximal exposure between 4G and 5G. Furthermore, the need of code-selective measurements in comparison with the frequency-selective method for 5G is demonstrated if different parts of the electromagnetic field that contribute to exposure have to be assigned to selected base stations.

Automotive antenna measurements are typically performed in an anechoic (free-space) or semi-anechoic (reflective ground) environment. Even though measurements under these conditions provide sufficient knowledge about antenna performance, the automotive industry often desires to evaluate installed automotive antennas under practical road conditions. This requires a combined approach to test and qualify vehicular antennas; however, facilities deploying variable boundary conditions for measurements are challenging to devise. Alternatively, numerical simulations can be used to perform such investigations; nevertheless, it is essential to verify such simulations through measurements. In the Virtual Road Simulation and Test Area (VISTA) of the Thuringian Center of Innovation in Mobility at the Technische Universität Ilmenau, a new approach to provide variable boundary conditions for antenna measurements is realized to evaluate the impact of different electromagnetic boundary conditions and to bridge the gap between numerical simulations and measurements. It consists of a modular and mechanically robust plastic frame carrying a customizable fabric substituting a ground plane. This paper presents and discusses the initial measurement results of a reference antenna and an installed automotive antenna performed over the conducting fabric. The convincingly good correlation of more than 74% between the measured data and numerical simulations shows the validity of the proposed method.