Hirschmann’s New Antenna Reduces Intricacy of Car Electronics

Hirschmann Car Communication, the premier supplier of technology that intelligently combines a tuner, transceiver and antenna in a single unit, has recently unveiled an innovative smart antenna. This product fulfills the requirements of new system architectures, linking an array of services including GPS, radio, eCall, mobile communication, Car-to-X and TV in one central point, outside the head unit.

According to Ludwig Geis, CEO of Hirschmann Car Communication GmbH, their smart antenna offers automakers an effective, fundamental technological structure that enables new standards, architectures and customer requirements for communication and infotainment services to be integrated in vehicles instantly, flexibly and in a scalable manner. He claimed that it reduces intricacy instead of increasing it, and they have already carried out an extensive test program with a renowned automaker, in which all of the customer requirements were successfully implemented.

Hirschmann’s new smart antenna comes with a standard roof antenna and a control device, which contains the transceiver and the tuner and is responsible for demodulating and decoding from different radio services. Its design reduces the in-car distances traveled by the analogue HF signals between the antenna and the receiver, which enhances the signal quality for passengers listening to the radio, making telephone calls, watching television or utilizing the navigation function.

The position and direct signal processing on the vehicle roof are also ideal for receiving GHz signals for Bluetooth and WLAN connections, for instance in Car-to-X communication. Moreover, the bundling of functions at a central point eliminates the need for coaxial cables and unneeded interfaces in the car. In cases when the antenna and control device cannot be mounted on the roof in the same place, the components can be decoupled and positioned at different points.

What’s more, the smart antenna also performs the functions that were previously incorporated in the head unit. Updating the radio standard no longer calls for the replacement of the head unit. Thanks to its scalability, the smart antenna can be connected to an array of head unit variants. In addition, fewer country-specific head unit variants are needed, which considerably reduces development costs.

Hirschmann’s smart antenna is controlled from the head unit and connected utilizing only a digital bus system such as Ethernet or MOST. Also, a direct connection can be established to smartphones and tablets through the Bluetooth and WLAN function.