Investigation of the influence of panoramic roof on mobile telephony antennas

Due to the growing market demand, car manufacturers are steadily improving the aesthetic design of their cars and equipping them with new electronic systems. One of the aesthetic improvements is the panoramic roof. However, this changes the roof structure and thus affects car-roof antenna's performance. Therefore the influence of different geometries and materials of panoramic roofs must be investigated to quantify its effect on communication link. On the basis of these results guidelines for antenna designer can then be made. This paper presents the results of such an investigation for the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz LTE (Long Term Evolution) bands. Different panoramic roof variants were simulated and the results were verified with a measurement. To the authors' knowledge this is first such investigation published for LTE bands so far.