Harman Becker Automotive Systems Gmbh

Achim Ratzel

Karl-Anton Becker

Michael Zahm

Stefan Köhler

An antenna system is disclosed herein which includes a frontend portion, a backend portion and a feed line which connects frontend portion and backend portion with each other. The frontend portion comprises at least two antennas, a combiner connected downstream of the antennas and upstream of the feed line and antenna connectors that electrically connect through antenna plugs, the antennas to the combiner. The backend portion includes an electrical power source connected to the feed line and a resistance evaluation circuit connected between the electrical power source and the feed line and that measures the resistance of the frontend portion through the feed line. At least one of the antenna connectors is in mechanical contact with a jumper having jumper plugs between which a high resistance connection and a low resistance connection is provided that depends on whether the corresponding antenna is connected to the combiner or not.

Multiple-antenna system

An antenna system is disclosed which includes a frontend portion, a backend portion, a feed line for connecting the frontend portion and the backend portion with each other, and a control unit for controlling the frontend portion and/or backend portion. The frontend portion includes multiple antennas that supply antenna signals and at least one combiner network that connects the antennas to the feed line. The backend portion includes multiple receivers and at least one splitter network that connects the feed line to the receivers. The control unit is configured to evaluate the reception quality and adjust the at least one combiner network and/or splitter network dependent on the reception quality. The at least one combiner network combines the signals from at least two antennas in different, non-overlapping frequency ranges to form at least one combined signal thereof.

Multi-antenna system

An antenna system is disclosed that includes a frontend portion and a backend portion. The frontend portion includes multiple antennas that supply antenna signals, a first control unit for controlling the frontend portion dependent on control signals received from the backend portion, and a first crossover network that connects a feed line to the first crossover network and the first control unit. The backend portion includes multiple receivers, a second control unit that provides the control signals for the first control unit, and a second crossover network that connects the feed line to the second crossover network and the receivers. The frontend portion is configured to transmit via the feed line antenna signals to the backend portion in a certain frequency range. The backend portion is configured to transmit the control signals to the frontend portion in a frequency range other than the certain frequency range.

A receiver may receive and process broadcasting signals in digital and analog forms. The receiver may include an amplifying input stage, a digital signal processing stage and an analog signal processing stage. The input stage may receive a broadcast signal. The digital signal processing stage may process a received broadcast signal and output a first quality information signal. The analog signal processing stage may process a received analog broadcast signal and outputs a second quality information signal. An evaluation unit may evaluate at least one of the first and second quality information signals and output a control signal to the amplifying input stage.

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Karlsbad, Germany

Achim Ratzel