Pittsburgh Glass Works, LLC

David Dai

Peter T Dishart

Kaushal Mehta

An antenna suitable for use in the 5 GHz WLAN/Wi-Fi and DSRC frequency band is integrated with a vehicle window that is includes outer and inner transparent plies bonded together by an interlayer. The inner transparent ply and the interlayer serve as an antenna substrate. A first conductive layer is formed on the inner surface of the outer transparent ply and a second conductive layer that defines a coupling slot is formed on the outer surface of the inner transparent ply. The antenna may be excited by a coaxial cable or a microstrip line that crosses the coupling slot.

Multilayer glass patch antenna

A slot antenna in a heatable vehicle glazing established between the heating bus bar, bus bar extensions and the peripheral edge of an IR reflective coating. The antenna slot may be fed directly by a voltage source, a current source, or a coupled coplanar line at locations that excite both fundamental and higher order modes for multiband antenna applications. The slot antenna may be established between split bus bars or split bus bar extensions that limit heat loss and improve antenna efficiency. Multiple antennas can be integrated into the heatable glazing for multiband applications and/or diversity antenna systems.

Heatable vehicle glazing with antennas

A slot antenna in a vehicle glazing established between the surface of the vehicle portal for the glazing and the peripheral edge of an IR reflective coating that has a bus bar over the coating edge. The antenna slot is fed directly by a voltage probe and/or a conductive line located in the slot and parallel to the bus bar. Multiple voltage probes and conductive lines can support respective antennas. A second conductive line is parallel and cooperates with the first conductive line to form a coupled coplanar line that links to the antenna slot. The longitudinal location of the links and the length of the coplanar lines are adjusted to excite multiple frequency modes. Multiple antennas can be used to broaden overall bandwidth or to add additional frequency modes.

Hidden multi-band window antenna

A vehicle glazing with a slot antenna between the vehicle portal and the peripheral edge of an IR reflective coating that includes a heating bus over the coating edge. The antenna slot may be fed directly by a voltage probe or a coupled coplanar line at a position to excite both fundamental and higher order modes for multiband antenna applications. A portion of the IR reflective coating may overlay the window frame at null positions of first higher order mode to tune the slot antenna to higher frequencies. Slot antenna resonant frequency may also be moved higher by separating the IR reflective coating into two coating panel with the lower coating panel connected to electrical ground by capacitive coupling. Multiple antennas can be fed at different locations for multiband applications and diversity antenna systems.

Window assembly with heating and antenna functions

A window antenna wherein three embedded wires are laminated inside a glazing and a connector is attached to the joint end of the first and second wires and a signal input. The second antenna wire is longer and resonates at a lower frequency than the first antenna wire. A third antenna wire is a parasitic L-shape wire with part of the wire in close distance to the open end of the second antenna wire. The third antenna wire is electromagnetically coupled to the second antenna wire in the near field so that the antenna may support an additional resonance to provide multiband and wideband performance.

Multi-band window antenna

An electrically conductive coating of an automotive heatable windshield having a frequency selective surface area that facilitates the transmission of radio frequency signals. The FSS area may be a high-pass filter such that RF signals at any polarization can pass through the glazing over a wide frequency band. The FSS area is defined by a pattern in the conductive coating such that, when the conductive coating is used to heat the windshield, electrical current flows through the FSS area to mitigate hot and cold spots.

Heatable window with a high-pass frequency selective surface

A window antenna wherein a pair of embedded wires are laminated inside a glazing and a connector is attached to the joined end of the wires and to a signal input. A first segment of the embedded antenna wire is oriented parallel to the window frame to form a coupled transmission line divider. The power divider with coupled transmission lines affords adding more than one wire to the window antenna for wideband and multiband application while also providing a feed to the antenna to form a diversity antenna system.

Multi-element window antenna

Heatable window with high-pass frequency selective surface

A window antenna wherein a silver ceramic trace is printed on an interior ply, and a connector is attached to the trace and a signal input. A length of the embedded antenna wire is oriented parallel to a coextensive length of the trace to form a coupled pass band filter. The coupled pass band filter provides a convenient feed to the antenna wire and eliminates a connection that extends from the edge of the laminate.

Window antenna loaded with a coupled transmission line filter

A connector for an automotive windshield antenna includes a thin trace portion that is electrically equivalent to a series inductor and a wide trace portion that is electrically equivalent to a shunt capacitor. The capacitor and the inductor form a matching LC network that is adjustable to match antenna impedance and transmission line impedance.

Window antenna connector with impedance matching

A vehicle slot antenna wherein an electro-conductive coating is applied to the surface of a glass ply. The peripheral edge of the conductive coating is spaced from the vehicle window edge and connected to a high conductive bus bar to define an annular slot antenna with low resistance loss and improved antenna efficiency. The slot antenna is fed by a thin conductive line located in the middle of the slot and parallel to the bus bar. The thin line along with the conductive coating and window frame form a coplanar waveguide (CPW). The CPW feed provides a convenient feed for the antenna at any point around the perimeter of the window slot and affords antenna tuning and impedance matching. The antenna design can use the characteristic impedance of the CPW line to match the impedance of the slot antenna to the impedance of a coaxial cable or other input impedance.

Hidden window antenna

A vehicle window assembly. The window assembly includes a frame having an inner metal edge and a window pane fixed to the frame. The window pane includes an inner glass ply, an outer glass ply, an interlayer between the inner glass ply and the outer glass ply, and an electro-conductive coating located on a surface of the outer glass ply, wherein the electro-conductive coating has an outer peripheral edge spaced from the inner metal edge of the frame to define an antenna slot. The window assembly also includes an antenna feed structure electrically connected to the outer peripheral edge of the electro-conductive coating and a capacitive coupling strip located on the inner glass ply and overlapping the outer peripheral edge of the electro-conductive coating proximate the antenna feed structure, wherein the coupling strip couples a wide bandwidth radio frequency signal into and out of the antenna slot.

Wideband antenna

A vehicle window assembly. The window assembly includes a glass ply and an electro-conductive coating located on a surface of the glass ply. The electro-conductive coating has an outer peripheral edge that is adapted to be spaced from an inner metal edge of a vehicle frame so as to define an antenna slot. The electro-conductive coating includes at least one deleted portion adjacent the outer peripheral edge, wherein the deleted portion is sized to tune the antenna slot to a desired resonant frequency.

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Novi, MI, United States of America

David Dai