Antenna Design and Characterization for Future Wireless Communication enabled V2X Applications

Abstract

The evolution of 5G technology has significantly impacted the advancement of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications, enabling high-speed, low-latency interactions critical for autonomous driving, road safety, and infotainment systems. Operating in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band, particularly in dynamic vehicular environments, presents challenges such as signal propagation loss, atmospheric attenuation, and polarization mismatches. Addressing these challenges is essential to meet the stringent requirements of 5G V2X applications, which demand wide impedance bandwidth, high gain, efficient beamsteering, and robust polarization control. Achieving these objectives necessitates innovative, cost-effective antenna designs that ensure reliable communication while supporting high data rates and scalability for next-generation networks.

This thesis presents antenna solutions to overcome these challenges, focusing on linearly polarized (LP) and circularly polarized (CP) designs. The LP antenna designs include an annular ring patch antenna offering a wide impedance bandwidth of 35.17% and a 9-element series-fed array achieving a high realized gain of 16.6 dBi with low sidelobe levels (SLLs). Building on this, 2x9 and 4x9 series-fed arrays enhance the realized gain to 17.9 dBi and 21.1 dBi, respectively, while maintaining wide bandwidths. Additionally, a four-port phased array enables dynamic beamsteering, achieving beam control across multiple angles with configurable realized gain up to 21.5 dBi. To address polarization mismatches and multipath interference, CP antenna designs are developed, including a single-element CP patch with wide axial ratio (AR) and impedance bandwidths. The single-element design extends to a 9-element series-fed CP array achieving a realized gain of 15.2 dBi and low SLLs. These solutions emphasize structural simplicity, reducing fabrication costs and enhancing scalability for large-scale deployment.

The proposed designs are validated through simulation, fabrication, and experimental measurements, demonstrating close agreement between simulation and measurement results. Compared to the state-of-the-art, these designs offer advancements in bandwidth, gain, polarization control, and beamsteering while maintaining cost-effectiveness and scalability. The outcomes of this research contribute to the development of high-performance antennas that address the critical demands of 5G V2X systems, enabling reliable, efficient, and robust communication in next-generation vehicular applications.