Quad-port multiservice integrated optically transparent automotive antenna for vehicular classification applications

The demand for vehicular antennas increases in tandem with the need for multiple features in automobiles. The development of optically transparent antenna (OTA) has made it possible to deploy antennas on delicate surfaces such as glass. Earlier studies on OTA demonstrated its viability using materials such as transparent conducting oxides (TCO) and conductive polymers. A tri-band OTA is proposed in this paper for vehicular applications. The antenna operates at 1.8 GHz, 2.4 GHz and 3.39–12 GHz bands, covering automotive/wireless applications such as GSM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, vehicular communication and electronic toll collection. The proposed OTA is developed on soda lime glass, and the material TCO is used for the radiator and the ground plane. The antenna prototype is tested on windshield and in an anechoic chamber, the gain and efficiency are found to be greater than 1 dBi and 80%, respectively. Furthermore, a machine learning technique for vehicle classification is proposed, which could help in electronic toll collection, automatic vehicle identifier, and parking management applications. The presented algorithm achieves 80% classification accuracy with a minimum window size.