AGC Established a Global Tri-polar R&D Framework for Automotive On-glass Antennas

- Contributing to "Connected" Cars in the Age of IoT - 

Tokyo, March 18, 2019–AGC (Headquarters: Tokyo; President: Takuya Shimamura) announced that the anechoic chambers constructed in Gosselies (Belgium) for the development of automotive on-glass antennas were inaugurated on March 15, 2019. With the completion of this R&D facility, AGC has established a tri-polar R&D framework for automotive on-glass antennas in Japan, the United States, and Europe for the first⁽¹⁾ time in the glass industry.

In the future mobility society, cars will be equipped with devices such as cameras, LiDARs, and sensors. Cars will need to be both connected to each other and have communicative functionality that delivers V2X⁽²⁾, connecting cars to all other things. In these circumstances, automotive glass is playing an increasingly important role as an antenna/gateway for radio wave transmission and reception.

For designing and positioning an automotive on-glass antena to achieve high-speed communications such as broadcasting services and 5G without spoiling the car design, advanced simulation technologies and highly precise measuring technologies are required from the product designing and development phase.

AGC has been an industry leader in the research, development, and production of automotive on-glass antennas for over 40 years. AGC also designs automotive on-glass antennas in its anechoic chambers in Japan and the United States and provides customers with on-glass antennas. By completing the anechoic chambers in Europe, AGC has established a framework for accelerating the research and development of antennas to meet the demand for "connected" cars in the age of IoT⁽³⁾ and supporting its customer's automobile development on a global scale.

The AGC Group places the field of mobility as a strategic business as part of its management policy, AGC plus. The Group will utilize the strengths of its anechoic chambers in the three bases of Japan, the United States, and Europe to contribute to the realization of "connected" cars.

(1) Based on an AGC study (as of March 18, 2019)
(2) V2X = Vehicle to Everything
(3) IoT = Internet of Things
 

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Reference

About anechoic chambers
Anechoic chambers are facilities that completely cut off external electromagnetic waves to measure and evaluate an electronic device’s reception of electromagnetic waves. Inside the anechoic chamber, the electromagnetic waves emitted from a “Connected” device are measured.

Movie of the anechoic chamber
https://youtu.be/tZzTwUOLlAc 

AGC's development framework for automotive on-glass antennas

• Gosselies, Belgium : AGC Automotive Europe SA
• Aichi & Sagami, Japan : AGC Inc.
• Michigan, USA : AGC Automotive Americas R&D, Inc.