Electro-quasistatic and resonant cavity car body communication.

Abstract

Wired protocols such as Controller Area Network (CAN) dominate in-vehicle communication today. While reliable, these protocols entail intricate installation procedures. Recent advancements in communication technologies utilizing Electro-Quasistatic Fields (EQS) through conductors have ushered in alternative communication techniques. This work introduces EQS car body communication, recognizing the potential of the car's chassis as a medium to confine EQS fields. This alternative approach offers a new modality for efficient intra-vehicle wireless communication, addressing power efficiency and physical security concerns. Furthermore, this research demonstrates that a vehicle can be treated as a resonant cavity, providing low-loss, wideband channels for high-speed communication. Theoretical analysis, electromagnetic simulations, and measurements conducted in a consumer-grade vehicle highlight the viability of these new intra-vehicle communication techniques. This fundamentally new approach utilizes different physical modalities, harnessing the car medium itself and opening doors to modalities that have the potential to augment or even replace existing communication in automotive systems.