The history of automotive EM research at the OSU ElectroScience Laboratory

The ElectroScience Laboratory has a long history of automotive antenna and EM research. Today, one can buy a car with antennas for AM, FM, FM diversity, 4-way diversity TV, GPS, cellular, satellite, digital keyless entry, garage door opener, automatic toll, and radar. Radar applications include backup warning, side airbag deployment, intelligent cruise control, collision warning and automatic driving. The antennas must be very low cost (sometimes zero cost) and must be acceptable to the consumer (often invisible). We have also studied electromagnetic interference due to electrical systems on the vehicle, and electromagnetic compatibility issues. The ElectroScience laboratory has been involved in all of these applications. This paper will discuss the history of the involvement of the ESL and the types of projects and techniques that the ESL has evolved to solve these problems.