ANTENNA ARRANGEMENT AND RAIL VEHICLE HAVING A PLURALITY OF ANTENNAS

Abstract

An antenna arrangement for the mobile communication of a rail vehicle and a rail vehicle with an antenna arrangement of the type. The antenna arrangement has at least two transmitting antennas and at least two receiving antennas. The transmitting antennas are spatially grouped in a transmitting group and the receiving antennas are spatially grouped in a receiving group. The distances between the transmitting antennas and between the receiving antennas is smaller than the overall distance between the transmitting group and the receiving group. The antennas can thereby be arranged in a much more space-saving fashion on the vehicles because large distances have to be provided only between the groups, not between the antennas within the groups. Where the space needed is low, interference-free operation of the antennas is thus advantageously possible.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. An antenna arrangement for mobile communication of a rail vehicle, the antenna arrangement comprising: at least two transmitting antennas and at least two receiving antennas; said transmitting antennas being spatially grouped in a transmitting group and said receiving antennas being spatially grouped in a receiving group; spacing distances between said transmitting antennas being smaller than a required distance between said transmitting group and said receiving group; and spacing distances between said receiving antennas being smaller than the required distance between said transmitting group and said receiving group.

16. The antenna arrangement according to claim 15, wherein at least a part of said transmitting antennas and a part of said receiving antennas are configured for at least one of a GSM-R standard or an FRMCS standard.

17. The antenna arrangement according to claim 15, wherein at least one of said transmitting group or said receiving group is a pre-installed module.

18. The antenna arrangement according to claim 15, wherein the spacing distance between said transmitting antennas and the spacing distance between said receiving antennas amounts to at least a wavelength of a transmitting band or a receiving band, respectively.

19. The antenna arrangement according to claim 15, wherein: a decoupling between all of said transmitting antennas of said transmitting group that is caused by an antenna spacing, and a decoupling between all of said receiving antennas of said receiving group that is caused by the antenna spacing, is greater than 10 dB.

20. The antenna arrangement according to claim 19, wherein the decoupling between said transmitting antennas caused by the antenna spacing, and the decoupling between said receiving antennas caused by the antenna spacing is greater than 15 dB.

21. The antenna arrangement according to claim 15, wherein: a signal coming from each of said transmitting antennas within a working band of a respective receiver to be assigned to the respective said receiving antenna is smaller than a sensitivity of the receiver reduced by a minimum signal-to-noise ratio of the signal needed for decoding; and a signal coming from each of said transmitting antennas outside the working band of the respective receiver is smaller than a blocking limit value of the receiver.

22. A rail vehicle, comprising: an antenna arrangement for mobile communication of the rail vehicle, said antenna arrangement having at least two transmitting antennas and at least two receiving antennas; said transmitting antennas being spatially grouped in a transmitting group and said receiving antennas being spatially grouped in a receiving group; spacing distances between said transmitting antennas being smaller than a spacing distance between said transmitting group and said receiving group; and spacing distances between said receiving antennas being smaller than the distance between said transmitting group and said receiving group.

23. The rail vehicle according to claim 22, wherein: a decoupling between all of said transmitting antennas of said transmitting group that is caused by an antenna spacing, and a decoupling between all of said receiving antennas of said receiving group that is caused by the antenna spacing, is greater than 10 dB; a signal coming from each of said transmitting antennas within a working band of a respective receiver that is assigned to the respective said receiving antenna is smaller than a sensitivity of the receiver reduced by a minimum signal-to-noise ratio of the signal needed for decoding; and a signal coming from each of said transmitting antennas outside the working band of the respective receiver is smaller than a blocking limit value of the receiver.

24. The rail vehicle according to claim 23, wherein the decoupling between said transmitting antennas caused by the antenna spacing, and the decoupling between said receiving antennas caused by the antenna spacing, is greater than 15 dB.

25. The rail vehicle according to claim 22, further comprising at least one connected application selected from the group consisting of a computer that is linked into a Train Control System, a train radio device, and a computer for Automatic Train Operation.

26. The rail vehicle according to claim 25, wherein each of a plurality of applications has a transceiver with, a transmitting module connected to a transmitting antenna in each case; and a receiving module connected to a receiving antenna in each case.

27. The rail vehicle according to claim 22, further comprising a plurality of applications each having a transceiver with: a transmitting module connected to a transmitting antenna in each case; and a receiving module connected to a receiving antenna in each case.

28. The rail vehicle according to claim 27, further comprising a circulator connected between said transceiver and said antenna arrangement, said circulator having a separate antenna input and antenna output and having a combined transmitting and receiving interface for said transceiver.

29. The rail vehicle according to claim 22, further comprising a router connected to said antenna arrangement.

30. The rail vehicle according to claim 29, wherein said router is configured for a Future Railway Mobile Communications System.

31. The rail vehicle according to claim 29, further comprising a circulator connected between said router and said antenna arrangement, said circulator having a separate antenna input and antenna output and having a combined transmitting and receiving interface for said router.

32. The rail vehicle according to claim 22, wherein said transmitting module and/or said receiving module are disposed at a distance from at least one end of the rail vehicle that amounts to at least one half of a required distance between said transmitting module and said receiving module.

Description

[0068] In the figures:

[0069] FIG. 1 shows the arrangement of combined transmitting and receiving antennas on a vehicle in accordance with the prior art as a schematic overhead view.

[0070] FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of transmitting antennas and receiving antennas in a transmitting group and a receiving group respectively on adjacent rail vehicles in accordance with the invention as a schematic overhead view of the rail vehicle, wherein the rail vehicle represents an exemplary embodiment in accordance with the invention,

[0071] FIGS. 3 and 4 show exemplary embodiments of the inventive rail vehicle with exemplary embodiments of the inventive antenna arrangements in a schematic longitudinal cross-section in each case.

[0072] Shown in accordance with FIG. 1 is a rail vehicle 11, which is equipped with a number of combined transmitting and receiving antennas in accordance with the prior art. In FIG. 1 (and also in FIG. 2, for more details see below) the transmission function is labeled Tx and the receiving function is labeled Rx. The combined transmitting and receiving antennas 12 are moreover shown in FIG. 1 with an area of influence 13, which surrounds the transmitting and receiving antennas in a circular shape.

[0073] In order to guarantee that the transmitting and receiving antennas 12 do not interfere with each other when operating, neighboring transmitting and receiving antennas 12 are each arranged outside or at least at the edge of these areas of influence 13. The result of this is that only a limited number of transmitting and receiving antennas 12 can be arranged on the rail vehicle 11 (a total of four transmitting and receiving antennas 12 in the exemplary embodiment in accordance with FIG. 1).

[0074] A comparison of the rail vehicles 11a, 11b in accordance with FIG. 2 with the vehicle in accordance with FIG. 1 makes clear the differences from the state of the art. In accordance with FIG. 2 two rail vehicles 11a, 11b are coupled to one another via a coupling 14. Attached to both of the rail vehicles 11a, 11b are a transmitting module SG and a receiving module EG, wherein the transmitting module SG is composed of four transmitting antennas S and the receiving module EG is composed of four receiving antennas E (on the rail vehicle 11b the receive antennas are not shown in any greater detail). The distances between the transmitting antennas S and between the receiving antennas E is small by comparison with the distance between the transmitting groups SG and the receiving groups EG. For the arrangement of the transmitting groups SG and the receiving groups EG an area of influence is again to be noted, outside which the respective neighboring transmitting or receiving groups must lie.

[0075] It is also clear from FIG. 2 that transmitting modules SG or receiving modules EG of neighboring vehicles 11a, 11b must be at a sufficient distance from one another, so that the areas of influence 13 of these groups can be taken into consideration. Only in this way is it ensured that the transmitting modules SG or receiving modules EG of neighboring vehicles do not interfere with each other.

[0076] It is also clear from FIG. 2 that precisely as many transmitting antennas S or receiving antennas E are attached to the rail vehicle 11a as there are combined transmitting and receiving antennas 12 on the rail vehicle 11 in accordance with FIG. 1. Despite this the vehicle needs a smaller overall length than the rail vehicle in accordance with FIG. 1, without this resulting in a damaging mutual influence between neighboring antenna systems. The reason for this is that the transmitting antennas S and the receiving antennas E can be arranged with a significantly smaller distance to one another, through which the dimensions of the transmitting group SG and the receiving group EG are determined. These dimensions are significantly smaller than the distance required by the areas of influence of the groups from one another, which essentially correspond to the areas of influence 13 in accordance with FIG. 1.

[0077] Shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are rail vehicles 11, which are each equipped with an antenna arrangement 15 on the roof. The necessary distances a between the individual receiving antennas EG and the individual transmitting antennas SG are to be seen in the schematic diagram. Moreover the receiving group EG formed by the receiving antennas E and the transmitting group SG formed by the transmitting antennas S have a greater distance b between them. The arrangement principles in this regard have already been explained in more detail for FIG. 2, wherein the arrangement principles explained there also apply to FIGS. 3 and 4.

[0078] The antenna arrangement 15 is moreover connected via signal lines to a control facility 16 of the rail vehicle. The control facilities 16 in accordance with FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 have certain differences however, which is to be explained in greater detail below.

[0079] In accordance with FIG. 3 various applications APP are implemented in the control module 16, the more detailed functions of which are not specified in any greater detail (but can be specified as described in FIG. 4). Two of these applications APP are connected to a router R. This has two transmitting antennas S and two receiving antennas E, wherein these can transmit on different bands. This is to be shown schematically by the previously explained application example for FRMCS.

[0080] A further application APP is connected via a transceiver T to a circulator Z. The circulator Z in its turn has an antenna input for a receiving antenna E and an antenna output for a transmitting antenna S. The circulator Z has the task of guaranteeing a possibility of a connection of a transmitting antenna S and a receiving antenna E if a transceiver T with only a combined input and output is available in the rail vehicle 11 for the radio signals.

[0081] In FIG. 4 various applications APP are shown in the control facility 16, of which one is unspecified and the three others assume particular functions (applications are also involved here). One application makes available a computer C for Automatic Train Operation ATO. A further application is intended for train radio ZF. A further application consists of an EVC (European Vital Computer), which guarantees that the rail vehicle is linked into the ETCS.

[0082] In the exemplary embodiment in accordance with FIG. 4 all applications APP are connected via their own transceivers T to individual transmitting antennas S and receiving antennas E. For this purpose each transceiver T has a transmitting module SM and a receiving module EM, so that, unlike in FIG. 3 (where a circulator is required), the receiving antennas E and the transmitting antennas S can be connected directly to the transceiver T.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0083] E Receiving antenna [0084] S Transmitting antenna [0085] EG Receiving group [0086] SG Transmitting group [0087] EM Receiving module [0088] SM Transmitting module [0089] R Router [0090] T Transceiver [0091] APP Application [0092] ZF Train radio device [0093] EVC European Vital Computer [0094] C Computer for Automatic Train Operation ATO [0095] Z Circulator [0096] a Distance [0097] b Distance [0098] 11, 11a, 11b Rail vehicle [0099] 12 Transmitting and receiving antennas [0100] 13 Area of influence [0101] 14 Coupling [0102] 15 Antenna arrangement [0103] 16 Control facility