Measurement-Based Analysis: The Effect of Complementary Antennas and Diversity on Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication

In vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems the antennas are prone to shadowing and the antenna gain is dissimilar even for same antenna elements if mounted at different positions on the car. This paper investigates the impact of antenna placement based on channel measurements performed with four omni-directional antennas mounted on the roof, bumper, windscreen and left-side mirror of the transmitter and receiver cars. Results suggest to use antennas with complementary characteristics, e.g., antennas on each side, mounted on the roof and bumper, to exploit diversity and decrease the effect of shadowing.