Channel Measurements and Simulations with Planar Inverted F-Antennas in an Enhanced Testbed for a Wireless Battery Management System

Under the project IntLiIon, we are investigating a wireless data transmission alternative for the Battery Management System of electrical and hybrid vehicles. In our previous work [1], we introduced the testbed and battery emulator employed for the first radio channel measurements. In this work, we present an enhanced version of this testbed. The connection method between antenna, cable, and battery emulator was changed to avoid the influence of the feed cables in the measurements, allowing more accurate channel measurements. Additionally, we have developed simulation models of the PIFA antennas and the environment. We validated the new testbed as well as the channel transfer function between antennas (point-topoint and point-to-multipoint links) in different positions inside the battery emulator by means of measurements and simulations, showing a good agreement. Keywords—Antenna Measurement, Antenna Simulation, Planar Inverted F-Antenna (PIFA), Radio Channel Measurement, Battery Management System, Wireless Sensor Network