Course detail

Vehicular Communication 1

FEKT-MPA-VC1Acad. year: 2025/2026

Communication between vehicles and infrastructure is necessary for the so-called intelligent transportation system (ITS), for the purposes of navigation, autonomous driving and for vehicle access to the Internet. The course "Vehicular communication 1" consists of several related parts. In the first part of the course, students will be introduced to the theory and design of various types of antennas with emphasis on automotive applications, to the propagation of electromagnetic waves and to the principles of measuring and modeling time-varying (high mobility) channels. The second part of the course will describe the architecture of a wireless digital communication system, explain the operation of its building blocks and the basic transmission theory. The last part will focus in detail on some selected building blocks of the communication system which are promising for mobile wireless communication (modulation, access techniques, etc.).

Language of instruction

English

Number of ECTS credits

5

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

doc. Ing. Jaroslav Láčík, Ph.D.

Department

Department of Radio Electronics (UREL)

Entry knowledge

Students who enroll the course should be able to:
- compute with complex numbers;
- apply fundamental principles of integral and differential calculus;
- explain fundamental principles of electromagnetic field theory.

 

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Students can obtain 25 points during the semester for an individual project, and active work in computer and numerical exercises. A maximum of 75 points is awarded for the final exam. The final exam is realized in written form.
Evaluation of activities is specified by a regulation, which is issued by the lecturer responsible for the course annually. Computer exercises are compulsory.

Aims

The aim of the course "Vehicular communication 1" is to acquaint students with the basic types of antennas suitable primarily for automotive applications, their utilization and technical design, with the basic principles of wave propagation and models of high mobility transmission channels, to explain the structure of digital communication system, theoretical principles of information transmission and advanced modulation and access techniques (OFDM, OTFS, NOMA, etc.).

The graduate of the course is able to:

(a) explain a principle of the operation and describe basic steps of a design procedure of selected types of linear antennas (dipole, monopole, folded dipole, log-periodic antenna, helix antenna);

(b) explain a principle of the operation and describe basic steps of a design procedure of linearly and circularly polarized microstrip patch antennas;

(c) explain a principle of the operation and describe basic steps of a design procedure of horn, and slot antennas;

(d) explain basic principles of antenna bandwidth increasing;

(e) explain a term "electrically small anntena";

(f) explain basic principles of antenna modeling;

(g) explain basic requirments on antennas for automotive applications;

(h) specify and explain principles of basic car antenna types for radio and TV broadcasting;

(i) specify and explain principles of basic car antenna types for communication and navigation;

(j) explain basic principles of radio wave propagation;

(k) specify, for a desired frequency band, a dominant mechanism of propagation, appropriate types of antennas;

(l) describe principles of radio wave propagation close to the Earth’s surface;

(m) explain techniques of time-varying channels measurement and modelling;

(n) describe the digital communication system and explain the operation of its building blocks;

(o) explain the basic theoretical principles of wireless transmission;

(p) explain the principle of orthogonal and non-orthogonal access;

(q) describe the principle of multi-carrier communication;

 

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

BALANIS, C., A., Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 3rd Edition, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2005. ISBN: 978-0471667827 (EN)
CHIUEH, T-D., TSAI, P-Y., LAI, I-W., Baseband Receiver Design for Wireless MIMO-OFDM Communications, Willey-IEEE Press, 2012, ISBN: 9781118188194 (EN)
SEYBOLD, J. S., Introduction to RF propagation, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2005. ISBN: 9780471655961 (EN)

Recommended reading

RABINOVICH, V., et al., Automotive Antenna Design and Applications, Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-1439804070 (EN)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme MPA-AEE Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

26 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. Jaroslav Láčík, Ph.D.

Syllabus

1. Antenna basics, antenna analysis.

2. Linear antennas, antenna arrays.

3. Microstrip antennas, slot antennas.

4. Horn antennas, wideband antennas, electrically small antennas.

5. Introduction to antennas for automotive applications, car antennas for radio and TV broadcasting.

6. Car antennas for communication and navigation.

7. Fundamentals of radiowave propagation.

8. Radiowave propagation close to Earth’s surface.

9. Architecture of communication system, basics of information transmission.

10. Multi-carrier modulations – Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplex (OFDM).

11. Access techniques – orthogonal (OMA)and non-orthogonal (NOMA) access.

12. Advanced modulations for high-mobility scenarios –Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS). 

Exercise in computer lab

26 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. Jaroslav Láčík, Ph.D.

Syllabus

1. Modeling of Linear Antennas in 4NEC2 Software

2. Modeling of Microstrip Patch Antenna in ANSYS Electronics Desktop – HFSS

3. Modeling of Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna

4. Modeling of Slot Antenna

5. Modeling of Antennas for Portable Devices

6. Overall wireless communication system

7. Multi-carrier and single-carrier modulations

8. Basics of multiple-access techniques