Transparent ground planes for automotive applications

This paper presents multiple miniaturized element frequency selective surface (MEFSS) based optically transparent ground plane configurations with focus on increasing the bandwidth of the ground plane while maintaining a good optical transparency. First, the behavior of MEFSSs is studied using a basic circuit model. The relationship between the circuit and design parameters is then derived and it is shown that one of the main limiting factors in achieving both a high bandwidth and low opacity design is the maximum realizable capacitance between the adjacent cells. Several methods of increasing the capacitance between the adjacent cells are then presented. It is shown that using a certain arrangement of elements on multiple layers, the bandwidth of a single-pole MEFSS can be increased without increasing its opacity. The performance of the proposed MEFSS is then numerically analysed and compared with the traditional MEFSSs.