Route-based directional antenna

An antenna device for a vehicle for optimizing the signal strength from a mobile network having at least one fixed transceiver, the device comprising:

• at least one first directional antenna:
• at least one turning device, for rotating the first directional antenna around a first axis substantially perpendicular to the antenna boresight;
• a microprocessor configured to calculate, in a first operation mode, an azimuthal rotation angle for pointing the first directional antenna to at least one selected fixed transceiver based on:
• i. directional and positional data of the vehicle;
• ii. positional data of the selected fixed transceivers or information about a signal strength or signal quality for different directions along the route;
• and
• iii, a route for navigating the vehicle between a starting point and a destination;
• and
• at least a second rotatable directional antenna wherein the first and second rotatable antennas are configured to rotate independently of each other:
• wherein the first rotatable directional antenna is used for maintaining an optimized data connection and wherein the second rotatable directional antenna is used for generating a directional map of signal strengths, signal quality and/or obtainable data rates along the route.

A method for automatically pointing a directional antenna on a vehicle to a fixed transceiver in a mobile network for optimizing the signal strength or quality, the method comprising the steps of:

• obtaining the geographical position and/or direction of travel and/or speed of the vehicle;
• obtaining or extracting the geographical position for at least one fixed transceiver;
• obtaining a reference azimuth corresponding to the direction of the directional antenna in a horizontal plane;
• calculating a pointing azimuth between the vehicle and a selected fixed transceiver based on:
• i. the geographical positions for the selected fixed transceiver and the vehicle;
• and
• ii. a calculated route for navigating between a starting point and a destination;
• calculating an azimuthal rotation angle between the reference azimuth and the pointing azimuth;
• rotating the directional antenna towards the selected fixed transceiver based on the calculated azimuthal rotation angle;
• continuously, or at intervals, repeating the previous steps of the method;
• and
• in a second operation mode, rotating the directional antenna, or a second directional antenna, to scan for and identify fixed transceivers of the mobile network, and for each identified fixed transceiver, measuring a parameter related to a signal strength, a signal quality or an obtainable data rate between the fixed transceiver and the directional antenna, or the second directional antenna, for a number azimuthal positions, and generating a directional map of signal strengths, signal quality and/or obtainable data rates along the route.