Invisible aerials may not only hook drivers up to radar and cellular phones, but defrost foggy windows and cool the car at the same time, according to researchers. A team at Ohio State University (US) said they had won two patents on aerials embedded in car windows that do far more than tune the radio. "We'll soon see car antennas not just for radios, but for radar, cellular phones and global positioning systems," Eric Walton, a professor of electrical engineering at the school, said in a statement. One design uses a transparent metal film embedded between the layers of glass in the windows and windscreen of the car. Such a see-through metal is already used in some models of car to deflect sunlight and keep the interior cool. Professor Walton and his students came up with coupling techniques to allow this metal film to act as an aerial for the car radio.
