Abstract: The introduction of communication technology provides new means to reduce the number of fatalities and financial loss of traffic accidents. Recently, active ITS safety applications based on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication have become the interest of research groups world wide. Often, the focus lies on dense traffic as e.g. in urban or highway scenarios. Sparsely trafficked roads in rural areas did not get much attention so far, although a system warning for e.g. on-coming traffic has the potential of saving many lives on Swedish roads.
For cost and practical reasons, it cannot be expected that all (or even a majority of) vehicles will be equipped with the proper communication technology in the foreseeable future. Detecting a vehicle and sending out a warning to other traffic participants can therefore not be expected to only be done by the vehicles themselves. Sensors and access points (Road Side Units, RSU) along the roadside are a necessary complement. Installation costs can be motivated by setting up this infrastructure at accident-prone road sections where e.g. the sight is inhibited and by the fact that road side infrastructure can be used for a broader set of communication services and a possible integration of diverse communication solutions to reach global connectivity. For the initial safety system for rural environments, we suggest a vehicle-to-infrastructure based solution, compatible with upcoming ITS standards as 802.11p and working within the frequency spectrum suggested for European ITS applications. However, the solution must work with only vehicle-to-vehicle communication also. This is important since infrastructure, in terms of road side units, will only be installed at strategic places.
In this project, we will define a system architecture for a vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication based system to avoid surprise effects on roads with sparse traffic. Results from projects like CVIS and SAFESPOT will be natural input for the project. The reliability and timing of the information exchange between vehicles and road side units is very important in order to be able to increase the traffic safety. We will therefore consider real-time communication aspects in the design of the system, based on our ITS-related results from the VAS project (Vehicle Alert System) and by adapting non ITS-related research on real-time and reliability to the requirements of the proposed system. Moreover, we will do experimental measurements of wireless communication at tough road conditions (forest, houses, hills or similar in the communication path) to obtain knowledge about the performance one can expect. The outcome from the project is expected to prepare for a continuation where a system demonstrator should be implemented and detailed protocol, performance and reliability studies should be done. (Svenskt referat saknas).Abstract: The introduction of communication technology provides new means to reduce the number of fatalities and financial loss of traffic accidents. Recently, active ITS safety applications based on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication have become the interest of research groups world wide. Often, the focus lies on dense traffic as e.g. in urban or highway scenarios. Sparsely trafficked roads in rural areas did not get much attention so far, although a system warning for e.g. on-coming traffic has the potential of saving many lives on Swedish roads. For cost and practical reasons, it cannot be expected that all (or even a majority of) vehicles will be equipped with the proper communication technology in the foreseeable future. Detecting a vehicle and sending out a warning to other traffic participants can therefore not be expected to only be done by the vehicles themselves. Sensors and access points (Road Side Units, RSU) along the roadside are a necessary complement. Installation costs can be motivated by setting up this infrastructure at accident-prone road sections where e.g. the sight is inhibited and by the fact that road side infrastructure can be used for a broader set of communication services and a possible integration of diverse communication solutions to reach global connectivity. For the initial safety system for rural environments, we suggest a vehicle-to-infrastructure based solution, compatible with upcoming ITS standards as 802.11p and working within the frequency spectrum suggested for European ITS applications. However, the solution must work with only vehicle-to-vehicle communication also. This is important since infrastructure, in terms of road side units, will only be installed at strategic places. In this project, we will define a system architecture for a vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication based system to avoid surprise effects on roads with sparse traffic. Results from projects like CVIS and SAFESPOT will be natural input for the project. The reliability and timing of the information exchange between vehicles and road side units is very important in order to be able to increase the traffic safety. We will therefore consider real-time communication aspects in the design of the system, based on our ITS-related results from the VAS project (Vehicle Alert System) and by adapting non ITS-related research on real-time and reliability to the requirements of the proposed system. Moreover, we will do experimental measurements of wireless communication at tough road conditions (forest, houses, hills or similar in the communication path) to obtain knowledge about the performance one can expect. The outcome from the project is expected to prepare for a continuation where a system demonstrator should be implemented and detailed protocol, performance and reliability studies should be done.