Time- and Frequency-Varying KK-Factor of Non-Stationary Vehicular Channels for Safety Relevant Scenarios

Vehicular communication channels are characterized by a non-stationary time- and frequency-selective fading process due to fast changes in the environment. We characterize the distribution of the envelope of the first delay bin in vehicle-to-vehicle channels by means of its Rician $K$-factor. We analyze the time-frequency variability of this channel parameter using vehicular channel measurements at 5.6 GHz with a bandwidth of 240 MHz for safety-relevant scenarios in intelligent transportation systems (ITS). This data enables a frequency-variability analysis from an IEEE 802.11p system point of view, which uses 10 MHz channels. We show that the small-scale fading of the envelope of the first delay bin is Ricean distributed with a varying $K$-factor. The later delay bins are Rayleigh distributed. We demonstrate that the $K$-factor cannot be assumed to be constant in time and frequency. The causes of these variations are the frequency-varying antenna radiation patterns as well as the time-varying number of active scatterers, and the effects of vegetation. We also present a simple but accurate bi-modal Gaussian mixture model, that allows to capture the $K$-factor variability in time for safety-relevant ITS scenarios.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems for possible publicatio

A Measurement Based Shadow Fading Model for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Network Simulations

The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) propagation channel has significant implications on the design and performance of novel communication protocols for vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Extensive research efforts have been made to develop V2V channel models to be implemented in advanced VANET system simulators for performance evaluation. The impact of shadowing caused by other vehicles has, however, largely been neglected in most of the models, as well as in the system simulations. In this paper we present a shadow fading model targeting system simulations based on real measurements performed in urban and highway scenarios. The measurement data is separated into three categories, line-of-sight (LOS), obstructed line-of-sight (OLOS) by vehicles, and non line-of-sight due to buildings, with the help of video information recorded during the measurements. It is observed that vehicles obstructing the LOS induce an additional average attenuation of about 10 dB in the received signal power. An approach to incorporate the LOS/OLOS model into existing VANET simulators is also provided. Finally, system level VANET simulation results are presented, showing the difference between the LOS/OLOS model and a channel model based on Nakagami-m fading.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Hindawi International Journal of Antennas and Propagatio

Measurement Based Channel Characterization and Modeling for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications

Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication is a challenging but fast growing technology that has potential to enhance traffic safety and efficiency. It can also provide environmental benefits in terms of reduced fuel consumption. The effectiveness and reliability of these applications highly depends on the quality of the V2V communication link, which rely upon the properties of the propagation channel. Therefore, understanding the properties of the propagation channel becomes extremely important. This thesis aims to fill some gaps of knowledge in V2V channel research by addressing four different topics. The first topic is channel characterization of some important safety critical scenarios (papers I and II). Second, is the accuracy or validation study of existing channel models for these safety critical scenarios (papers III and IV). Third, is about channel modeling (paper V) and, the fourth topic is the impact of antenna placement on vehicles and the possible diversity gains. This thesis consists of an introduction and six papers: Paper I presents a double directional analysis of vehicular channels based on channel measurement data. Using SAGE, a high-resolution algorithm for parameter estimation, we estimate channel parameters to identify underlying propagation mechanisms. It is found that, single-bounce reflections from static objects are dominating propagation mechanisms in the absence of line-of-sight (LOS). Directional spread is observed to be high, which encourages the use of diversity-based methods. Paper II presents results for V2V channel characterization based on channel measurements conducted for merging lanes on highway, and four-way street intersection scenarios. It is found that the merging lane scenario has the worst propagation condition due to lack of scatterers. Signal reception is possible only with the present LOS component given that the antenna has a good gain in the direction of LOS. Thus designing an antenna that has an omni-directional gain, or using multiple antennas that radiate towards different directions become more important for such safety critical scenarios. Paper III presents the results of an accuracy study of a deterministic ray tracing channel model for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, that is compared against channel measurement data. It is found that the results from measurement and simulation show a good agreement especially in LOS situations where as in NLOS situations the simulations are accurate as far as existing physical phenomena of wave propagation are captured by the implemented algorithm. Paper IV presents the results of a validation study of a stochastic NLOS pathloss and fading model named VirtualSource11p for V2V communication in urban street intersections. The reference model is validated with the help of independent channel measurement data. It is found that the model is flexible and fits well to most of the measurements with a few exceptions, and we propose minor modifications to the model for increased accuracy. Paper V presents a shadow fading model targeting system simulations based on channel measurements. The model parameters are extracted from measurement data, which is separated into three categories; line-of-sight (LOS), LOS obstructed by vehicles (OLOS), and LOS blocked by buildings (NLOS), with the help of video information recorded during the measurements. It is found that vehicles obstructing the LOS induce an additional attenuation in the received signal power. The results from system level vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) simulations are also presented, showing that the LOS obstruction affects the packet reception probability and this can not be ignored. Paper VI investigates the impact of antenna placement based on channel measurements performed with four omni-directional antennas mounted on the roof, bumper, windscreen and left-side mirror of the transmitter and receiver cars. We use diversity combining methods to evaluate the performance differences for all possible single-input single-output (SIMO), multiple-input single-output (MISO) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) link combinations. This investigation suggests that a pair of antennas with complementary properties, e.g., a roof mounted antenna together with a bumper antenna is a good solution for obtaining the best reception performance, in most of the propagation environments. In summary, this thesis describes the channel behavior for safety-critical scenarios by statistical means and models it so that the system performance can be assessed in a realistic manner. In addition to that the influence of different antenna arrangements has also been studied to exploit the spatial diversity and to mitigate the shadowing effects. The presented work can thus enable more efficient design of future V2V communication systems

Vehicular Communication in Obstructed and Non Line-of-Sight Scenarios

Since the invention of the first car available to masses, the 1908 Ford Model T, technology has advanced towards making car travel safer for occupants and bystanders. In recent years, wireless communication has been introduced in the vehicular industry as a means to avoid accidents and save lives.Wireless communication may sometimes be challenging due to obstacles in the physical world that interact with wireless signals. Such obstacles may be dynamic, e.g. other vehicles in the traffic flow, or static, e.g. nearby buildings. Two scenarios are defined to describe those cases. The obstructed line-of-sight (OLOS) scenario is described as the case where a smaller obstacle, usually a vehicle, is placed in-between a transmitter and a receiver. This obstacle usually partially blocks communication and the receiver often moves in an out of the line-of-sight. The non line-of-sight (NLOS) scenario is described as the case where a larger obstacle completely blocks communication between a transmitter and a receiver. An example would be a building at an intersection which shadows the communication between two vehicles. In this thesis the OLOS and NLOS scenarios are investigated from different points of view.In chapter 2, a road side unit (RSU) that has been constructed and evaluated for integrating older vehicles without wireless communication with newer vehicles using wireless communication is described. Older vehicles are being detected using a universal medium-range radar and their position and speed vectors are broadcasted wirelessly to newer vehicles. Tests have been performed by using the system in parallel with wireless enabled vehicles; by comparing the content in the messages obtained from both systems, the RSU has been found to perform adequately. Accuracy tests have been performed on the system and Kalman filtering has been applied to improve the accuracy even further.Chapter 3 focuses on the OLOS scenario. A truck as an obstacle for wireless vehicular communication is being investigated. Real life measurements have been performed to characterize and model the wireless channel around the truck. The distance dependent path loss and additional shadowing loss due to the truck is analyzed through dynamic measurements. The large scale fading, delay and Doppler spreads are characterized as a measure of the channel dispersion in the time and frequency domains. It has been found that a truck as an obstacle reduces the received power by 12 and 13 dB on average in rural and highway scenarios, respectively. Also, the dispersion in time and frequency domains is highly increased when the line-of-sight is obstructed by the truck. A model for power contributions due to diffraction around the truck has also been proposed and evaluated using the previously mentioned real life measurements. It has been found that communication may actually be possible using solely diffraction around a truck as a propagation mechanism.Finally, in chapter 4 a wireless channel emulator that has been constructed and evaluated is described. Modem manufacturers face a challenge when designing and implementing equipment for highly dynamic environments found in vehicular communication. For testing and evaluation real-life measurements with vehicles are required, which is often an expensive and slow process. The channel emulator proposed is designed and implemented using a software defined radio (SDR). The emulator together with the proposed test methodology enables quick on-bench evaluation of wireless modems. It may also be used to evaluate modem performance in different NLOS and OLOS scenarios

Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments

The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: • Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments• Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks• Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication• Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs• Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks• Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures• Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques• Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications• Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems• Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin

Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments

The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: • Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments• Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks• Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication• Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs• Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks• Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures• Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques• Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications• Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems• Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin

Intra- and Out-of-Vehicle Channel Measurements and Modeling

Disertační práce je zaměřena na měření a modelování kanálu uvnitř a vně vozidla pro komunikaci a lokalizaci. Pro účely vytvoření integrovaného inteligentního dopravního systému ITS (Intelligent transportation system) je důležitý odhad vlastnosti kanálů pro vnitřní a venkovní scénáře. Za tímto účelem je vhodné provést řadu činností, které jsou obsahem disertační práce: Simulace fyzické vrstvy 802.11p, její srovnávání s 802.11a, měření kanálu pro různé scénáře pro 802.11p a pro širokopásmový systém (UWB), vytvoření modelů kanálů pro 802.11p a UWB a výzkum vlastností lokalizace založené na měření v pásmu UWB. Výzkum komunikace vozidla s okolím založená na IEEE 802.11p standardu. Jedním z cílů disertační práce je ukázat rozdíly mezi standardy fyzické vrstvy IEEE 802.11a a IEEE 802.11p prostřednictvím simulace s použitím modelu kanálu HIPERPLAN/2. V práci je uvedena simulace přenosu signálu 802.11p kanálem ITU-R M.1225 s odlišným zpožděním a středním výkonem (pro chodce a vozidla). Vliv kanálu na signál je analyzován za použití simulace v prostředí MATLABu pomocí vyhodnocení chybovosti. Určení vlastností kanálů v kmitočtovém pásmu 5,8 GHz pro standard IEEE 802.11p a UWB. Experimenty byly prováděny pro vnitřní a vnější prostředí vozidla. Bylo zjištěno, že pro protokol 802.11p může být trend (dlouhodobý vývoj) profilu PDP (power delay profile) nejlépe aproximován pomocí modelu obsahujícího dvě klesající exponenciální funkce, na rozdíl od Saleh-Valenzuelova (S-V) modelu, který je více vhodný pro UWB systémy pracující v pásmu 3 až 11 GHz. Vytvoření odpovídající impulzní odezvy (CIR) s využitím trendu PDP. Informace o CIR byla použita pro simulaci 802.11p za účelem vyhodnocení chybovosti při použití Ricianova modelu. Výsledky odhadu BER ukazují vhodnost protokolu pro vnitřní a vnější prostředí bezdrátových aplikací. Výsledky simulací dále ukazují, že se chybovost zásadně nemění a proto je možné určit střední křivku BER pro celou sadu změřených dat. Určení vlivu malé změny polohy antény na vlastnosti kanálu. Práce ukazuje náhodnost parametrů UWB kanálu pro malé změny polohy antény okolo vozidla, zaparkovaného v podzemní garáži. Ztráty šířením jsou monotónně rostoucí se vzdáleností, avšak náhodně se mění v závislosti na úhlu a výšce antén, a proto je vyhodnocení vzdálenosti pomocí síly signálu pro tyto scénáře nevhodné. Na druhé straně může být pro spolehlivé určení vzdálenosti bez ohledu na úhel nebo výšku antény použita doba příchodu prvního svazku. Ověření vlivu změn konfigurace kanálu na parametry S-V modelu. Práce demonstruje závislost parametrů Saleh-Valenzuela modelu v na vzdálenosti a výšce antén, avšak ukazuje, že jejich průměrné hodnoty jsou blízké IEEE 802.15.3 standardu. Ověření možnosti lokalizace pomocí metody TOA (time of arrival). Vzdálenost mezi anténami byla určena z profilu PDP s využitím lineární závislosti vzdálenosti na zpoždění. Souřadnice vysílací antény byly nalezeny pomocí dvou přijímacích antén pomocí 2-D lokalizační techniky TOA. Porovnání vypočtených souřadnic s původními vykazuje chybu menší než 6%, což ukazuje vhodnost navrženého přístupu pro lokalizaci vozidel.The dissertation is focused on channel measurements and modeling for vehicle-to-X communication and on localization. In order to realize an integrated intelligent transportation system (ITS), it is important to estimate channel features for intra-vehicle and out-of-vehicle scenarios. For this propose the following activities are carried out: simulation of the 802.11p PHY; comparison with 802.11a; channel measurements for different scenarios based on the 802.11p and ultra-wideband (UWB); creating channel models for 802.11p and UWB; UWB measurements to assess performance of localization. The vehicle-to-X communication is supposed on the IEEE 802.11p standard. The dissertation presents the differences between IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11p physical layer standards through the simulation results of the transmission over a HIPERPLAN/2 channel. Further, the simulation of the 802.11p signal transmission over ITU-R M.1225 channel, which includes pedestrian and vehicle models with different relative delays and average power, is presented. The influence of the channel on the signal is analyzed using MATLAB simulation in terms of bit error rate (BER). The dissertation reports vehicular channel measurements in the frequency band of 5.8 GHz for IEEE 802.11p standard and for UWB (3-11 GHz). Experiments for both intra-vehicle and out-of-vehicle environments are carried out. It was observed that the large-scale variations (LSVs) of the power delay profiles (PDPs) can be best approximated through a two-term exponential decay model for the 802.11p protocol, in contrast to the Saleh-Valenzuela (S-V) model which is suitable for UWB systems. For each measurement, the LSV trend was used to construct the respective channel impulse response (CIR). Next, the CIR is used in 802.11p simulation to evaluate the BER performance, following a Rician model. The results of the BER simulation shows the suitability of the protocol for in-car as well as out-of-car wireless applications. The simulation for out-of-car parameters indicate that the error performances do not vary much and it is possible to determine an average BER curve for the whole set of data. The randomness in UWB channel for small positional variations around a car, parked in an underground garage, is reported. The path loss (PL) is found to be monotonically increasing with distance but varies randomly with angle and height and thereby renders signal strength based ranging inaccurate for such scenarios. On the other hand, arrival time of the first ray can be used for reliable estimation of distance, independent on transmitter angle or height. The number of clusters in the PDP is reduced with distance but the nature of the profile remains fairly consistent with angle. The S-V model parameters also vary with distance and height but their average values are close to the IEEE 802.15.3 recommended channel model. For localization applications the distance between the antennas is calculated exploiting the linear dependence of distance on delay from PDP. The coordinates of a transmitting antenna are found with the help of two receiving antennas following a two-dimensional (2-D) time-of-arrival (TOA) based localization technique. A comparison of the calculated coordinates with the original ones exhibits an error of less than 6% which supports the suitability of the proposed approach for localization of the cars.

Situational Awareness Enhancement for Connected and Automated Vehicle Systems

Recent developments in the area of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) have boosted the interest in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs). While ITS is intended to resolve and mitigate serious traffic issues such as passenger and pedestrian fatalities, accidents, and traffic congestion; these goals are only achievable by vehicles that are fully aware of their situation and surroundings in real-time. Therefore, connected and automated vehicle systems heavily rely on communication technologies to create a real-time map of their surrounding environment and extend their range of situational awareness. In this dissertation, we propose novel approaches to enhance situational awareness, its applications, and effective sharing of information among vehicles.;The communication technology for CAVs is known as vehicle-to-everything (V2x) communication, in which vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) have been targeted for the first round of deployment based on dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) devices for vehicles and road-side transportation infrastructures. Wireless communication among these entities creates self-organizing networks, known as Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs). Due to the mobile, rapidly changing, and intrinsically error-prone nature of VANETs, traditional network architectures are generally unsatisfactory to address VANETs fundamental performance requirements. Therefore, we first investigate imperfections of the vehicular communication channel and propose a new modeling scheme for large-scale and small-scale components of the communication channel in dense vehicular networks. Subsequently, we introduce an innovative method for a joint modeling of the situational awareness and networking components of CAVs in a single framework. Based on these two models, we propose a novel network-aware broadcast protocol for fast broadcasting of information over multiple hops to extend the range of situational awareness. Afterward, motivated by the most common and injury-prone pedestrian crash scenarios, we extend our work by proposing an end-to-end Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) framework to provide situational awareness and hazard detection for vulnerable road users. Finally, as humans are the most spontaneous and influential entity for transportation systems, we design a learning-based driver behavior model and integrate it into our situational awareness component. Consequently, higher accuracy of situational awareness and overall system performance are achieved by exchange of more useful information