Platooning is both a challenging and rewarding application. Challenging since strict timing and reliability requirements are imposed by the distributed control system required to operate the platoon. Rewarding since considerable fuel reductions are possible. As platooning takes place in a vehicular ad hoc network, the use of IEEE 802.11p is close to mandatory. However, the 802.11p medium access method suffers from packet collisions and random delays. Most ongoing research suggests using TDMA on top of 802.11p as a potential remedy. However, TDMA requires synchronization and is not very flexible if the beacon frequency needs to be updated, the number of platoon members changes, or if retransmissions for increased reliability are required. We therefore suggest a token-passing medium access method where the next token holder is selected based on beacon data age. This has the advantage of allowing beacons to be re-broadcasted in each beacon interval whenever time and bandwidth are available. We show that our token-based method is able to reduce the data age and considerably increase reliability compared to pure 802.11p. © 2015 IEEE.
Lately, all the top truck manufacturers are investing considerable resources in the research and development of platooning systems which would allow vehicles to save fuel and improve safety by travelling in a close-following manner. The platooning system requires frequent and reliable vehicle-to-vehicle communications. As platooning takes place in a vehicular ad hoc network, the use of IEEE 802.11p is close to mandatory. However, the 802.11p medium access method suffers from packet collisions and random delays. Most ongoing research suggests using TDMA on top of 802.11p as a potential remedy. However, TDMA requires synchronization and is not very flexible if the beacon frequency needs to be updated, the number of platoon members changes, or if re-transmissions for increased reliability are required. We therefore suggest a token-passing medium access method where the next token holder is selected based on beacon data age. This has the advantage of allowing beacons to be re-broadcasted in each beacon interval whenever time and bandwidth are available. We show that our token-based method is able to reduce the data age and considerably increase reliability considerably compared to pure 802.11p.
A protocol and a communication mechanism intended for time and safety critical applications using a radio channel for information transport are considered jointly. The protocol is based on a scheme of retransmissions done on demand within a given time window. Each retransmission is coded with a varying number of redundant symbols. The set of blocks used for retransmission is controlled by two quality-of-service parameters: deadline for the transmission and the probability that the correct decoded message will reach the recipient before this deadline. Analysis of a protocol model indicates that it is possible to transmit time critical information in a mobile wireless system with very low error probabilities in an industrial environment.
In March 2007, an agreement was made for interchange of experiences between CVIS and the Centre for Research on Embedded Systems (CERES) at Halmstad University in Sweden. The majority of the work relating to this collaboration has been conducted within the CERES project Vehicle Alert System (VAS), aiming to use vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications to provide different types of warning messages. The main focus of the VAS project is on communication and in particular the lower layers of the communication stack are investigated. VAS involves academic researchers from Halmstad University as well as researchers from Volvo Technology, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and the company Free2move. This report presents the results of the VAS project, its publications, and other issues of interest both to the CVIS consortium as well as a broader scope.
In this paper, initial simulations are presented showing that the upcoming IEEE 802.11p standard is not suitable for traffic safety applications requiring reliable, low delay communication between vehicles. The medium access control procedure is one of the most important parts in the design of delay-constrained communication systems, and emerging vehicle safety applications put new stringent demands on timely and reliable delivery of data packets. The medium access procedure used in 802.11p is carrier sense multiple access, which is inherently unsuitable for time-critical data traffic since it is contention-based and cannot provide a finite upper bound on the time to channel access. The simulation results indicate that with IEEE 802.11p, channel access cannot be granted in a manner that is sufficiently predictable to support reliable, low-delay communications between vehicles on a highway.
In this paper the medium access control (MAC) method of the upcoming vehicular communication standard IEEE 802.11p has been simulated in a highway scenario with periodic broadcast of time-critical packets (so-called heartbeat messages) in a vehicle-to-vehicle situation. The 802.11p MAC method is based on carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) where nodes listen to the wireless channel before sending. If the channel is busy, the node must defer its access and during high utilization periods this could lead to unbounded delays. This well-known property of CSMA is undesirable for time critical communications. The simulation results reveal that a specific node/vehicle is forced to drop over 80% of its heartbeat messages because no channel access was possible before the next message was generated. To overcome this problem, we propose to use self-organizing time division multiple access (STDMA) for real-time data traffic between vehicles. This MAC method is already successfully applied in commercial surveillance applications for ships (AIS) and airplanes (VDL mode 4). Our initial results indicate that STDMA outperforms CSMA for time-critical traffic safety applications in ad hoc vehicular networks.
Traffic safety applications using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is an emerging and promising area within the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) sphere. Many of these new applications require real-time communication with high reliability, meaning that packets must be successfully delivered before a certain deadline. Applications with early deadlines are expected to require direct V2V communications, and the only standard currently supporting this is the upcoming IEEE 802.11p, included in the wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE) stack. To meet a real-time deadline, timely and predictable access to the channel is paramount. However, the medium access method used in 802.11p, carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), does not guarantee channel access before a finite deadline. In this paper, we analyze the communication requirements introduced by traffic safety applications, namely, low delay, reliable, real-time communications.We show by simulation of a simple, but realistic, highway scenario, that vehicles using CSMA/CA can experience unacceptable channel access delays and, therefore, 802.11p does not support real-time communications. In addition, we present a potential remedy for this problem, namely, the use of self-organizing time division multiple access (STDMA). The real-time properties of STDMA are investigated by means of the same highway simulation scenario, with promising results.
Emerging traffic safety applications requiring low delay communications will need vehicle ad-hoc networks. The only communication standard currently supporting this is IEEE 802.11p. However, 802.11p uses the medium access method CSMA/CA, which has a major drawback: unbounded worst case channel access delay. We therefore propose an algorithm already in commercial use in the shipping industry: STDMA. With STDMA, nodes always get predictable channel access regardless of the number of competing nodes and the maximum delay is deterministic. In this paper we elaborated with different parameter settings for the two protocols with the aim of improving performance without altering the standards.
Cooperative traffic safety applications such as lane change or overtaking assistance have the potential to reduce the number of road fatalities. Many emerging traffic safety applications are based on IEEE 802.11p and periodic position messages, so-called cooperative awareness messages (CAM) being broadcasted by all vehicles. In Europe, ETSI defines a periodic report rate of 2 Hz for CAMs. Although a high report rate is the key to early hazard detection, the 2 Hz rate has been chosen to avoid congestion in settings where the vehicle density is high, e.g., on major highways and in urban scenarios. However, on rural roads with a limited number of communicating vehicles, a report rate of 2 Hz leads to unnecessary delay in cooperative awareness. By adapting the CAM report rate depending on the specific application and road traffic density, and by making use of the priority levels provided by the 802.11p quality of service mechanism, we show that hazards can be detected earlier and the available bandwidth is used more efficiently, while not overexploiting the network resources.
A platoon of trucks driving at the same, mutually agreed speed while keeping a minimum inter-vehicle distance will reduce fuel consumption, enhance transport efficiency as well as improve the safety of other adjacent road users. The European profile of IEEE 802.11p for inter-vehicle communications uses a single 10 MHz control channel dedicated to safety-critical data, shared by periodic status updates, CAM (Cooperative Awareness Message), and event-triggered warnings, DENM (Decentralized Environmental Notification Message). Coupled with the random access delay inherent to the 802.11p medium access method, the strict timing and reliability requirements of platoon applications are not easily met. To this end, we evaluate by simulation the effect of IEEE 802.11p-compliant send rate adaptations and message type prioritizations and the choice of warning dissemination strategy on CAM transmissions and DENM dissemination in a platooning scenario. Simulation studies of a platoon of 10-20 vehicles in a busy highway scenario show that the context-aware choice of send rate, priority class and dissemination strategy not only reduce the dissemination delay of DENMs but even has a significant effect on the throughput of CAMs exchanged by platoon members.
A platoon of trucks driving at the same, mutually agreed speed while keeping a minimum inter-vehicle distance will reduce fuel consumption, enhance transport efficiency as well as improve the safety of other adjacent road users. The European profile of IEEE 802.11p for inter-vehicle communications uses a single 10 MHz control channel dedicated to safety-critical data, shared by periodic status updates, and event-triggered warnings. Coupled with the random access delay inherent to the 802.11p medium access method, the strict timing and reliability requirements of platoon applications are not easily met. To this end, we evaluate the effect of IEEE 802.11p-compliant send rate adaptations and message type prioritizations and the choice of warning dissemination strategy in a platooning scenario. Simulation studies of a platoon of 10-20 vehicles in a busy highway scenario show that a context-aware choice of send rate, priority class and dissemination strategy not only reduces the hazard warning dissemination delay but also has a significant effect on the throughput of periodic beacons.
Recent advances in cooperative driving hold the potential to significantly improve safety, comfort and efficiency on our roads. An application of particular interest is platooning of trucks, where it has been shown that keeping a minimum inter-vehicle distance results in considerably reduced fuel consumption.This, however, puts high requirements on timeliness and reliability of the underlying exchange of control messages betweenplatoon members. The European profile of IEEE 802.11p, recently adopted by ETSI, defines two message types to this end, periodic beacons for basic cooperative awareness (CAM) and event-triggered decentralized environmental notification messages (DENM), both of which will use one common control channel. IEEE 802.11p employs a random medium access protocol, which may experience excessive delays during high network loads. To mitigate these effects, ETSI standardizes a decentralized congestion control algorithm to, e.g., lower the CAM update frequency during high loads. However, this may prevent proper functionality of a platooning application. In this paper we propose a solution that instead uses a dedicated service channel for platooning applications and compare its performance to standard-compliant IEEE 802.11p inter-platoon communication on the control channel. Service channels typically have less strict requirements on send rates, data traffic types and medium access methods. Our service channel solution combines a random access phase for DENM with a centralized, scheduled access phase for CAM. Using a service channel enables us to guarantee timely channel access for all CAM packets before a specified deadline while still being able to provide a reasonable DENM dissemination delay. © 2013 IEEE.
Recent advances in cooperative driving hold the potential to significantly improve safety, comfort and efficiency on our roads. An application of particular interest is platooning of trucks, where it has been shown that keeping a minimum inter-vehicle distance results in considerably reduced fuel consumptions. This, however, puts high requirements on timeliness and reliability of the underlying exchange of control messages between platoon members. The European profile of IEEE 802.11p, recently adopted by ETSI, defines two message types to this end, periodic beacons for basic cooperative awareness (CAM) and event-triggered decentralized environmental notification messages (DENM), both using the common control channel. The IEEE 802.11p employs a random medium access protocol, with excessive delays that may prevent proper functionality of a platooning application. To mitigate the effects of this, ETSI standardizes a decentralized congestion control algorithm to, e.g., lower the CAM frequency when needed. Some service channels with less strict requirements on send rates, data traffic types or medium access methods are available. In this paper we compare the performance of decentralized, standard-compliant inter-platoon communication using IEEE 802.11p on the control channel with a solution based on a service channel, which combines a random access phase for DENM with a centralized, scheduled access phase for CAM. A dedicated service channel for platooning applications enables us to always guarantee timely channel access of CAM packets before a specified deadline and our simulations show that this is achieved at very small sacrifices in DENM dissemination delay.
Providing reliable and timely communication in wireless industrial networks is crucial. Previous research has shown that relaying can aid in achieving this goal. We consider the case when relay resources are sparse such that each relay needs to aid e.g., three different sensor nodes and propose to combine relaying with Luby codes. We let the relay node construct a Luby coded packet using the three source packets as input. The destination can then use the Luby coded packet to recover an erroneous or lost source packet regardless of which source that packet belonged to. The performance evaluation shows that our proposed scheme significantly increases the number of correctly received packets before the corresponding deadlines, or alternatively that high reliability can be maintained even if fewer time slots are allocated for retransmissions, thus lowering the delay. © 2013 IEEE.
In wireless industrial networks, providing reliable and timely communication is crucial. Previous research has shown that relaying can be used to achieve this goal. However, we have found that different types of wireless channels encountered in industrial environments affect the benefits as well as the best behavior and position of relay nodes. We consider two types of behavior: the relay node always retransmits or it only retransmits if it has obtained a correct copy of the packet. We evaluate different positions of the relay node by conducting simulations for two types of fading channels: with and without line of sight. The results clearly show that the benefits, the best behavior and position of a relay node depends on the wireless channel, whether or not the bit errors appear randomly or in bursts and also on the distance between the source and the final destination. © 2012 IEEE.
To be accepted for use in industrial applications, wireless technologies must offer similar performance in terms of reliability and timeliness as provided by current wired solutions. Wireless channels, introducing time-varying packet error rates, impose a significant challenge to fulfill these requirements. One way to improve reliability in industrial wireless networks is to use relaying, whereas packet aggregation is a method that can reduce delay. Hence, in this paper, we propose to use a combination of relaying and packet aggregation. Based on the type of feedback provided by the controller, the relay node can choose the most suitable way to use its allocated time slots such that more packets can reach the controller before their deadlines. The results show that allowing this kind of flexibility at the relay node results in performance improvements. The more flexibility, the greater the gain, and thus further improvements can be made by adjusting the schedule to take different types of feedback into account. @ IEEE 2015
Wireless networks present a promising alternative to the currently used wired systems as they are more flexible, easier to install and maintain. However, requirements on reliability and timeliness which at present are met by wired networks, also need be fulfilled by wireless solutions. Relaying and packet aggregation have been recognised as viable tools to do this. However, introducing additional relay nodes into an industrial network is costly. Hence, in this paper we propose to use a combination of relaying and packet aggregation performed by the source nodes themselves. The results show that our proposal improves performance considerably, but also that the transmission schedule plays a crucial role. A schedule adapting to the varying channel conditions, improves the performance substantially. By carefully choosing which packet to aggregate, even further improvements can be achieved. © 2015 IEEE.
Platooning is widely considered a promising approach to decrease fuel consumption by reducing the air drag. However, in order to achieve the benefits of aerodynamic efficiency, the inter-vehicle distances must be kept short. This implies that the intra-platoon communication must not only be reliable but also able to meet strict timing deadlines. In this paper, we propose a framework that reliably handles the co-existence of both time-triggered and event-driven control messages in platooning applications and we derive an efficient message dissemination technique. We propose a semi-centralized time division multiple access (TDMA) approach, which e.g., can be placed on top of the current standard IEEE 802.11p and we evaluate the resulting error probability and delay, when using it to broadcast periodic beacons and disseminating eventdriven messages within a platoon. Simulation results indicate that the proposed dissemination policy significantly enhances the reliability for a given number of available time-slots, or alternatively, reduces the delay, in terms of time-slots, required to achieve a certain target error probability, without degrading the performance of co-existing time-triggered messages. © 2015 IEEE
Many emerging applications based on wireless networks involve distributed control. This implies high requirements on reliability, but also on a predictable maximum delay and sometimes jitter. Further, many distributed control systems need to be constructed using off-the-shelf components, both due to cost constraints and due to interoperability with existing networks. This, in turn, implies that concurrent transmissions and multiuser detection are seldom possible. Instead, half-duplex time division multiple access (TDMA) is typically used. The total communication delay thereby depends on the packet error rate and the time until channel access is granted. With TDMA, channel access is upper-bounded and the jitter can be set to zero. With the aim to reduce the packet error rate given a certain deadline (a set of TDMA time-slots), we propose a novel relaying scheme, which can be implemented on top of off-the-shelf components. The paper includes a full analysis of the resulting error probability and latency. Numerical results show that the proposed relaying strategy significantly improves reliability given a certain maximum latency, or alternatively, reduces the latency, given a certain target reliability requirement. © 2016 IEEE.
Many emerging applications based on wireless networks involves distributed control. This implies high requirements on reliability, but also on maximum delay and sometimes jitter. The total delay depends on the packet error rate and the time until channel access is granted. With e.g., TDMA, channel access is upper-bounded and the jitter zero. To reduce the packet error rate given a certain deadline (a set of TDMA time-slots), we propose a simple relaying scheme, including a full analysis of its resulting error probability and delay. Numerical results show that the proposed relaying strategy significantly improves reliability given a certain message deadline.
Autonomous driving in road trains, a.k.a. platooning, may reduce fuel consumption considerably if the intervehicle distances are kept short. However, to do this, the intraplatoon communication must not only be reliable but also able to meet strict deadlines. While time-triggered messages are the foundation of most distributed control applications, platooning is likely to also require dissemination of event-driven messages. While much research work has focused on minimizing the age of periodic messages, state-of-the-art for disseminating eventdriven messages is to let all nodes repeat all messages and focus on mitigating broadcast storms. We derive an efficient message dissemination scheme based on relay selection which minimizes the probability of error at the intended receiver(s) for both unicast and broadcast, without degrading the performance of co-existing time-triggered messages. We present a full analysis of the resulting error probability and delay, when relayers, selected by our algorithm, are used to disseminate messages within a platoon. Numerical results indicate that the proposed relaying policy significantly enhances the reliability for a given delay.
Using relayers in wireless networks enables higher throughput, increased reliability or reduced delay. However, when building networks using commercially available hardware, concurrent transmissions by multiple relayers are generally not possible. Instead one specific relayer needs to be assigned for each transmission instant. If the decision regarding which relayer to assign, i.e., which relayer that has the best opportunity to successfully deliver the packet, can be taken online, just before the transmission is to take place, much can be gained. This is particularly the case in mobile networks, as a frequently changing network topology considerably affects the choice of a suitable relayer. To this end, this paper addresses the problem of online relay assignment by developing a low-complexity algorithm highly likely to find the optimal combination of relaying nodes that minimizes the resulting error probability at the targeted receiver(s) using a mix of simulated annealing and ant colony algorithms, such that relay assignments can be made online also in large networks. The algorithm differs from existing works in that it considers both unicast as well as broadcast and assumes that all nodes can overhear each other, as opposed to separating source nodes, relay nodes and destination nodes into three disjoint sets, which is generally not the case in most wireless networks.
Relaying can increase reliability, range, or throughput. In many cyber-physical systems (CPS), relaying is used to maximize reliability before a given deadline. Since concurrent transmissions are not supported by most CPS, time-division multiple access (TDMA) is typically used. However, a major drawback of relaying in TDMA is that pre-allocated time-slots are wasted if their respective transmitters do not have any correctly received packet to relay. Therefore, in this letter, we propose a novel relay grouping scheme to overcome this drawback. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme significantly enhances the reliability while guaranteeing the deadline for each message. © Copyright 2019 IEEE - All rights reserved.
Wireless automation and control networks, with stringent latency and reliability requirements, typically use half-duplex communications combined with deadline-aware scheduling of time slots to nodes. To introduce higher reliability in legacy industrial control systems, extra time slots are usually reserved for retransmissions. However, in distributed wireless control systems, where sensor data from several different nodes must be timely and reliably available at all places where controller decisions are made, this is particularly cumbersome as all nodes may not hear each other and extra time slots imply increased delay. To enable all-to-all broadcast with manageable overhead and complexity in such systems, we therefore propose a novel relaying strategy using packet aggregation. The strategy assigns relayers to time slots, as well as determines which packets to aggregate in each slot, using a low-complexity algorithm such that ultra-reliable communications can be obtained with maintained end-to-end latency.
The 2011 Joint Rail Conference (JRC) was held in Pueblo, Colorado, on March 16-18, 2011, immediately after the Association of American Railroads Research Review. The conference started with a technical tour of TTCi. The highlights of the technical tour were two on-site presentations on a full-scale train impact test and the field test of the positive train control (PTC) system. The tour attendees were given the opportunity to take a close look at the energy-absorption devices and sensors installed at various locations of the test car. The PTC presentation was held at the communications and train control (C&TC) test bed at the TTCi test track, which is the only CT&C test bed in North America. The 2012 Joint Rail Conference (JRC) will be held in Philadelphia in April 2012, and the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) Land Transportation Division (LTD) will take the lead in the planning of the major technical forum onrail engineering in North America.
Industrial networks based on IEEE 802.15.4 are spreading, even though the joint requirement on predictability and reliability from industrial applications is hard to fulfil in wireless networks, and the data rate of IEEE 802.15.4 is rather low. With the goal of providing real-time guarantees, with increased reliability and throughput, we propose two multichannel network architectures based on IEEE 802.15.4 with predictable medium access, real-time analysis admission control and transport layer retransmissions. We evaluate the architectures in terms of reliability, utilization, delay, complexity, scalability and energy efficiency. The evaluations show that throughput and reliability can be enhanced through redundancy and concurrency in the frequency domain.
As the number of application areas for wireless technologies grows, the need for providing both predictable and reliable communication over wireless networks becomes apparent. Cooperative embedded systems for industrial automation are one example of systems with these needs. Previously, we developed a framework for reliable real-time communication in a single-hop wireless network with a logical star topology. The framework was placed on top of IEEE 802.15.4 and combines transport layer retransmissions with real-time analysis admission control. IEEE 802.15.4 was selected due to its advantageous energy saving techniques, making it an interesting choice for wireless sensor networks in industrial contexts. However, its achievable data rate is rather low, especially when voice or video for industrial surveillance and monitoring need to be transferred. Hence, we adapt our framework to fit the IEEE 802.11 standard and evaluate its performance using a data traffic model from industrial control and surveillance systems. The performance of the framework is evaluated in terms of network utilization, message error rate and delay distribution using theoretical analysis as well as computer simulations.
Emerging industrial applications requiring reliable wireless real-time communications are numerous. Using existing standards such as IEEE 802.15.4 is essential for reasons of interoperability and cost efficiency. However, since 802.15.4 is unable to provide predictable channel access, real-time guarantees cannot be given. Further, the noisy wireless channel makes reliable communications particularly challenging. By adding a deterministic medium access method and a transport protocol with a truncated retransmission scheme to 802.15.4, we jointly enforce reliability and predictability. We evaluate our solution analytically by real-time schedulability analysis including retransmissions, and by computer simulations. We show that the message error rate can be improved by several orders of magnitude while keeping the utilization penalty at reasonable levels.
The integration of new wireless technologies with vehicle computing systems has opened the doors for new fields of applications such as intelligent transportation systems. Vehicular ad hoc networks emerge as the technical basis in solutions aiming to improve road safety and efficiency as well as driving comfort. This paper discusses different factors that influence the performance of wireless vehicle communication systems and proposes a general design for the construction of a test environment for these systems. A comprehensive list of different parameters that affect the system performance is compiled. Next, these parameters are analyzed and quantified to serve as guidelines when establishing and designing components of a suitable test environment. This test environment should provide a platform that enables researchers and engineers to identify possible bottlenecks in the network functionality as well as allowing test, assessment and verification of as many of the relevant parameters involved in the ad hoc communication as possible.
TTEthernet is a communication platform which builds on Ethernet, but extends it to include fault-tolerance and real-time mechanisms. The existing TTEthernet technology is developed for wired networks. A natural step for improving and extending the current application field is the introduction of a mixed wired and wireless network. However, this step requires research both about possible adaptation of existing systems as well as implementation of new technologies. A central research question is the security aspects of real-time sensor networks using wired and wireless technologies based on TTEthernet. In this paper, we identify and classify the most important aspects to consider in order to provide secure communications in such safety-critical industrial applications and propose a potential solution to address identified issues. © 2014 IEEE
This chapter discusses major results and conclusions from Special Interest Group C bringing together various aspects of mobile to mobile communication from all working groups. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication scenarios are emphasized. Traffic telematics applications are currently under intense research and development for making transportation safer, more efficient, and cleaner. Communication systems which provide “always on” connectivity at data rates between 1 and 10 Mb/s to highly mobile surface traffic (cars and trains) are urgently required for developing traffic telematics applications and services. Currently much attention is given to advanced active safety, but the application area also ranges to improved navigation mechanisms and infotainment services. mobile to mobile communications need to be reliable and trusted: Drivers in cars which are equipped with vehicle to vehicle communications need to rely on the accuracy and timeliness of the exchanged data. Automotive manufacturers, road authorities, broadcast companies, and telecom providers are the key players in the value chain for such future systems. These communication systems provide an extended information horizon to warn the driver or the vehicular systems of potentially dangerous situations in an early phase.
The three papers in this special section focus on wireless technologies in factory and industrial automation. The papers which appear in this second part cover everything from protocol design and evaluation to the design and assessment of system-level solutions for wireless sensor networks in industrial automation.
Within the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) field, many applications of a diverse nature are considered and thus their communication requirements differ significantly. This makes it difficult for one wireless carrier to support all or most of these applications. Therefore, we have complied a list of communication requirements for future ITS applications and used it to analyze different ITS applications as well as different wireless carriers. Accordingly, the applications can be grouped into different requirements profiles with recommended wireless carriers assigned to each profile. The concept of profiling can also be used to classify the applications according to their non-technical requirements and hence accelerate their future deployment by encouraging involved stakeholders to make the most common requirements available. It can also be useful when developing a roadmap for deployment of future ITS applications defining which application will most likely be implemented first.
With high data rate wireless communications networks, new applications relying on high quality audio, video or control become viable. Examples of such applications are remote tele-medicine, collision avoidance systems, and audio/video entertainment at CD/DVD quality. These applications all demand high data rates, but have different quality-of-service (QoS) requirements in terms of reliability and latency. Currently, mobile communications networks have only limited provisions for QoS implementation and control. The conventional functionality separation in network design may be inhibiting effective implementation of guaranteed QoS. In this paper, we propose and review a system design paradigm based on concatenated system models and iterative signal processing. The novelty of the paradigm is to propagate methodologies of physical layer design across disciplinary boundaries within wireless network design in a bottom-up cross-layer approach. The paper is tutorial in nature, promoting the new view through presenting a series of examples of successful application of concatenated systems design from the physical and link layers. The purpose of the paper is to inspire new research directions.
The scalability of intelligent transport systems (ITS) applications is difficult to test in a field operational test (FOT) due to the high number of ITS equipped vehicles required. Therefore, computer simulations for evaluating different wireless communication technologies for ITS different applications can serve as a complement. In this paper we present results from lab measurements conducted on the CVIS hardware platform equipped with the upcoming standard IEEE 802.11p. We have measured the packet error rate versus the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for different packet lengths. This lab measurement is the first step towards an outdoor measurement campaign which also considers interference. The outdoor measurements will then be fed into a computer simulator together with a realistic channel model for evaluating the scalability of VANETs in a highway scenario.
IEEE 802.11p is the proposed wireless technology for communication between vehicles in a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) aiming to increase road traffic safety. In a VANET, the network topology is constantly changing, which requires distributed self-organizing medium access control (MAC) algorithms, but more importantly the number of participating nodes cannot be restricted. This means that MAC algorithms with good scalability are needed, which can fulfill the concurrent requirements on delay and reliability from road traffic safety applications. The MAC method of IEEE 802.11p is a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) scheme, which scales badly in terms of providing timely channel access for a high number of participating nodes. We therefore propose using another MAC method: selforganizing time division multiple access (STDMA) with which all nodes achieve timely channel access regardless of the number of participating nodes. We evaluate the performance of the two MAC methods in terms of the MAC-to-MAC delay, a measure which captures both the reliability and the delay of the delivered data traffic for a varying number of vehicles. The numerical results reveal that STDMA can support almost error-free transmission with a 100 ms deadline to all receivers within 100 m, while CSMA suffers from packet errors. Moreover, for all considered cases, STDMA offers better reliability than CSMA.
The hidden terminal problem is often said to be the major limiting performance factor in vehicular ad hoc networks. In this article we propose a definition of the hidden terminal problem suitable for broadcast transmissions and proceed with a case study to find how the packet reception probability is affected by the presence of hidden terminals. Two different medium access control methods; carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) from IEEE 802.11p and self-organizing time division multiple access (STDMA), are subject of investigation through computer simulations of a highway scenario with a Nakagami fading channel model. The results reveal that the presence of hidden terminals does not significantly affect the performance of the two MAC protocols. STDMA shows a higher packet reception probability for all settings due to the synchronized packet transmissions.
Position messages will be the foundation for many emerging traffic safety applications based on wireless communications. These messages contain information about the vehicle’s position, speed, direction, etc. and are broadcasted periodically by each vehicle. The upcoming IEEE 802.11p standard, intended for vehicle unpredictable behavior of its medium access control (MAC) scheme, which imply that traffic safety applications cannot be supported satisfactorily when the network load increases. We study the MAC mechanism within IEEE 802.11p being a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) algorithm and compare it with a self-organizing time division multiple access (STDMA) scheme when used for broadcasting periodic position messages in a realistic highway scenario. We investigate their scalability in terms of the number of vehicles that the VANET can support using metrics such as channel access delay, probability of concurrent transmissions and interference distance. The results show that STDMA outperforms CSMA of 802.11p even when the network is not saturated.
In this paper the results of a state of the art survey, using publicly available information, are presented. The scope of the survey concerns projects that include wireless communication vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure. Since there is a vast amount of information available, a specific methodology has to be developed and applied. This paper presents such a methodology which is based on a matrix representation that enables the definition of specific metrics. These metrics can then be used for further evaluation. The objectives of this work are threefold; to gather relevant project information, to define and apply a methodology for handling this information, and to compare and draw some general conclusions about the nature of projects carried out in Europe, USA and Japan.
The objective of this thesis is to improve the performance of real-time communication overa wireless channel, by means of specifically tailored channel coding. The deadlinedependent coding (DDC) communication protocol presented here lets the timeliness and thereliability of the delivered information constitute quality of service (QoS) parametersrequested by the application. The values of these QoS parameters are transformed intoactions taken by the link layer protocol in terms of adaptive coding strategies.Incremental redundancy hybrid automatic repeat request (IR-HARQ) schemes usingrate compatible punctured codes are appealing since no repetition of previously transmittedbits is made. Typically, IR-HARQ schemes treat the packet lengths as fixed and maximizethe throughput by optimizing the puncturing pattern, i.e. the order in which the coded bitsare transmitted. In contrast, we define an IR strategy as the maximum number of allowedtransmissions and the number of code bits to include in each transmission. An approach isthen suggested to find the optimal IR strategy that maximizes the average code rate, i.e., theoptimal partitioning of n-kparity bits over at most M transmissions, assuming a givenpuncturing pattern. Concatenated coding used in IR-HARQ schemes provides a new arrayof possibilities for adaptability in terms of decoding complexity and communication timeversus reliability. Hence, critical reliability and timing constraints can be readily evaluatedas a function of available system resources. This in turn enables quantifiable QoS and thusnegotiable QoS. Multiple concatenated single parity check codes are chosen as examplecodes due to their very low decoding complexity. Specific puncturing patterns for thesecomponent codes are obtained using union bounds based on uniform interleavers. Thepuncturing pattern that has the best performance in terms of frame error rate (FER) at a lowsignal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is chosen. Further, using extrinsic information transfer (EXIT)analysis, rate compatible puncturing ratios for the constituent component code are found.The puncturing ratios are chosen to minimize the SNR required for convergence.The applications targeted in this thesis are not necessarily replacement of cables inexisting wired systems. Instead the motivation lies in the new services that wireless real-time communication enables. Hence, communication within and between cooperatingembedded systems is typically the focus. The resulting IR-HARQ-DDC protocol presentedhere is an efficient and fault tolerant link layer protocol foundation using adaptiveconcatenated coding intended specifically for wireless real-time communications.
Traffic safety applications relying on cooperative systems are currently being considered by several research projects worldwide. An important question is if existing wireless technologies can meet the communication requirements from this emerging field of applications? Part of the answer to this question is that the communication requirements depend on what is actually communicated and how this information is used by and presented to the driver. The data traffic from realizations based on "cooperative awareness" or on "hazard warnings" are very different. This article discusses the communication requirements of some typical traffic safety applications and how these requirements are affected by different realizations.
The ongoing wireless communication evolution offers improvements for industrial applications where traditional wireline solutions causes prohibitive problems in terms of cost and feasibility. Many of these new wireless applications are packet oriented and time-critical. The deadline dependent coding (DDC) communication protocol presented here is explicitly intended for wireless real-time applications. The objective of the work described in this thesis is therefore to develop the foundation for an efficient and reliable real-time communication protocol for critical deadline dependent communication over unreliable wireless channels.
Since the communication is packet oriented, block codes are suitable for error control. Reed-Solomon codes are chosen and incorporated in a concatenated coding scheme using iterative detection with trellis based decoding algorithms. Performance bounds are given for parallel and serially concatenated Reed-Solomon codes using BPSK. The convergence behavior of the iterative decoding process for serially concatenated block codes is examined and two different stopping criteria are employed based on the log-likelihood ratio of the information bits.
The stopping criteria are also used as a retransmission criterion, incorporating the serially concatenated block codes in a type-I hybrid ARQ (HARQ) protocol. Different packet combining techniques specifically adapted to the concatenated HARQ (CHARQ) scheme are used. The extrinsic information used in the iterative decoding process is saved and used when decoding after a retransmission. This technique can be seen as turbo code combining or concatenated code combining and is shown to improve performance. Saving the extrinsic information may also be seen as a doping criterion yielding faster convergence. As such, the extrinsic information can be used in conjunction with traditional diversity combining schemes. The performance in terms of bit error rate and convergence speed is improved with only negligible additional complexity.
Consequently, CHARQ based on serially concatenated block codes using iterative detection creates a flexible and reliable scheme capable of meeting specified required realtime constraints.
The concept of deadline dependent coding (DDC) has previously been suggested by the authors for maximizing the probability of delivering the required information before a given deadline in a wireless communication system.. In this paper, these principles are further developed using concatenated codes with iterative decoding, providing a new level of flexibility and robustness for DDC protocols. The strategy of DDC is to combine different coding and decoding methods with automatic repeat request (ARQ) techniques in order to fulfill the application requirements within a wireless realtime communication system. These requirements are formulated as two quality of service (QoS) parameters: deadline (tDL) and probability of correct delivery before the deadline (Pd), leading to a probabilistic view of realtime communication. An application can negotiate these QoS parameters with the DDC protocol, thus creating a flexible and fault-tolerant scheme.
A protocol for real-time communication over a wireless channel, based on concatenated codes using iterative decoding is proposed. The concept of deadline dependent coding (DDC), previously suggested by the authors, to maximize the probability of delivering the information before a given deadline, is further developed to include concatenated codes. The strategy of DDC is to combine different coding and decoding methods with automatic repeat request (ARQ) in order to fulfill the application requirements. These requirements are formulated as two Quality of Service (QoS) parameters: deadline (t_DL) and probability of correct delivery before the deadline (P_d), leading to a probabilistic view of real-time communication. An application can negotiate these QoS parameters with the DDC protocol, thus creating a flexible and reliable scheme.
We consider serially concatenated block codes in a hybrid ARQ scheme using iterative decoding. The extrinsic information generated in the iterative decoding process is saved and used when a retransmission is decoded. Two different strategies are examined; one using the extrinsic information only in the very first iteration, whereas the other uses it in all subsequent iterations until another retransmission arrives. The latter can be seen as turbo or concatenated code combining whereas the former, where the extrinsic information is used only once may be seen as code doping, providing an alternative perspective. The strategy of saving the extrinsic information is also compared to traditional type-III, equal gain diversity combining. Using the extrinsic information from previous retransmission is shown to improve performance not only in terms of bit error rate but also in terms of throughput and convergence speed and requires only negligible additional decoder complexity. The performance of this strategy is however not as good as simple equal gain combining. As a consequence, the investigated schemes are not competitive alternatives, however, the code doping procedure can be used in conjunction with traditional diversity combining schemes, improving further on convergence speed.