Abstract
Research and/or Engineering Questions/Objective
Traditional development, test and validation procedures and tools for vehicles are based on the V-Model where the vehicle is considered a complete system. With cooperative and automated driving vehicles, the complexity increases and testing needs to be taken into account from the design stages. New requirements concerning the vehicle itself and the interaction with other road users introduce validation at two levels. For development, testing and validation, it is required a safe environment where conditions are controlled and repeatability is warranty. This paper presents how IDIADA’s C-ITS platform can be used to rapid develop Connected Automated Driving systems.
Methodology
For that purpose, IDIADA has designed and deployed a C-ITS platform. IDIADA’s proving ground is fully covered with ETSI ITS G5, WiFi and 3G network is available for pilot tests. Topography information with 2cm accuracy and D-GPS coverage is available too. ITS Roadside Stations (IRSs) are equipped with dual transceivers and strategically deployed along the High Speed Track (HST) to warranty 6 Mbps to the Dynamic Platforms and the HST under serious adverse circumstances. IRSs collect and forward the data to the ITS Central Station (ICS) and flexibly provide local applications. All equipment is connected via high bandwidth links to the ICS that can real-time monitor the network, track the vehicles, log the data for further analysis and provide ITS applications.
Results
A well proven Forward Collision Warning application based on V2X communications was chosen as part of the reference scenario for the functional validation of the platform. The C-ITS application uses Differential GNSS augmentation combined with topographical information for accurately identify the position and the lane the vehicle is in. Some of the data is exchanged between the vehicles to identify possible longitudinal collision risks and warn the driver in case of danger. On the one hand, the C-ITS platform provides real time tracking of vehicles as well as warning messages in case of longitudinal collision risks. On the other hand, the C-ITS platform improved the performance of the application, more specifically, in case of not direct communications between vehicles, the infrastructure can identify possible hazards and warn individual vehicles.
Limitations of this study
Although 3G coverage is available, Connected and Automated Driving (CAD) vehicles define more strict requirements concerning low latency, high reliability and seamless connectivity that make 4G/5G cellular networks more suitable. For this purpose, the C-ITS is planned to be improved with the implantation of a 4G cellular network. And even though the C-ITS platform has been designed and developed to ensure modularity, easy and reliable integration between C-ITS applications, its integration with C-ITS applications it has only been validated on a Forward Collision Warning scenario. The integration robustness between applications will increase as new applications are developed, tested and validated.
What does the paper offer that is new in the field including in comparison to other work by the authors?
Nowadays applications deployed on C-ITS infrastructure are based mostly on non-safety requirements. All of the Day-1 applications are based on signalling or hazardous location notifications; as a consequence, the actual C-ITS infrastructure networks don’t take into account the frequency and latency requirements for critical safety applications (Longitudinal Collision Warning and Intersection Collision Warning for instance). The IDIADA’s C-ITS platform is able to test critical safety applications in a controlled and observable scenario, allowing the quick future Day-2 applications before its release.
Conclusions
On this abstract it was highlighted the new challenges CAD vehicles bring. IDIADA’s C-ITS platform was presented as an objective evaluation environment and also part of CAD systems under development. The complete solution provides an innovative environment for rapid development, performance assessment and functional validation of CAD systems.
KEYWORDS: C-ITS, Connected Automated Driving, V-Model, test and validation