Experimental evaluation of integrated DSRC and Wi-Fi systems for intelligent transportation systems

Abstract

The high initial and maintenance costs of standard Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) and cellular V2X systems pose a significant barrier to the imple­ mentation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), particularly in low- and middle­ income countries where road safety is a critical requirement. This thesis addresses the necessity for cost-effective V2X solutions by developing and experimentally evaluat­ ing a DSRC/Wi-Fi integrated communication system. The system leverages low-cost Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 n) technology, which shares protocol similarities with DSRC, utilizing economic devices such as the ESP32 System-on-Chip (SoC). The cost of in­ tegrating the Wi-Fi subsystem is less than 30 USD. The proposed architecture integrates commercial DSRC devices with the low-cost Wi-Fi subsystems, connected via an Ethernet link, to deliver information for appli­ cations such as Active Road Signs (ARS). System performance was evaluated using critical vehicular communication metrics: • Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) • Maximum Range (MR) • Effective Range (ER) • Packet Interarrival Time (PIT) Empirical evaluation demonstrated that the system is a viable solution for many ITS applications, confirming a MR above 300m and an Effective Range (ER), defined as the range where PDR is above 50%, of approximately 200m. Crucially, the probabil­ ity of situation awareness blackouts (PIT> ls) was found to be negligibly small. To assist designers in selecting optimal parameters, a model was developed using a Bi­ directional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) neural network to predict system performance (PIT) based on variables such as distance, speed, RSSI, and beacon inter­ val. This work confirms that the novel dual communication system offers a practical, low-cost pathway for extending V2X capabilities.