Modelling and simulation of data transponding links for road-use debiting schemes

With the renewed interest in the development of short-range two-way data transponding links for possible use in road transport informatics schemes, computer modelling and simulations have become an invaluable tool for evaluating the performance of the systems. This paper describes a computer simulation architecture which models the transmitter/receiver operations at the transponder in a moving vehicle and at the interrogator at a stationary road-side beacon. The effects of transmission medium impairments and of the choice of system design parameters on the bit error rate performance of the link are evaluated by means of the simulation tool. The software package is modular, sufficiently flexible and user-friendly, and so is a tool which is especially suited for analysing a wide range of existing and potential short-range microwave data transponding links