Spatial Diversity for IEEE 802.11p Post-Crash Message Dissemination in a Highway Environment

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of broadcast safety applications in a vehicular-to-vehicular (V2V) communication scenario using a BER-based reception model from a detailed IEEE 802.11p physical layer simulator for a more accurate interpretation of the vehicular communication system, instead of the prebuilt SNR threshold model available in a typical network simulators. Our main contribution is the spatial diversity analysis provided using MIMO-STBC, that is specific to modulation types, vehicular speeds and range of SNR values. To further improve the accuracy of the analysis, realistic vehicular traces from a bidirectional highway are used as the mobility model. Finally, we included post-crash warning message prioritization over periodic status updates by enabling a hybrid EDCA MAC. Our analysis shows that MIMO-STBC achieves up to 80% range extension of the 1-hop safety broadcast in a V2V when compared against single antenna system.