Impact of vehicular integration effects on the performance of DSRC communications

Future safety-related vehicular applications require reliable information exchange provided by Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC). As the wireless vehicular environment is very challenging, it is crucial to test and evaluate the performance of DSRC communications in real conditions through experimental tests. Yet, DSRC communications have been evaluated independently from vehicles, and precise knowledge related to vehicular integration effects (i.e. cable/connector loss, antenna placement, vehicle geometry, etc) on DSRC communications still lacks. In this paper, we measure aspects of vehicular integration influencing DSRC communication in field experimental tests. Considering a global link budget, we illustrate the non-negligible impacts of cable, connectors, hardware, or roof types and antenna design on the communication range. We also measure their influence on the wireless channel and show that a reasonable distance between vehicles and radio obstacles, or metallic side-reflector improve communication range. Applying these results to a Road Hazard Warning application, we illustrate that, while vehicular integration affects its performance, wireless channel effects, in particular side reflectors, partially compensate them.