Open Access

The research project Ko-TAG [2], as part of the research initiative Ko-FAS [1], funded by the German Ministry of Economics and Technologies (BMWi), deals with the development of a wireless cooperative sensor system that shall pro-vide a benefit to current driver assistance systems (DAS) and traffic safety applications (TSA). The system’s primary function is the localization of vulnerable road users (VRU) e.g. pedestrians and powered two-wheelers, using communication signals, but can also serve as pre-crash (surround) safety system among vehicles. The main difference of this project, compared to previous ones that dealt with this topic, e.g. the AMULETT project, is an underlying FPGA based Hardware-Software co-design. The platform drives a real-time capable communication protocol that enables highly scalable network topologies fulfilling the hard real-time requirements of the single localization processes. Additionally it allows the exchange of further data (e.g. sensor data) to support the accident pre-diction process and the channel arbitration, and thus supports true cooperative sensing. This paper gives an overview of the project’s current system design as well as of the implementations of the key HDL entities supporting the software parts of the communication protocol. Furthermore, an approach for the dynamic reconfiguration of the devices is described, which provides several topology setups using a single PCB design.

The IEEE802.11p standard describes a protocol for car-to-X and mainly for car-to-car-communication. It has found its place in hardware and firmware implementations and is currently tested in various field tests. In the research project Ko-TAG, which is part of the research initiative Ko-FAS, cooperative sensor technology is developed for the support of highly autonomous driving. A secondary radar principle based on communication signals enables localization of objects with simultaneous data transmission. It mainly concentrates on the detection of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users (VRU), but also supports pre crash safety applications. Thus it is mainly targeted for the support of traffic safety applications in intra-urban scenarios. This contribution describes the Ko-TAG part of the overall initiative, which develops a subsystem to improve the real-time characteristics of IEEE802.11p needed for precise time of flight real-time localization. In doing this, it still fits into the regulatory schemes. It discusses the approach for definition and verification of the protocol design, while maintaining the close coexistence with existing IEEE802.11p subsystems. System simulations were performed and hardware was implemented. Test results are shown in the last part of the paper.

The communication between objects, i.e. between cars (car-2-car, C2C), between cars and infrastructure (car-2-infrastructure, C2I) and between cars and vulnerable road users (car-2-VRU, C2VRU) is a major stepping stone towards traffic applications to enable efficient and safe traffic flow. However, these applications pose very high requirements to the communication protocols, which go beyond the capabilities of an available standardized solution. This contribution shows how iterative design processes can help to fulfill these requirements, while re-using a maximum of elements from one level to the next and thus avoiding unrealistic overhead. In especially, the added value of simulation and emulation in this iterative process is elaborated.

In the research project Ko-TAG, which is part of the research initiative Ko-FAS, cooperative sensor technology is developed and its benefit for traffic safety applications is evaluated. As a result the new sensor concept shall provide essential input data for next generation driver assistant systems. A secondary radar principle based on communication signals enables localization of objects with simultaneous data transmission. It mainly concentrates on pedestrian and other vulnerable road user (VRU) detection. This paper describes the architectural approach of the system design, as well as the main characteristics of the physical and data link layers of the proposed wireless protocol. The protocol is designed in such a way that it can be used as an extension to IEEE802.11p/WAVE protocol. The complete protocol is modeled in OPNET network simulator.

In the research project Ko-TAG, which is part of the research initiative Ko-FAS, cooperative sensor technology is developed and its benefit for traffic safety applications is evaluated. As a result the new sensor concept shall provide essential input data for next generation driver assistant systems. A secondary radar principle based on communication signals enables localization of objects with simultaneous data transmission. It mainly concentrates on pedestrian and other vulnerable road user (VRU) detection, but also allows pre crash safety. This paper describes the elements of the system architecture, as well as the main characteristics of the communication protocols. These are designed to fulfil the functional requirements and to be compatible with existing protocols. With regard to the wireless link, the protocol is designed in such a way that it can be used as an extension to IEEE802.11p/WAVE protocol. With regard to the communication within the vehicle, an extension to the LocON-protocol is propped. The system is implemented in a hardware-software co-design approach.