Activating mobile traffic channels

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Cooperative Cars – CoCar in the context of Aktiv

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Communication improves mobility: High-per-formance traffic management and dynamicroute guidance already form an integral part ofthe transport system in modern society. Theyinform people of the traffic situation, reducecommuting times, enable flexibility in businessand improve organization of commercial trans-port. Nonetheless, traffic systems are faced withenormous present and future challenges inorder to provide people on the move with maximum safety, efficiency, and comfort.

Traffic Management Active Safety Cooperative Cars

• Active Hazard Braking

• Integrated Lateral Assistance

• Intersection Assistance

• Pedestrian and Cyclist safety

• Driver Awareness and Safety

• Communication Protocols andSimulators

• Prototypes and InnovationPotential

• Network Optimizer

• Virtual Traffic Guidance System

• Cooperative Traffic Signal

• Adaptive Navigation

• Situation-Responsive Driving

• Information Platform

• Cooperation and InnovationForums

• Assessment

· Daimler AG· Ericsson GmbH· MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG· Vodafone Group R&D Germany· Volkswagen AG

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These problems are specifically addressed by theresearch initiative Aktiv. Twenty-nine partners inthree projects will develop applications in activesafety, intelligent traffic management, andmobile traffic data communication technolo-gies. In order to support and protect the driver in hazardous or critical situations, assistancesystems such as active hazard braking and inter-section assistance are being developed. They willprecisely measure the vehicle environment andmonitor driver alertness in order to reactadaptively to each situation. By means of noveltraffic management systems, the partners aimto network traffic users with traffic guidancesystems, thus improving the performance of theroadway network.

The research initiative Aktiv comprises the following projects:

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The future linkage of advanced driver assistanceand traffic management systems will require acommunication system providing efficient,timely exchange of traffic data with both localreferencing and complete coverage. Cellularcommunication offers an attractive solution.The latest cellular communication generationprovides high-performance channels suitablefor traffic data transmission.

With data transmission rates of up to 14 Mbitper second and transmission latencies of lessthan one second, present cellular communica-tion systems lend themselves to smooth com-munication between driver assistance and traffic management systems and thus offer anenormous potential for innovation. Future

cellular communication systems will multiplythis performance. The Cooperative Cars (CoCar)project, supported by the Federal Ministry forResearch and Education, will test the suitabilityof UMTS technologies and their foreseeableextensions for direct, targeted transmission of traffic data arising both from stationary and vehicle-based sensors. By mid-2009, fivepartners from the telecommunications andautomobile industry will identify which trafficmanagement and driver assistance applicationsare suitable for use of this technology. In addition, the researchers will develop proto-types to test automotive communication usingcelluar communication systems.

14 Mbitper second

transmission rate

> Transmission of traffic and vehicle

sensor data via cellular communica-

tion is a true innovation. What is the

significance of a cellular communica-

tion based transmission system for the

future European vehicle market?

With over 220 million currently register-ed vehicles, we will reach an enormouspool of European users with access to acomprehensive cellular network. For thisreason, CoCar is striving toward accel-erated development of cellular commu-nication technology for transmission

“If only I had known sooner...”: a typical thoughtin critical traffic situations. Timely and preciselylocalized information comprises one of themost important functions of future drivingsafety and traffic management systems. For 14 characteristic traffic scenarios – involvinglocal hazard warnings, traffic incident detection,advanced driver assistance, and traffic manage-ment – the research project CoCar will test thesuitability of high-bandwidth, wireless cellularcommunication infrastructure for practical usein day-to-day traffic.

Local hazard warnings: Downstream vehicleswill be able to warn following vehicles in case ofemergency braking, jam formation, poor weatherconditions, or accidents. The goal here is to test whether time-critical traffic data can betransmitted precisely to the target by cellularcommunications within milliseconds.

Traffic hindrances & bottlenecks: In order toadvise vehicles on a freeway section of ap-proaching ambulances, utility vehicles, movingroad works, and the like, both a supervisory processing level and a means of transmittinglocal information are required. CoCar will ana-lyze how this information can be effectively pro-cessed in cellular networks and traffic centers,in order to provide targeted information to elec-tronic assistance devices in vehicles.

Cooperative Cars – Motivation

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of traffic information and testing of itsperformance attributes.

> In the future, traffic data will be trans-

mitted within the blink of an eye;

however high transmission rates are

not the only characteristic of cellular

communication. What are the advan-

tages of this technology for implemen-

tation in traffic?

Clearly, rapid transmission is a basicrequirement for many safety-criticalvehicle driving applications: Early

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Dr. Guido Gehlen is leading the CoCar project, supported by the Federal Ministry for Researchand Education, within the Aktiv research initiative. Dr. Gehlen received his doctorate in electrical engineering and is working at Ericsson GmbH.

warnings extend virtually the driver’svisual horizon and thus are a key element in accident prevention. Fromthe point of view of the CoCar partners,the cellular communication systemoffers the decisive advantage of accessto an infrastructure with an establishedand secure economic operational basis.

> The performance of 2.5G, 3G, 3G+,

LTE – cellular communication systems

has been steadily improving. What

makes the current generation so

Driving Assistants: A high concentration ofsending and receiving vehicles within a smallarea will be a common occurrence in traffic, forexample, if several vehicles equipped with inter-section assistance and speed control systemsenter an intersection, or if numerous passen-gers in different vehicles use multi-media ser-vices. The capacity of the cellular communica-tion system will be investigated for such situ-ations to ensure that targeted data transmissionand exchange of significant traffic informationfunction – even in the presence of high datachannel demand.

Traffic management: Modern traffic manage-ment systems can only act efficiently if the dataof all component systems – ranging from assist-ance functions to traffic guidance infrastruc-ture – are systematically processed and fused.The CoCar partners are developing strategies for automatically measuring, processing, and

distributing enormous quantities of data on alarge scale and in real time. Centralized datatransmission will supply the data to traffic service providers, while decentralized distributionwill make the data available to devices such asintelligent traffic signals.

Whether traffic management or hazard warn-ings are involved, an important requirement forsuccess is a viable operating scheme connectingdifferent devices and entities: e.g., on-boardvehicle computers, cellular networks, and super-computers in traffic information centers.Solutions are being developed in CoCar to providesmooth data transmission between differentvehicle and communication generations as wellas different service providers.

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attractive for active safety and traffic

management applications?

For the first time, the current generationof cellular communication devices andinfrastructure enable rapid trans-mission with high data rates. They alsoprovide a basis for broadcast technolo-gies, which can be used to create attrac-tive channels for efficient transmissionof regionally specific traffic data to allaffected vehicles.

> Basic research for practical use – what

applications are currently envisioned by

the CoCar partners?

One future goal is to use cellular net-works to warn the driver of traffic

hazards such as black ice, accidents, ormoving road works directly and withminimal latency. Another aim is to provide navigation systems with infor-

mation about the road and traffic statein order to achieve convenient, economic,and environmentally friendly mobility.

Dr. Guido Gehlen

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Thick fog ahead, visibility less than 50 meters. This information is avail-able to the on-board computer long before the driver perceives it or thevehicle sensors can detect it – the vehicle is about to penetrate a fog bankwithin the next few kilometers.

in typical use cases and traffic situations, andminimize the need for construction of expensivesystem components.

The key technical parameters for the engineerare the latency of traffic data transmission –duration from creation of a connection to dataacquisition at the destination – and the capa-city of the cellular network: How many vehiclescan communicate simultaneously within asmall area? Which information is required towarn all approaching vehicles? What transmis-sion speed is required to inform following vehi-cles on time? What filters are necessary tominimize the quantity of information required?

Cooperative Cars – Communication simulator

Preceding vehicles have reported the fog bankto the on-board computer by cellular communi-cation– data have been transmitted within afraction of a second. The elapsed time statisticsare evaluated and displayed by the simulationcomputer. Currently the vehicles, the poor-visibility report, as well as the data trans-mission processes exist only virtually in compu-ter simulation in CoCar.

The simulations are designed to compute thetechnical performance that will be requiredfrom cellular nets in order to transmit timely,localized, and comprehensive road and trafficinformation. The results of this work packageled by Ericsson GmbH will form the backbonefor developing a communication system fortransmitting traffic data. It will establish appro-priate data formats and communication proto-cols, test the value of cellular communications

Key technical parameters

are the traffic data trans

mission latency and the data

rate of the cellular network

Extended field of view

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18,109injury accidents

poor visibility in Germany!

Communicationsimulators

One can imagine a typical scene unfolding onthe A8 Autobahn in Bavaria, on a stretch fromthe Irschenberg hills down to lake Chiemsee:Heavy traffic is rolling down from Irschenbergat 100 km/h. Five kilometers ahead, the firstvehicles enter a thick fog and brake abruptly.Future vehicle sensors detect the fog, and theon-board systems report sharp braking from100 down to 60 km/h. Now the task is to establish a connection to the cellular commu-nication system within milliseconds, to sendthe information, and to warn the followingvehicles. In the simulation, only a fraction ofthe vehicles are assumed to be equipped with acellular communication unit capable of send-ing or receiving a report. Subsequently thereport is also received by vehicles located kilo-meters behind the first vehicle entering the fogbank.

In order to obtain a thorough understanding ofcellular network performance, informationtransmission, and driver behavior, the engi-neers are simulating a wide range of typicaltraffic situations. They focus on scenarios inwhich advanced driver assistance and trafficmanagement systems support the driver. Theseinclude for example poor road conditions suchas hydroplaning or poor visibility. The extensivesimulation of traffic scenarios required hereposes challenges even to specialists. Trans-mission of data between traffic managementand driver assistance systems by cellular com-munication is being emulated for the first timein CoCar. In a nutshell, the challenge is to simu-late a very large and spatially varying numberof rapidly moving components: vehicles andtraffic infrastructure components, which flexiblyexchange data, as well as the dynamics andinteractions of evolving traffic situations thatcontinually generate new information. Thesereports must either be continuously transmitted,such as reports on moving road works, or triggered, such as tail-back or fog warnings.

slippery roadsor

Future vehicle sensors

detect fog, and at the same

time the on-board system

reports strong braking

in the year 2006 due to

Cooperative Cars – Basis scenario

cellular communication operator

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Risk of congestion on a freeway In addition to other scenarios, the researchershave selected a classical situation occurring frequently on freeways, which requires simu-lation of many important processes and func-tions: Risk of congestion at the beginning ofroad works on a multilane freeway.

The potential of cellular communications fortraffic management and vehicle driver assistancewill be analyzed and tested using prototypes inthe project CoCar. To this end, typical trafficsituations known as “scenarios” will be simu-lated as a basis for analyzing the value of cellularcommunication for inter-vehicle traffic datatransmission and for data exchange betweenvehicles and traffic guidance systems, using cellular infrastructure.

Using these scenarios, the researchers will analyze applications in traffic and in vehicles aswell as the resulting technical challenges forcellular communication: requirements for smoothinformation exchange between the vehicle com-puter, traffic infrastructure, and traffic centers;business models; and vehicle implementation.

Technological jumps create new opportunities for innovation. Recentprogress in cellular communications technologies will now enable novel,high-performance channels for traffic data transmission.

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CoCar information service external traffic service provider

traffic management center

Attractive Information channels “Beginning road works with stop-and-go traffic, coordinates 47°49'47.21'' North,11°54'44.82'' East”. The traffic state is detected by vehicles entering the road workswhich generate short reports and transmit them by cellular communication. Thecellular network receives numerous such asynchronous reports.

There, the data undergo several stages of processing: In a first step, the raw dataare forwarded to all vehicles in the surrounding area and interpreted in the vehicles by intelligent assistance systems. In a second step, the cellular communi-cation provider processes traffic reports within the network and transmits themfor example only to those vehicles heading toward the road works. Third, probedata streams are transmitted to a traffic information service provider, where theyare collected, fused, and analyzed. From here, they can be sent either to classicaltraffic guidance systems – e.g., variable message/speed signs – or to public traffic management centers. Via broadcast channels such as RDS-TMC, DAB orDVB, all vehicles can be informed – even those not equipped with the latest cel-lular communication units.

radio station (RDS-TMC, DAB, DVB)

base transceiver station

road works message

hazard warning

traffic jam warning

variable message sign

With this many communicating participants, apowerful communication network is requiredthat must be capable of mastering a completelyinnovative task: The transmission of traffic data between vehicles, traffic guidance systems, andtelematic service providers – messages needs tobe rapid, specifically targeted and ordered bypriority. To this end, an adapted communicationprotocol will be developed in the research pro-ject CoCar under the leadership of the VodafoneGroup Research & Development: a medium totransmit data within a fraction of a second, withprecisely specified data formats and communi-cation protocols, and with information filteredby priority.

The protocol will allow a structured and system-atic flow of information, which is the key tocoordination of vehicle assistance, traffic gui-dance, traffic service centers and cellular net-works. In addition, the protocol will have animportant function at the interface of the auto-mobile and telecommunication industries: Itwill enable data exchange among vehicles anddistinct generations of cellular communicationsand between different assistance and trafficguidance systems. The protocol runs in thebackground and connects all system com-ponents – regardless of vehicle type, level oftechnological progress in the cellular network,and specifications of the traffic infrastructure.In this way, the researchers are providing forlong-term implementation of cellular commu-nication technologies.

14.000.000Bit übertragen heutige UMTS-Netze pro Sekunde

Cooperative Cars – Communication protocols

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With over 220 million registered vehicles, Europe has the highest vehicledensity in the world. This means over 220 million cars and trucks, allexchanging traffic data in the future cellular communication network with 55.5 million in Germany alone.

55,511,374vehicles

were registeredin Germany

as of January 1, 2007

A completely new task for

the cellular communication

market

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Thus, cellular communication faces new chal-lenges: Up to now, the technology was usedmainly for telephone conversations, transmissionof short text messages, and for downloadinglarge quantities of data from the internet. Thesetransmission processes involve sending largequantities of data continuously over a relativelylong period of time. In contrast, telematicsapplications require consolidation and highspeed transmission of an enormous number ofsmall data packets at high reliability.

In order to provide rapid processing, the infor-mation is coded to reduce the messages to theircore content. In addition, each message is assigned a sending order priority. Processesinvolving reactions within seconds have toppriority – for example a suddenly formed jam oran icy road segment. The second priority levelcomprises traffic flow and vehicle density dataas processed in strategic route guidance.

The protocol links on-board

computers, assistance

systems, cellular networks,

and traffic management

Communicationprotocols

Sample protocol<tpeg_message>

<originator country='DE' originator_name='CoCar'/><summary xml:lang='en'>Thick fog on the A8 between Irschenberg and Chiemsee

interchanges affecting both inbound and outbound traffic.</summary><road_traffic_message message_id='12345' version_number='3'

message_generation_time='2007-09-16T07:59:29+1' start_time='2004-09-16T07:59:29+1' severity_factor='&rtm31_4;'>

<location_container language="&loc41_40;"><location_coordinates location_type="&loc1_3;"><WGS84 latitude="47.828" longitude="11.915"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_7;" descriptor="A8:E45/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_24;" descriptor="Irschenberg"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_25;" descriptor="Rosenheim"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_26;" descriptor="Bayern"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_27;" descriptor="Deutschland"/><WGS84 latitude="47.834" longitude="12.396"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_7;" descriptor="A8:E45"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_30;" descriptor="Chiemsee"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_25;" descriptor="Rosenheim"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_26;" descriptor="Bayern"/><location_descriptor descriptor_type="&loc3_27;" descriptor="Deutschland"/><direction direction_type="&loc2_2;"/></location_coordinates>

</location_container><network_conditions>

<restriction restriction="&rtm49_255;"/></network_conditions>

</road_traffic_message></tpeg_message>

Mbit/s

Cooperative Cars – Demonstrator

“Moving road works ahead”, warns the displaysymbol in the vehicle cockpit. This typical trafficsituation will serve to test the use of newlydeveloped cellular communication technologiesin traffic by mid-2009. During this last phase ofthe research project CoCar, the engineers – ledby Volkswagen AG and working together withDaimler AG and MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG – willdemonstrate that the technologies provide aninnovative future basis for routinely exchangingtraffic data.

The exemplary application “Traffic hazard: roadworks warning” is designed to encourage further development of cellular communicationbased technologies – with a focus on imple-menting these technologies as communicationsystems for automotive safety assistance andtraffic management. Research and developmentdepartments of automobile and truck manu-facturers, specialists in traffic service centers, aswell as cellular network operators will be able toexperience the systems live, observing inter-actions between different vehicles and visualiz-ing new potential innovations. With this proce-dure, the partners in CoCar will determine thetechnical demands on cellular communicationsystems posed by advanced driver assistance,traffic information, and traffic management.

No report card without exams – testing is as essential for cellular commu-nication technologies as in any other area. Prototypes of the systems developed in CoCar will demonstrate their suitability for implementationin real traffic. The exam topic is, “warning – moving road works”.

Experiencing inter-vehicle

interactions

Existing 3G+ mobile communication infrastructure

CoCar Information service

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Moreover, the engineers will also take vehiclesinto account that do not have access to on-board sensors for the vehicle environment, butneed to be informed of the current traffic stateby external sources.

The basis for the technology demonstration is atest infrastructure. There, the newly developedsystems required for car communication will allbe implemented as prototypes: components forthe functional extension of the cellular net-work, as well as elements for linking to trafficservice centers, automotive driver assistancesystems and on-board computers. This so-called“end-to-end architecture” covers the completedata transmission chain: The vehicles send theirown detector data to traffic information centers. There, the messages are processed andtransmitted to all vehicles located on the corre-sponding roadway segment.

This information chain will be closely imple-mented in the demonstrator “Traffic hazard:road works warning”, with the help of threevehicles – a Volkswagen, a Mercedes-Benz and aMAN truck. A moving road works vehicle sendsperiodic position updates at brief intervals to atraffic service center. This center informs upstream vehicles approaching the road workssite. If the warning proves to be relevant for the affected vehicles, a moving triangle appears onthe display and reports “moving road worksahead”.

81,300,000road works cause

yearlyhours of delays

Prototypes

In Germany

Encouraging further

development of mobile

communication based

technologies

Cooperative Cars – Vision

In the near future, vehicles will log into cellularnetworks autonomously and automatically.After downloading current traffic state informa-tion, they will warn the driver of local hazardssuch as obstacles. Concurrently, they will beintegrated into powerful traffic managementsystems, continuously exchanging data on traffic flow and road conditions.

By means of cellular communication, this visionis soon to become reality in Germany and perhaps even in the entire European roadwaynetwork. The key requirements are novel trend-setting cellular communication technologies –as investigated in the Aktiv research initiative.Thus, cellular communication research has beentargeted in the project CoCar, because of theimmense innovation potential of this versatiletechnology for future generations of advanceddriver assistance and driver information systems and for efficient solutions in trafficmanagement.

In order to exploit thoroughly the economic andresearch opportunities offered by cellular com-munications technologies, Aktiv is connectingdifferent branches of industry: telecommunica-tion network operators and terminal devicemanufacturers, automobile manufacturers andtheir suppliers, as well as traffic service provid-ers. This interdisciplinary approach will open upentirely novel fields of application and modelsfor global operation in cellular communications,with definite economic prospects. cellular com-munication will result in establishing safetyassistance and services for the stakeholders intraffic. The partners enjoy the advantage of theexcellent existing cellular infrastructure, whichprovides stable cellular communication coveragethroughout Europe.

With the development of cellular communica-tion technologies for implementation in traffic,CoCar is enabling novel applications that previ-ously were considered as a technical vacuum.CoCar will establish new economic and scien-tific standards in cellular communication andenhance the role of Germany as a leading tech-nology country.

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These data packets are small; traffic warningscomprise only a few hundred bytes. However,these data packets will occur in large numbers:In congested traffic, the vehicle density can considerably exceed 100 vehicles per lane andkilometer.

It takes powerful cellular networks to transmitsuch a large number of data packets – suffi-ciently quickly. Third-generation cellular com-munication devices (3G+) currently provide thetop performance attributes, with latencies ofbelow one second and a data rate of up to 14 Mbit per second.

CoCar will investigate the capacity of the cellularcommunication systems for driver assistanceand traffic management applications. Potentialextensions for future systems will be recom-mended and the implementation of suchsystems will be evaluated.

WES-OfficeWalter E. SchollHülenbergstr. 1073230 Kirchheim unter Teck

Tel.: +49 7021/97 81 81Fax: +49 7021/97 81 82aktiv@wes-office.dewww.aktiv-online.org

Further information is availablefrom the Aktiv office.

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www.aktiv-online.org

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