A ray tracing algorithm for intelligent transport systems in tunnels

It is well-known that the radio wave propagation mechanisms inside a tunnel are different from the typical outdoor and indoor situations. Since the tunnels represent a significant type of vehicular environments, understanding the channel characteristics for the in-tunnel scenario is crucial for intelligent transport systems design. A widely used tool for simulating channel characteristics for outdoor and indoor scenarios is a deterministic propagation prediction tool, known as ray tracing (RT). However, RT applied for tunnel scenarios has not been studied adequately. In this paper, we first evaluate the real-world in-tunnel vehicle-to-vehicle radio channel measurements on the basis of time-varying power delay profile analysis. Secondly we introduce a RT tool that includes influence of the moving objects, to predict wave propagation mechanisms in the tunnel. In order to reduce computational complexity of RT, we suggest to combine an approximate algorithm for the higher-order reflection components with conventional RT and use a novel subdivision algorithm for modeling the diffuse scattering. Combining the higher-order reflection algorithm with conventional RT allows us to obtain more accurate delay spread results. The numerical simulations show that contribution of both the higher-order reflection and the diffuse components are equally important for the in-tunnel scenarios.