Performance of vehicle-roadside communication systems supporting multiple RTI-applications

In this paper, the performance of short-range vehicle-roadside (beacon) communication systems, which support several RTI (Road Transport Informatics) applications at one beacon site, is analysed. After introducing the general requirements of RTI applications, different medium access control protocols and system configurations proposed for standardisation in Europe and North America are presented. Then, the concept of the performance analysis of vehicle-roadside systems based on the simulation in a realistically modelled environment is presented. Simulation results based on an implementation of a mandatory automatic fee collection (AFC) application combined with a dynamic route guidance (DRG) application are analysed in detail (noncompletion rate of transactions, used length of the communication zone, interference between different applications, etc.) and optimal choices of system parameters are presented. It is shown, that a beacon, which is mainly occupied with a mandatory application, such as AFC, is able to provide additional RTI services in order to make best use of the available system capacity and to enhance the benefits for potential users