An integrated inter-vehicle ranging/communication system based on spread spectrum technique

This paper proposes an integrated inter-vehicle ranging/communication system for use in headway control and/or rear-end collision warning systems. The original idea to establish a ranging/communication link in a traffic flow was proposed by Mizui-Uchida-Nakagawa (1993). The method was based on a spread spectrum technique and its advantages in constructing a vehicle-to-vehicle communication was proved by a computer simulation. In this study, a laboratory-scale prototype was developed to confirm the workability of the concept on real electrical circuitry and its performances of ranging and data transmission were evaluated. Based on the results, future research needed to realize vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems are also addressed.