Characterization of in-tunnel distance measurements for vehicle localization

An increased number of vehicular applications and services requires accurate distance measurements. Due to specific properties of radio waves propagation, it may not be effective to use ranging systems designed for other environments inside tunnels. In this paper we analysed the characteristics of time of flight based ranging for in-tunnel applications. Based on our analysis, we designed a vehicle localization system showing that the time of flight approach is a suitable, accurate and cost effective solution for this purpose. We designed and validated our solution by performing real experiments in a tunnel located in Lugano, Switzerland.