Over-the-Air multilevel test bed for dynamic V2X scenarios

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Giovanni del Galdo; Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Kürner
• Subject Area: Communication Technology and Networks, High-Frequency Technology and Photonic Systems, Signal Processing and Machine Learning for Information Technology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 502587978

Connected and automated driving will rely greatly on wireless connectivity. Its testing is not only required to assess the compliance to the standards yet it is also essential for earning trust in this upcoming new era of personal mobility. This project focuses on Over-the-Air (OTA) testing, as motivated in the following: 1) OTA testing, by enabling testing in virtual environments, allows for superior reproducibility and controllability. Moreover, it has close to no restrictions of ethical or juridical nature 2) It includes the influence of antenna radiation patterns used to sense the (radio) environment. 3) It removes the need to access the antenna ports, so that highly integrated transceivers may also be tested. Existing OTA testing approaches address solely single link communications in a cellular infrastructure. As of yet, no provision in the standards is made for testing functionality in (short-range) vehicular ad-hoc networks, nor has any suitable proposition in this direction been made elsewhere. This project investigates a new concept, in which the connectivity in vehicular ad-hoc networks in traffic scenarios is simulated in software and a vehicle under test is exposed to emulated EM fields in an OTA-chamber. Special attention will be paid to the dynamic events that are typical for connected and automated driving with coordinated manoeuvring. Channel models accommodating these type of events are developed in this project, on basis of both dynamic ray tracing and novel stochastic modelling strategies. A challenging complication is anticipated in dealing with computational complexity and latency of potential solutions. The expertise of PI Del Galdo on channel modelling and channel emulation is combined with the expertise of PI Kürner on mobile network simulation and channel modelling. This project is part of the the 4-CAD(( package together with the proposal entitled “Scenario-based tool chain for virtual verification and validation of automotive radar”, which aims at comparable goals in the field of automotive radar. Links between the two projects may be found on dynamic ray tracing and on metrics, both for the performance of test set-ups themselves and for the functionalities under test.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants