Road-LINK: Car-2-X Communication System integrating Vehicles and Road Traffic Units for Intelligent Transport System of Future

Road-LINK: Car-2-X Communication System integrating Vehicles and Road Traffic Units for Intelligent Transport System of Future
Car-2-X Communication
Car-2-X (C2X) is an automobile technology designed to allow vehicles to “talk” to each other. The exchange of real-time data a vehicles and between vehicles and roadside units attached to the traffic infrastructure contributes to traffic safety and sustainability.
Aim
The aim of the project is to design a Car-2-X communication system using an Adhoc wireless network that would demonstrate the usefulness of this technology which would be applied for
 Advanced driver assistance increasing road safety by reducing the number of accidents as well as reducing the impact in case of non-avoidable accidents.
 Increasing traffic efficiency with traffic congestion control resulting in reduced transport time, fuel consumption and thus contributing to improving the environment.
 User communications and information services offering comfort and business applications to driver and passengers
Working
There are several use cases where car-2-x technology would be applied in a real world. The project will implement and demonstrate the following use cases.
Forward Hazard Warning: If a vehicle detects an incident such as emergency braking, accident, traffic jam, slippery road, or construction zone, it adds this information to its periodically broadcasted Cooperative Awareness Message which is sent to all vehicles in the close vicinity. Other cars or motorcycles receives the information and decide either to warn the driver if the hazardous location is on the route in front or just to broadcast the information to warn other vehicles.
Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory: The vehicle approaches the traffic light that is currently red. Based on the received traffic light phase schedule, the vehicle calculates an approaching speed of say, 45 km/h, at which the vehicle would reach the traffic light at the beginning of the next green phase. This information is presented to the driver who can avoid the unnecessary stop. If the vehicle is somehow needed to stop, then the traffic light would automatically switches off the car engine and later switch ON the ignition once it shows green.
Intersection Collision Warning: While the motorcycle is riding on the main road, a car is approaching the intersection from the right-hand side. Due to a view obstruction, the car driver is overlooking the approaching motorcycle. When driving onto the intersection, the car driver receives a warning of the approaching motorcycle. The rider also receives a warning on its HMI.
Road Speed Limit Warning: The road speed limit warning application allows connected vehicles to receive information that it is approaching a road along with the recommended speed for the curve. This capability allows the vehicle to provide a warning to the driver regarding the road and its recommended speed. In addition, if the actual speed through the curve exceeds the recommended speed, the vehicle can communicate and informs this to the traffic control unit, where the vehicle number will be displayed. If the driver drives the vehicle faster than the speed limit ignoring the warning, the vehicle unit would inform the vehicle details to the traffic control unit.
Emergency Vehicle Warning: While the vehicles are driving along the road an emergency vehicle approaches from behind. This system uses information from the EV to help the driver on how to clear the road for the emergency vehicle even when the siren and light bar may not yet be audible or visible. The driver/rider of the other vehicle will be advised to stop at the road side to let the EV pass by. If the driver doesn’t slow the vehicle after this warning, the vehicle details will be automatically transferred to the traffic control unit.
The project consists of three units running a wireless network a them. The control and monitoring unit has a touchscreen display and other sensors. Vehicle units have a compass, a graphics LCD and a warning buzzer.
Hardware Description
 Microcontroller: 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller, LPC1300.
 IEEE 802.15.4: wireless network protocol used to communicate between all the three units
 Touchscreen Display: A color touchscreen TFT display with QVGA resolution is used as the main HMI for the project demonstration
 Graphics LCD: used to show the vehicle status and other info to the driver
 MEMS Compass: used to find the direction of the moving vehicle
 MEMS Accelerometer: used to sense accident situation
 Brake Position Sensor: used to sense emergency braking situation.
 Vehicle Speed Control Sensor: used to increase or decrease the speed of the vehicle
 Buzzer: used to provide warning sound to the driver
 DC Motor: used to emulate a running vehicle driven by a motor driver circuitry
 Battery: used to power all the electronics and motors in the project
Software Tools Used:
 Programming Language: Embedded C
 Development Tool: LPCXpresso IDE (Eclipse based)
Embedded Protocols Used:
 IEEE 802.15.4, I2C, SPI
Software Libraries Used:
 Graphics Library and device driver for TFT display and GLCD
 Touchscreen IC driver firmware using SPI
 IEEE 802.15.4 protocol stack using SPI
 MEMS Compass sensor driver firmware using I2C
 MEMS Accelerometer sensor driver firmware using I2C
 Cortex-M3 peripheral device driver library
 CMSIS from ARM
Project Advantages:
• Safety
• Warnings on entering intersections.
• Warnings on departing the highways
• Obstacle discovery
• Sudden halts warnings
• Reporting accidents
• Lane change warnings
• Traffic Management
• Variable speed limits
• Adaptable traffic lights
• Automated traffic intersection control
• Accommodating ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars
• Driver Assistance System
• Parking a vehicle
• Cruise Control
• Lane keeping assistance
• Road sign Recognition
• Policing and Enforcement
• Speed limit warnings
• Surveillance
• Restricted entries
• Pull-over commands
• Travel Related Information
• Maps
• Business locations
• Car services
• Gas stations
• Pricing and Payments
• Toll Collecting
• Parking Payments
• Direction and Route Optimization
• IEEE 802.15.4, low power wireless Adhoc network operates at less energy.
• 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller enables high performance using very less power