Path Loss Modeling for Vehicular System Performance and Communication Protocols Evaluation

Vehicular communications are receiving considerable attention due to the introduction of the intelligent transportation system (ITS) concept, enabling smart and intelligent driving technologies and applications. To design, evaluate and optimize ITS applications and services oriented to improve vehicular safety, but also non-safety applications based on wireless systems, the knowledge of the propagation channel is vital. In particular, the mean path loss is one of the most important parameters used in the link budget, being a measure of the channel quality and limiting the maximum allowed distance between the transmitter (Tx) and the receiver (Rx). From a narrowband vehicular-to-vehicular (V2V) channel measurement campaign carried out at 5.9 GHz in three different urban environments characterized by high traffic density, this paper analyzes the path loss in terms of the Tx-Rx separation distance and fading statistics. Based on a linear slope model, values for the path loss exponent and the standard deviation of shadowing are reported. We have evaluated the packet error rate (PER) and the maximum achievable Tx-Rx separation distance for a PER threshold level of 10 % according to the digital short-range communications (DSRC) specifications. The results reported here can be incorporated in an easy way to vehicular networks (VANETs) simulators in order to develop, evaluate and validate new protocols and systems architecture configurations under realistic propagation conditions.