In-Vehicle Traffic Signal Information Display
Mentor: Brendan Morris
One tool for smoother, more energy efficient driving and improved traffic flow on arterials is the use of signal phase and timing (SPaT) information as generated from a traffic controller. While many intersections in Las Vegas are transmitting SPaT messages, few vehicles use the information as it is relegated to high-end (Audi Traffic Light Information) or self-driving vehicles (Motional). The purpose of this project is to develop a low-cost SPaT receiver and display to indicate the amount of time left for the signal to turn green, yellow, or red and to provide speed guidance to minimize wait time at an intersection. The REU students will explore V2X communication protocols (IEEE 802.11p DSRC and C-V2X) to design and develop a radio receiver that can be paired with a Raspberry PI as a lightweight display device. The display will be tested at Las Vegas intersections to characterize the performance in terms of phase accuracy, delay, and distance.
Required skills:
Areas: Machine learning, Intelligent transportation systems, Autonomous Vehicles, V2X
Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications with SDR
Mentor: Peter Stubberud and Ebrahim Saberinia
Consumer demand, government legislation, and the automotive industry’s efforts to increase safety are driving the adoption of advanced automotive safety systems that use radar, LiDAR, camera systems, GPS, and vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications. For such systems to be feasible, they require security to prevent hacking, and they must be competitively priced, reliable, easily repaired, and have a communication system that can transmit and receive all of these signals. This requires a single or standardized multi-mode, multi-application transceiver that can interface with multiple radar and LiDAR systems that are installed around the vehicle [20]. This project aims to design a single transceiver with a software defined radio (SDR) that handles radar, LiDAR, GPS,
and V2V communications. REU students will use two portable computers and two USRP Ettus Research B200mini SDR transceivers that interface with Matlab through the MathWorks’ SDR Hardware Support Package to transmit and receive various automotive communication signals in real time. Currently, digital short-range communications (DSRC), and Cellular V2X (C-V2X), are the two technologies that compete to fulfill the communication needs of connected vehicles. Working with a single programmable transceiver provides the ability to design a communication system that can be used by existing safety systems while allowing for reprogramming to accommodate future standards. Because these V2X communication transceivers need to be flexible and multi-modal, software defined radios are a perfect platform for developing such transceivers
Required skills: Signals and Systems course; preferred skills: Communication course
Areas: V2X, SDR