A BER-Based Partitioned Model for a 2.4GHz Vehicle-to-Vehicle Expressway Channel

Statistical channel models based on BER performance are presented for a frequency- and time-selective vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communications link in an expressway environment in Atlanta, Georgia, where both vehicles traveled in the same direction. The models are developed from measurements taken using the direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technique at 2.45GHz. A collection of tapped delay line models, referred to as a “partitioned” model in the paper, is developed to attempt to capture the extremes of BER performance of the recorded channel. Overall and partition models are compared to the recorded channel in terms of the BER statistics obtained when the channels are inserted in a dedicated short range radio (DSRC) standard simulation system. The quality of the match between synthesized and recorded channel BER statistics is analyzed with respect to type of modulation (fixed or adaptive), the frame length, and the length of the interval over which the BER was calculated. Guillermo Acosta was born in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1962. He is a Ph.D. Candidate and a graduate research assistant in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia. He obtained his Bachelor of Engineering with Honors and Master of Engineering, both in Electrical Engineering, from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1985 and 1987, respectively. He also obtained a Master of Business Administration with Honors from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), Mexico City, Mexico, in 1996. Mr. Acosta has held technical and managerial positions in the recording, radio, and TV industries and in the Communications Ministry of Mexico. He has been an adjunct instructor in Electrical Engineering in the Instituto Tecnologico y Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Estado de Mexico (ITESM-CEM) and the Universidad Iberoamericana. He is member of the IEEE, INCE, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu. Mary Ann Ingram received the B.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1983 and 1989, respectively. From 1983 to 1986, she was a Research Engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, performing studies on radar electronic countermeasure (ECM) systems. In 1986, she became a graduate research assistant with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where in 1989, she became a Faculty Member and is currently Professor. Her early research areas were optical communications and radar systems. In 1997, she established the Smart Antenna Research Laboratory (SARL), which emphasizes the application of multiple antennas to wireless communication systems. The SARL performs system analysis and design, channel measurement, and prototyping, relating to a wide range of wireless applications, including wireless local area network (WLAN) and satellite communications, with focus on the lower layers of communication networks. Dr. Ingram is a Senior Member of the IEEE.