VehicletoVehicle Communications Through Tires

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Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications Through Tires
Caitlin Motsinger SURE Program Summer
2007 Research Advisor Dr. Todd
Hubing Graduate Student Assistant Robert
Clippard
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Overview

• Background Information
• Concepts and Applications of Vehicle
  Communications
• Case for Communication Systems in Tires
• My Summer Work
• Research Paper in Vehicle Communications for
  Michelin Americas Research Corporation
• Small Scale Demonstration Bike-to-Bike
  Communications

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Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications

• Basic Idea Equip automotive vehicles with
  wireless communication systems, allowing them to
  exchange real time information
• Each vehicle is like a node in an ad-hoc
  wireless network
• System is mainly autonomous from the drivers
  perspective they are only aware of it when a
  situation arises that needs their attention
• Expands drivers horizon, and makes them more
  conscious of their environment and relative
  position to each other

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Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications

• Instead of communicating with each other,
  vehicles talk to base station nodes placed
  intermittently along the road
• Utilizes wireless systems from the car to the
  station, which then communicate wirelessly or
  through land lines to a data collection center
• Information can be collected from a large number
  of vehicles and processed by a third party

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Applications of V2V and V2I Safety
The power of shared information makes drivers
more aware of

• State of the roadways
• Weather conditions
• Heavy fog
• Intersection violations
• Potential lane change violations
• Location of vulnerable road users such as
  pedestrians and cyclists
• Slow moving traffic around blind curves

Flooding of I-96 in Livonia on July 12, 2007
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Applications Driving Efficiency
Updated information can be sent right to
navigation units allowing drivers to easily

• Avoid congestion, saving time, fuel, and
  reducing pollution
• Choose the best time of departure
• Choose an alternate route to avoid accidents,
  flooding, etc.
• Predict travel time and make more reliable
  deliveries

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Communication Transmission in the Tires

• The benefits of placing the transceivers in tires
  include
• Yields four convenient, externally located
  mounting platforms
• Inflated tube can provide protection in the
  event of a crash
• Older cars could be updated with communication
  systems when tires are replaced
• The extra movement (rotational as well as
  forward) might help avoid bad transmission areas

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The Michelin Paper Concept
The Michelin Americas Research and Development
Corporation (MARC) has two main technical
opportunities in V2V and V2I To better
understand these opportunities, MARC requested a
research paper outlining

• Chance to utilize smart tire sensors, such as
  those that can measure air pressure and tire-road
  cohesion
• Chance to push for placement of communication
  systems in tires
• A technical review of research initiatives in
  Europe, North America, and Asia
• A commentary on the business environment and how
  it might effect MARCs place in the tire market

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The Michelin Paper Coverage

• A listing and short description of pertinent
  government research initiatives in Europe, North
  America, and Asia.
• Bandwidth allocation on all three continents for
  Wireless Access in the Vehicular Environment
  (WAVE).
• Standards development in North America in IEEE
  802.11p (physical and MAC layers), and IEEE P1609
  (upper layers).
• Business considerations focused on both vehicle
  communications and smart tire sensors.
• Recommendations to MARC on which initiatives
  yield the best business opportunities.

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Building a Demonstration The Concept
User Interface Unit High-Powered Signals for
Bike-to-Bike Comm. Low-Powered Comm. Between
Tire Node and User Interface Tire Mounted
Comm. Nodes Speed Sensor
Clemson University ? Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
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Components on Tire
THE TIRE NODE Sun SPOT by Sun Microsystems
Laboratory Features
2.4 GHz 802.15.4 radio 3 axis accelerometer Plasti
c encasement 8 multicolored LEDs Programmed with
Java
THE SPEED SENSOR Magnetic Sensor and Target from
Schwinn Bike Computer Features
Hall effect sensor Digital open/close switch
Clemson University ? Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
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Demonstration End Result

• Two nodes mounted on separate bikes
• Each bike measures its own speed and distance
  traveled, and receives the current speed and
  distance of the other bike over its radio
• One of the nodes also relays all information
  wirelessly to a base station hooked to a computer
  
• Simple GUI allows user to view and save data

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Data Collection Software
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Transmission vs. Position
RSSI at Different Distances Apart and Transceiver
Orientations
Clemson University ? Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
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Future of this Project Object of Study

• Use bikes for in field testing
• Use 3 axis accelerometer to collect data
• Flood communication link to determine
  performance
• See how system is affected by the addition more
  transmitting nodes
• Create a user interface

• Test bikes at different speeds and distances
• Examine RSSI values while rotating vs. while
  stationary
• Experiment to find the max range of the system
• See if link quality is improved by tire mounting
  

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Questions?
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Acknowledgements
Dr. Hubing, Advisor Robert Clippard, Graduate
Student Assistant Dr. Haixin Ke, Post-Doc Dr.
Wang, Communications Assistance Dr. Noneaker,
SURE Program Director Josh Lawrence, SURE
Graduate Assistant SURE Participants
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Lastly
Go Irish!
Go Tigers!
BEAT USC!
Clemson University ? Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
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Future of this Project User Interface
4x20 Serial LCD by Parallax Features
80mm x 36mm 0.157 lb 5V supply voltage 2400,
9600, and 19,200 baud
MICAz Wireless Mote by Crossbow Features
2.4 GHz 802.15.4 communication radio 51 pin
connector with analog input, digital I/O I2C, SPI
and UART 58 x 32 x 7, 0.7 oz. (without
batteries) Sample software for interfacing to LCD
Clemson University ? Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
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Comparison of V2V and V2I
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Sensing Changes in Speed

• Circuit is designed to be active low
• Code is written to be triggered by a transition
  from 5V to ground, which occurs when the switch
  first closes
• Internal timer keeps track of time between
  target hits, and uses this to calculate speed
  knowing sensor distance from the center of the
  wheel
• Total distance travel increments with each
  target hit

2 kO