Cooperative vehicle infrastructure system is a big project with a budget of over four million pounds which is coordinated by ERTICO-IT Europe. The main objective of this project is to connect the vehicles and infrastructure to communicate and use the road network efficiently. This will help to reduce the traffic accidents. The wireless local area network or third generation cellular phone technology can be used to communicate between vehicles and to the roadside equipment. There are many applications of cooperative vehicle infrastructure system. They are flexible bus lane, driver awareness, cooperative network management, parking zone etc. These applications are explained in detail in this report. There are many challenges involved in the implementation of cooperative vehicle infrastructure system. They are analyzed in detail in this report.
Contents
Introduction
Cooperative vehicle infrastructure system is an upcoming project in Europe. It is a four year project which is expected to be completed in 2010. Cooperative vehicle infrastructure system uses the technology, which will allow all the vehicles in the road to interact with each other and pass the information about weather, road condition, accidents and hazards. It is mainly focused to reduce the traffic and make use of the road efficiently. Wireless local area network or third generation cellular phone technology can be used for the communication between the vehicles and to the road infrastructure (Swahn and Udin, 2007).
Structure of the project
Cooperative vehicle infrastructure system project is a big project. It is divided into ten sub projects, which includes three management, four technology and three application projects.
Figure 1: Subprojects of the CVIS project
Management projects
The management project has three sub projects. It mainly focuses on managing the cooperative vehicle infrastructure system. The sub projects are as follows:
CAG
It stands for Core Architecture Group. It is responsible for connecting all the vehicles in the CVIS system. It acts as both technical and application project. It helps to coordinate the overall architecture with the technology.
DEPN
It stands for Deployment Enablers. It is responsible for bringing the CVIS into the market once it is success. It also supports for the development of road maps which will be used in the CVIS project (cvisproject, 2009).
Technology projects
COMM
It is used for the continuous communication between vehicle and road infrastructure. It will have two units, router and host. Router is responsible for all the communication and host is responsible for running the application. The high level architecture of the CVIS system is divided into three parts. The figure 2 shows the structure if the high level architecture and how the different subsystems are connected with each other.
C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\sugi\rm\prob\6.jpg
Figure 2: High level architecture of CVIS. (Swahn & Udin, 2007)
Vehicle subsystem: Each vehicle which is fitted with CVIS box has a mobile router, vehicle host and sensors that are connected to the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) gateway. All these are connected to the antenna, which will help to pass the signal and communicate with the roadside system.
Roadside subsystem: This system is same as the vehicle subsystem. It has roadside gateway, roadside host, access router and border router. Access router is the one which connects the roadside system to the communication system. This system is connected to the internet using IPv6.
Central subsystem: It is further divided into four subsystems. They are service centres, control centres, home agents and authority databases. Service centre is the one which provides the services requested by the user. For example if the user wants a map, the user will request for the map and the service provider will provide the map to the user. Control centre is responsible for registration of the user, authentication and service updates. Authority database is a database. It has all the information that is need to provide the services to the user (Swahn & Udin, 2007).
COMO
It stands for cooperative monitoring. Monitoring the traffic and environment is very important. The real time information can be collected, combined and delivered to the systems using cooperative monitoring.
POMA
It stands for positioning of maps and local referencing. Positioning and mapping services in CVIS will be provided using POMA. It will combine the different positioning techniques and provide the updated maps. Vehicle to vehicle beams and infrastructure to vehicle beams can be used to locate the index of the lane (Kovacs et al., 2006).
FOAM
It is Framework for Open Application Management. It will create an open environment in which the application can be created, executed and maintained. The roadside infrastructure, backend infrastructure and in-vehicle systems are connected using FOAM.
Application project
It has three applications like CURB, CINT and CF&F. Each application is responsible for different services. Figure 3 shows the architecture of the CVIS subprojects and the facilities of those applications.
CURB
This means cooperative urban applications. For road safety and efficient use of roads, the data about the traffic conditions should be shared between individual vehicles and between roadside infrastructure and vehicles. CURB will develop a cooperative system with the detailed data about the traffic conditions. This will develop four applications to improve the use of urban roads. They are cooperative flexible bus lane allocation, cooperative area routing, cooperative network management and cooperative local traffic control.
CINT
It stands for cooperative inter urban application. It provides services for safety and environmental friendly use of the urban road networks. Under this there will be two applications developed. They are enhanced driver awareness and cooperative traveller assistance.
C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\sugi\rm\prob\12.jpg
Figure 3: Applications and facilities of CVIS. (Swahn & Udin, 2007)
CF&F
It stands for cooperative fleet and freight applications. This application is mainly focussed on monitoring the commercial vehicles' current position, freight type and destination of the vehicle. It creates three applications for increasing the safety of dangerous goods transport, estimate the resting period of the driver and to reduce the breakdown of the vehicle. There are three applications developed under CF&F. They are parking zone management, access control and monitoring dangerous goods.
Testing of CVIS
Testing of the CVIS project is very important. Testing is normally performed to check whether the system is working as expected and if there are any negative impacts it can be found during the testing. In CVIS there will be three tests to be performed. They are alpha-, beta- and gamma- tests. Alpha test is performed to check the positioning of the system. Beta test is tested for the integrated system and positioning. The final test is the gamma test which will be performed to check the real application. During the alpha test, the test vehicle is fitted with OBC, onboard sensors and communication components. The infrastructure components like camera, infra red sensors and induction loops are also taken into account. The data from different sensors are collected and integrated using map software (Schlingelhof et al., 2008). There are six test sites for the CVIS project. They are France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands-Belgium, Sweden and United Kingdom. Different applications are tested in several test sites.
Communication in CVIS
The very important factor in the cooperative vehicle infrastructure system is the communication. There should be a communication channel between vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure and infrastructure to infrastructure.
4.1 CALM
It stands for continuous communication air interface for long and medium range. It is a mobile network which is used for vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure and infrastructure to infrastructure communication. CALM uses different media for communication according to the availability of the media. The media that support CALM are second generation cellular phone technology, third generation cellular phone technology, infra red, worldwide interoperability for microwave access and satellite communication. Infrastructure to infrastructure communication can also use CALM but it is mainly used between the mobile entities like vehicles. Different entities use different media for communication. Each entity will have an IP address to identify the user. IP address has a host ID and network ID. As the vehicle moves it changes the network frequently. So the IP address should be updated frequently. Network mobility which is also called as NEMO(Network MObility) is used by CALM to maintain the addressing of the mobility users (Swahn & Udin, 2007). Figure 4 shows the application of CALM in multimedia environment.
C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\sugi\rm\prob\10.jpg
Figure 4: CALM in multimedia environment. (Swahn & Udin, 2007)
CVIS software
Cooperative vehicle infrastructure uses Linux as the operating system. Instead of buying costly software licenses, Linux can be used which will provide a flexible environment. It uses CALM standards for the basic communication. All the communication and application software developed in CVIS system will run on CVIS computer platform. The application part is stored in the host and the communication part is stored in the router. The CVIS router does not require any user interaction. The host and the router will use the same operating software, but the configuration may differ slightly from host to router. It can use java application running on java virtual machine. Some small modification to the operating system is needed. Several CVIS routers and hosts are connected using Ethernet network in an in-vehicle CVIS mobile network (Solberg, 2007).
Applications of CVIS
5.1 Driver awareness
With the help of this application, the driver will get all the information about the traffic situation. Roadside equipment and other vehicles will tell about the weather conditions and the information about the traffic. If the driver is not obeying the rules it will continuously alert the driver. Sometimes if the drivers drives the vehicle above the speed limit it will give warning to the driver about the over speed. If the driver parks the vehicle in a no parking area it will alert the driver. It also helps the driver to the destination in short time by providing the map (Solberg et al., 2007).
Flexible bus lane
In today's increasing traffic conditions, allocating separate space for public transport is not very efficient. Instead a flexible bus lane can be introduced. Flexible bus lane means a normal vehicle can use the bus lane when the bus lane is free. Vehicle with CVIS system needs to register for using the flexible bus lane. Then when it needs to use the bus lane, it sends a request to the service sender. The roadside unit will check and if no bus is using the bus lane it gives permission to the vehicle which requested to use the bus lane. If the bus is approaching the roadside unit will send a message "leave bus lane" to the vehicle which is currently using the bus lane (Swahn & Udin, 2007).
Access control
Access control application mainly focuses on the safety. When a vehicle enters a sensitive area like airport, bridge, tunnel and military field, it will monitor the vehicle and inform the vehicle whether it has permission to enter that area.
Cooperative network management
This application will monitor and guide the traffic for a large area. If the destination of the vehicle is known, it will guide the vehicle and suggest the best way for the vehicle to reach its destination.
Dangerous goods
The dangerous goods vehicles will be fitted with the CVIS box. The CVIS box will contain the information about the goods the vehicle is carrying, which roads to use and recommend a speed for the vehicle. Once the vehicles carrying the dangerous goods register with the traffic management centre, it will guide the safe route for the vehicles to reach the destination (Solberg et al., 2007).
Local traffic control
This application is divided into two parts. One is priority request and other one is describing speed profiles. Example if an emergency vehicle is approaching the signal it will request the traffic light to turn green for emergency vehicle and red for other vehicles. This will improve the safety instead of depending on the drivers to identify the arrival of an emergency vehicle. Second is describing different speed for different vehicles to improve the road efficiency.
Parking zone
This is divided into urban parking zone and highway resting area. Finding space for parking the vehicle is very difficult now days. This urban parking zone application helps to book a parking space for a period of time in advance before reaching the place. In some cases where the vehicle which booked for the parking space cannot arrive on time, the system will detect that and it will change the booking time for that vehicle and the space will be given to some other vehicle. Highway resting area is used by the resting area managers to calculate how many freight drivers will arrive and the resting time. In case if one lorry cannot arrive on time, the other lorry can be allowed. The delayed lorry can book a new time according to its arrival (Swahn & Udin, 2007). The figure 5 shows the dynamic booking of space for parking the vehicle.
C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\sugi\rm\prob\4.jpg
Figure 5: Booking space for parking. (Kompfner et al., 2007)
Local area routing
With the help of this application the vehicles can be rerouted depending on the traffic conditions to reach their destination in less time. If some accidents happen the vehicles can be routed in different directions. For example cars in one direction, buses in one direction and motorcycle in another direction to use the road network efficiently and to reduce the traffic control.
Cooperative travellers' assistance
Cooperative travellers' assistance application is will provide best service to the user depending on the user's needs. There will be a two way communication between the driver and the service centre.
Safety warning message
This application helps to reduce the vehicle accidents. For an example if three vehicles are travelling one after other. When the first vehicle puts the brake suddenly, the other two vehicles will also collide with the first one and multiple accidents may occur. Using this safety warning message application the first vehicle can give a warning message to the other vehicles and those vehicles will be alerted. So they accident can be prevented (Parker and Valaee, 2007). In other case if pedestrians are crossing the road, the alert message can be given to the vehicles coming in that direction to slow down the speed.
Challenges of CVIS
6.1 Security:
For using a system comfortably, the security of the system is very important. In this cooperative vehicle infrastructure system the payment and personal details should be transmitted safely. There are two methods of sending the data. One is sending the data over the closed network by hiding the data, which is called as steganography. Other one is sending the data over the open network by encrypting the data, which is called cryptography. Steganography makes the data invisible when transmitting the data where as cryptography transmits the data in an unreadable format. Instead of creating different network for each company, one can use the public network by encrypting the data. Only the particular receiver will have the decryption key to decrypt the data. In steganography the cover should have the capacity to hide all the data and the algorithm should be strong enough to extract the data at the receiver end. It is becoming difficult to use steganography for privacy as most of the programs maintain the cover very small to decrease the amount of transmitting the data (Swahn and Udin, 2007). If any anti social acts like terrorism, black mail or data hacking are involved in the CVIS system, then the public will lose hope in the project and it will affect the whole development of the project.
Identification
The vehicle ID is very important in the CVIS system to identify a vehicle and for the registration of the vehicle with the CVIS system. This vehicle ID can be used for parking. If some other vehicle is parked in the parking area which is booked by other vehicle, it can be found by using the vehicle ID. This ID can be used for identifying the emergency vehicle also. Other application of this ID are using flexible bus lane and identifying the route. Normally user name and password are used for identification.
Privacy
When a big system like CVIS is developed, the privacy is one important factor to be considered. The data should be transmitted safely and the personal details of the user should reach only the authorized system. Only single identification can be used to prevent the development of privacy decreasing applications. User name is used to identify the user. Password is used to the protection and security. As we use many applications it is difficult to remember all the passwords. To solve this problem a single sign on mechanism can be used, which will give access to multiple applications. With the help of this single sign on the user has to remember only one password. One identifier which cannot be copied, guessed or stolen by others should be used by single sign on for more protection. A PIN number can be used for more protection in single sign on when the payment is made through cash card. In case if the PIN has to be used, the vehicle should have a keypad for typing the PIN. But most of the vehicles don't have the keypad except some modern expensive vehicles. If the CVIS project doesn't develop a keypad then it is a problem. The signature on the SIM card can be used as an identifier to get the access to the application. But if the SIM card is lost then getting access to the system will be difficult. Creating pseudonyms and handing all the information are maintained by a single node in single sign on system. This is a disadvantage of the single sign on system (Swahn and Udin, 2007). The ownership of data, storage and access are the issues that will have some challenge in the privacy issues. The data which are transferred to the driver should be accurate and secure data. It should provide clear information to the driver i.e. HMI issues. It is necessary to provide the accurate information to the driver and assist him in the right way but not to confuse the driver and lead to any accidents (Annoni et al., 2007).
Mobility
Another challenge that CVIS will face is the mobility. As the vehicle moves continuously the network will also change. So each time when the vehicle leaves one network and enters another network it has to maintain the connectivity. When a mobile sensor tries to communicate with the infrastructure, if some problems occur the middleware can be used to simplify the problems. The problems occurred by heterogeneous communication layer can be reduced by middleware. It will also solve the sensor discovery problem by using a geo-spatial query interface. The applications and sensors can be connected continuously by using the middleware (Manasseh and Sengupta, 2007). Maintaining the connectivity of vehicles and infrastructure continuously is a challenge for the CVIS system.
Errors in the system
The application use protocols for security of the data. If any small error occurs in the system it will affect the whole process. Human errors are very common. The driver may make some error during the decision making. Some errors happen without the knowledge of the driver and some are made deliberately by the drivers to spoil the system. These errors have to be reduced. Reducing the human error is a real challenge for the CVIS project (Rakotonirainy, Demmel and Gruyer, 2009).
System reliability
Development of flexible and robust system is another challenge in the CVIS project. The design of functional concept like traffic safety, traffic efficiency and environmental impact are another challenge in this project. CVIS should be implemented to provide a fault tolerant system. System reliability is linked with the information exchange issues. Even if some information is missing or incorrect or if the sensor is not functioning, the system should be able to rectify those problems immediately (Arem, 2007).
Another challenge in CVIS is the role of the distributed infrastructure. It has to collect the information from all the vehicles and store them. Then it has to provide that information to other vehicles when necessary and it also has to collect the information from sensors.
Conclusion
This report describes about the architecture, applications and challenges of cooperative vehicle infrastructure system. The main challenge is privacy and security of data. As all the vehicles and infrastructure are interconnected with each other, the transferring of information should be very secure. The personnel details of the user should not be shared with other users. The development of the system should be very much concentrated on privacy and security issues.
