A Computationally Inexpensive Radio Propagation Model for Vehicular Communication on Flyovers and Inside Underpasses

Abstract

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) utilize radio propagation models (RPMs) to predict path loss in vehicular environment. Modern urban vehicular environment contains road infrastructure units that include road tunnels, straight roads, curved roads flyovers and underpasses. Different RPMs were proposed in the past to predict path loss, but modern road infrastructure units especially flyovers and underpasses are neglected previously. Most of the existing RPMs are computationally complex and ignore some of the critical features such as impact of infrastructure units on the signal propagation and the effect of both static and moving radio obstacles on signal attenuation. Therefore, the existing RPMs are incapable of predicting path loss in flyovers and underpass accurately. This paper proposes an RPM to predict path loss for vehicular communication on flyovers and inside underpasses that considers both the static and moving radio obstacles while requiring only marginal overhead. The proposed RPM is validated based upon the field measurements in 5 GHz frequency band. A close agreement is found between the measured and predicted values of path loss.