VLnsight: enabling open innovation in networked vehicle sensing and control

Abstract

Transforming traditional single-vehicle-based safety and efficiency control, networked VSC is expected to be a basic element of addressing the challenges for safety and sustainability of road transportation. However, vehicles remain largely as black boxes to researchers and application developers, and open source platforms for evaluating networked VSC solutions at high-fidelity and scale are still lacking. To exploit the potential of networked VSC, we develop the research infrastructure VInsight, which provides basic building blocks for gaining insight into vehicle internals and for enabling high-fidelity, at-scale evaluation of networked VSC solutions. More specifically, VInsight integrates the OpenXC vehicular sensing platform into the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI). VInsight deploys a WiMAX research network for integrating high-fidelity real-world vehicular sensing with at-scale ns-3 emulation in the GENI cloud computing facilities, and VInsight develops WiMAX measurement tools for understanding WiMAX link characteristics and driving high-fidelity emulation of networked VSC systems.1 The WiMAX network of VInsight also enables immediate applications such as campus safety patrol; this synergy with opt-in users enables the permanent deployment of VInsight for open innovation in networked VSC systems, thus helping develop solutions to address the grand challenges of road transportation today.