Performance Improvement of Collision Warning System on Curved Road Based on Intervehicle Communication

The vehicle on-board sensor based Advanced Driver Assistant System possesses limitations on a small road with a small radius of curvature because of the sensor’s inability to operate in nondetectable domains. This study suggests an Improved Cooperative Collision Warning System (ICCWS) that considers the curvature of the road and is based on intervehicle communication. To predict the radius of curvature of the road, the Arc Relative Distance (ARD), the real relative distance to a preceding vehicle on a curved road has been used. The risk of collision with the preceding vehicle is decided by calculating an index of the risk of collision on a curved road using the computed ARD. The effects of ICCWS, proposed through this simulation, have been reviewed, and the improvement in performance in following a preceding vehicle has been analyzed quantitatively via comparative analysis with the conventional forward collision warning system. Accordingly, if the estimating algorithm for curvature developed in this study is applied to a real system, the performance of following a preceding vehicle can be improved without any specific changes to the system.

Consensus Problem of Multivehicle Formation Using Nearest Neighbor Rule with Addition of State Buffer

We consider the problem of cooperation among a collection of vehicles performing a shared task using intervehicle communication to coordinate their actions. Tools from algebraic graph theory prove useful in modeling the communication network and relating its topology to formation stability. We show that agents can reach consensus if the value of the function is time invariant and we prove our result by taking agents initial state values. The concept of state buffer is also introduced to avoid delays in achieving consensus.

Autonomous, Distributed Parking Lot Vacancy Management Using Intervehicle Communication

We have developed a method of managing vacancy information of a large parking lot in a distributed manner using only intervehicle communication. A group of parking spaces is defined as a cluster. Vacancy information of a cluster is managed by a vehicle in it. This vehicle is called a cluster head. The proposed method generates a communication path topology between cluster heads. The topology is a tree structure with the cluster head of the cluster nearest to the parking lot entrance as the root node. Cluster heads are ranked in order of the number of vacant spaces and the distance to the shop entrance. The vehicle entering the parking lot collects vacancy information of clusters. This information is transmitted along the tree structure from the lowest ranking cluster head. We have developed a simulation model for a parking lot that can accommodate nearly 1,000 vehicles and used it to evaluate the proposed method. We have confirmed that the proposed method generates less communication traffic and enables the vehicle entering a parking lot to collect vacancy information about the area near the shop entrance with a higher probability and in a shorter time.