Channel Modeling for Vehicle-To-Vehicle Communications

Physical layer channel modeling is critical for design and performance evaluation at multiple layers of the communications protocol stack. In this article we describe and provide results for modeling vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) wireless channels. V2V settings produce some unique conditions, and due to these conditions, V2V channels often exhibit greater dynamics than many conventional channels and, in addition, can also exhibit more severe fading. Thus, new channel models are needed to characterize this setting in order to evaluate contending transmission schemes and aid in V2V communication system design. A brief review of key statistical channel parameters is provided. Then both analytical and experimental V2V channel results are presented from the existing literature, and from our own measurement and modeling campaigns for the 5 GHz band. We also show the effects of these V2V channels on two types of transmission schemes.