A Fully Mobile, GPS Enabled, Vehicle-to-Vehicle Measurement Platform for Characterization of the 5.9 GHz DSRC Channel

To understand the characteristics of vehicle-to-vehicle channels, in this paper, we describe a mobile channel measurement platform operating at the 5.9 GHz designated dedicated short range communications (DSRC) frequency band. Our system uses programmable instrumentation for both the transmitter and receiver, enabling the use of a wide range of waveforms. Our system permits the generation and analysis of arbitrary waveforms with instantaneous bandwidth up to 40 MHz. Our system also has several key features which distinguish it from other similar systems. First, our RF measurement system is operating in the 5.9 GHz frequency band designated for DSRC. Second, we have taken the additional step of incorporating location-based information via GPS receivers. The GPS receiver provides far richer statistics to characterize the channel, which allows us to better understand the relationship between this highly mobile V2V channel and location information.