Measurements and Cluster-Based Modeling of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Channels With Large Vehicle Obstructions

A reliable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) channel model is necessary for intelligent transportation systems (ITSs) design. Due to the high mobility of vehicles and the low heights of antennas, the line-of-sight (LOS) propagation paths in V2V communications are more likely to be obstructed by large vehicles such as buses. Therefore, it is worthwhile to conduct in-depth investigations on obstructed line-of sight (OLOS) propagation channels caused by vehicle obstructions. In this paper, actual V2V channel measurements with large vehicle obstructions at 5.9 GHz band are conducted. Based on the measured data, it can be found that the obstructions of large vehicles not only cause additional attenuation, but also significantly affect the angular distribution of multipath components (MPCs). In addition, a cluster-based dynamic V2V channel model is proposed for OLOS scenarios. In the proposed model, the influences of vehicle obstructions on path loss, delay and angle dispersion are intuitively embodied as changes in the statistical distribution of MPCs clusters. Finally, the rationality and accuracy of the proposed model is validated by comparing the measured and simulated channels. The results in the paper are useful for enriching the understanding of V2V channels and provide supports for vehicular communication systems design and performance evaluation.