Empirical Study of DSRC Performance Based on Safety Pilot Model Deployment Data

Dedicated short range communication (DSRC) was designed to provide reliable wireless communication for intelligent transportation system applications. Sharing information among cars and between cars and the infrastructure, pedestrians, or "the cloud" has great potential to improve safety, mobility, and fuel economy. DSRC is being considered by the U.S. Department of Transportation to be required for ground vehicles. In the past, their performance has been assessed thoroughly in the laboratories and limited field testing, but not on a large fleet. In this paper, we present the analysis of DSRC performance using data from the world's largest connected vehicle test program-Safety Pilot Model Deployment lead by the University of Michigan. We first investigate their maximum and effective range, and then study the effect of environmental factors, such as trees/foliage, weather, buildings, vehicle travel direction, and road elevation. The results can be used to guide future DSRC equipment placement and installation, and can be used to develop DSRC communication models for numerical simulations.