Development of a Low-Cost Interface between Cell Phone and DSRC-Based Vehicle Unit for Efficient Use of IntelliDrive Infrastructure

Abstract

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS), a mission of the US Department of Transportation, focuses on intelligent vehicles, intelligent infrastructure and the creation of an intelligent transportation system through integration with and between these two components. Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), a tool approved for licensing by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2003, promises to partially fulfill this mission. This research proposal intends to utilize DSRC technology to communicate the traffic safety information available at central infrastructure to a driver’s cell phone. The specific objective of this research project is to design, build and demonstrate a wireless communication interface device that can act as a traffic-safety-information transportation agent between the DSRC vehicle radio unit and a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone inside a vehicle. By having this interface device along with the DSRC radio unit in a vehicle as a separate entity or integrated with a DSRC unit, any driver will be able to receive the valuable traffic safety messages on a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The prototype was demonstrated successfully in multiple road and traffic scenarios by transmitting the traffic safety messages to the Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The next step is to show effectiveness of this system in a realistic environment for which a workzone environment has been chosen to relay traffic safety messages to vehicles approaching the workzone.