Faster Development of Safety-Related Applications for Connected Cars

• Easily integrate V2X into existing onboard sensors
• Jump-start applications for sensor sharing to better protect vulnerable road users (VRU)
• Bring innovations to the market faster with a framework tailored to develop multisensor applications
• Concentrate on your task and leave the rest to dSPACE

Task

The next generation of safety-related applications for connected cars will take advantage of V2X (vehicle-to-everything)-based cooperative perception to allow sharing of sensor data provided by infrastructure and vehicles with each other. This will enable the vehicle to detect dangerous situations faster than with onboard sensors. A typical use case for collective perception is the detection of vulnerable road users, such as a pedestrian who is not clearly visible to all traffic participants and is crossing an intersection. A V2X-enabled camera or traffic radar installed in the intersection will detect the pedestrian and provide this information to the cars approaching the intersection in order to avoid potential collisions and protect lives. 

Challenge

Developing applications that allow vehicles to receive and share sensor data with the environment and warn the driver of potential hazards requires the integration of V2X communication considering different regional standards and technologies. To share the vehicle’s own data with others, V2X has to be combined with vehicle sensors such as camera or radar in the right way so detected objects can be provided by means of object lists, for example. When a vehicle receives sensor data via V2X, this stream must be synchronized with GNSS positioning and timing and further vehicle status data in real time so warnings of dangerous situation can be issued to the driver in time. 

Solution

The multi-modal sensor development and execution framework RTMaps allows to include all necessary vehicle sensors and V2X communication, manage asynchronous data streams, and provide them as needed. This makes it possible to quickly prototype and further develop safety-related applications for connected cars in just a few clicks and with minimum configuration effort. Required components are simply dragged from a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) library, added to a diagram, and connected to the application. For V2X communication, the library includes a selection of the most relevant standardized message types for the regions Europe, China, and the US¹⁾. These types include CAM, DENM, C-BSM, (C-)SPAT, (C-)MAP, or even the CPM (cooperative perception message), a dedicated message type for sensor sharing. You can directly develop and execute your complete application in RTMaps on the dSPACE automotive-grade prototyping platforms MicroAutoBox Embedded PC or AUTERA with the click of a button. The platforms offer a number of interfaces to connect vehicle buses and sensors of different types. The V2X communication with the environment will be established via a waveBEE^®plus connectivity box provided by our partner using technology of your choice: C-V2X (PC5) or DSRC (802.11p). The large component library included in RTMaps provides convenient blocks for compact data visualization (e.g., of V2X and vehicle sensor data in one view), data recorders and players or connection to simulation environment. This enables not only prototyping, but even data logging and replay so you can test your advanced V2X-based connected services with just one tool. 

¹⁾ Under development