Real-World Measurements of Non-Line-Of-Sight Reception Quality for 5.9GHz IEEE 802.11p at Intersections

Vehicular Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) promises to reduce accidents by enabling assistance systems such as cross-traffic assistance. This application requires movement information from vehicles that are in Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) due to buildings at intersection corners. DSRC is foreseen to use IEEE 802.11p to deliver regular Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAM). Due to the high operational frequency of 5.9GHz, the ability to provide reliable NLOS reception is often put into question.

We performed an extensive field test specifically targeted to measure DSRC NLOS reception quality. As a novelty, tested intersections were methodically selected to reflect typical urban intersections (in Munich) and the test setup was specifically designed to provide comparable and generalizable results. This allowed us to determine the influence of factors like building positions. The collected data shows that NLOS reception is possible. Reception rates stay mostly well above 50% for distances of 50 meters to intersection center with blocked LOS.