When Backscatter Communication Meets Vehicular Networks: Boosting Crosswalk Awareness

• Published in: IEEE access Vol. 8; pp. 34507 - 34521
• Main Authors: Pereira, Felisberto, Sampaio, Hugo, Chaves, Ricardo, Correia, Ricardo, Luis, Miguel, Sargento, Susana, Jordao, Marina, Almeida, Luis, Senna, Carlos, Oliveira, Arnaldo S. R., Borges Carvalho, Nuno
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01-01-2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Ad hoc networks; Advanced driver assistance systems; Backscatter; backscatter communication; Backscattering; Batteries; Communication; connected vehicles; decentralized message dissemination; driver assistance systems; Drivers; energy harvesting; Experimentation; Modulation; passive sensors; Pedestrian crossings; Pedestrians; Roads; Safety; Sensors; Vehicles; vehicular networks; Vulnerable road users
• ISSN: 2169-3536; 2169-3536
• DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2974214

The research of safety applications in vehicular networks has been a popular research topic in an effort to reduce the number of road victims. Advances on vehicular communications are facilitating information sharing through real time communications, critical for the development of driving assistance systems. However, the communication by itself is not enough to reach the most desired target as we need to know which safety-related information should be disseminated. In this work, we bring passive sensors and backscatter communication to the vehicular network world. The idea is to increase the driver (or vehicle) awareness regarding the presence of pedestrians in a crosswalk. Passive sensors and backscatter communication technologies are used for the pedestrians' detection phase, while the vehicular network is used during the dissemination of the detection information to surrounding vehicles. The proposed solution was validated through end-to-end experimentation, with real hardware and in a real crosswalk with real pedestrians and vehicles, demonstrating its applicability.