Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) is a block of spectrum in the 5.850 to 5.925 GHz band allocated by US FCC to enhance the safety and the productivity of the transportation system”. ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standardization committee E17.51 is working on the development of a standard. DSRC is a medium range communication service intended to support both Public Safety and licensed Private operations over roadside-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communication channels. DSRC complements cellular communications by providing very high data transfer rates in circumstances where minimizing latency in the communication link and isolating relatively small communication zones are important.

History of DSRC

Developments related to DSRC have a long history, having begun in the 1980's with the "Road / Automobile Communication System" (RACS). RACS was proposed by our company at a time when the basic concept of DSRC was not widely familiar. RACS included the concept, advanced at that time, that a variety of ITS applications could be implemented using a single wireless communication system. The results of the RACS research and development effort was superseded by research, development and actualization of the "Vehicle Information & Communication System" (VICS). In addition, from 1995-1996, government / private cooperative research on ETC was conducted and DSRC research and development was done, focusing on a few approaches. Our company participated in this research and development and we were later able to apply the results of the cooperative research in drafting DSRC standards for application to ETC.

Then, from 1998 to 2000, some further research and development projects on applications of DSRC were done in Japan. As typical examples the R & D projects of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and of the Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan (TAO) in which our company and others participated can be cited.

The NEDO research and development was a project called "R & D for Technology Applicable to DSRC/ITS On-board Equipments" which was contracted to JSK (Association of Electronic Technology for Automobile Traffic and Driving) and accomplished through the cooperation of 15 affiliate companies. In this project, several DSRC-related research and development themes were taken up, such as "R & D on a platform for applying DSRC," and R & D was conducted on expanding use of ETC on-board Equipments and on making DSRC more multi-purpose. "A platform for applying DSRC," which was one of the themes, is a common foundation for efficiently developing and running a variety of ITS applications that use DSRC. With this platform, adding or changing application programs can be done easily. It provides a general-purpose interface between DSRC and the application program, and also software processing functions which can be made common to various kinds of applications.

To deal with the four subjects of handling large information volumes, high-speed processing, guaranteeing security, and application to low resource on-board equipments, we developed sub-platforms ("middle ware" for each, and we were able to verify the effectiveness of this approach.

In the area of R & D related to applying DSRC to TAO, there was a project involving "R & D on techniques for expanding the applications of on-board wireless IC-cards and increasing speed." That project worked on developments related to entry/exit management at parking lots and assumed use of DSRC connected to the Internet. In addition, it addressed various problems not dealt with by standards for DSRC as applied to ETC, such as variable rate transmission, broadcasting, etc. One of those subjects, technology for an address management, assumed Internet use via DSRC in parking lots, etc., and had the objective of dynamically performing network address assignments and releases for the vehicles involved. In verification experiments, we addressed entry/exit management at parking lots and assumed utilization of DSRC connected to the Internet. Applying the results of the above-mentioned technical development work, we set a framework for achieving a more multi-purpose DSRC.

DSRC in North America

In North America, 5.9 GHz Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) systems are being developed to support a wide range of public-safety and private operations in roadside-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle environments for the transportation industry. DSRC has several key benefits: It complements cellular communications, where time-critical responses (less than 50 ms) or very high data transfer rates (6-54 Mbps) are required in small zones with license-protected authority, and it enables a new class of communications applications that can support future transportation systems and needs.

Since 1995, ARINC has been intimately involved in standards and technology development for DSRC. In fact, ARINC has more experience testing potential 5.9 GHz DSRC systems than any other company.

For example, ARINC wrote the first definitive reports on DSRC spectrum requirements in 1996, which formed the basis for the 5.9 GHz spectrum petition to the FCC. We also chaired the writing group that documented the first nationwide physical layer 902-928 MHz band DSRC standard released in 1998. ARINC subsequently participated in standards committees that produced the media-access control layer standard, application-layer standard, and resource-manager application standard.

ARINC performed many sets of high-speed vehicle communication tests to verify the ability of candidate DSRC techniques to meet the requirements of the developing 5.9 GHz band standards.

Currently, ARINC is chairing the 5.9 GHz band DSRC Architecture Standard writing group and the Physical and Medium Access Control Standard writing group. We're coordinating the ASTM technical interface to the FCC on DSRC spectrum and usage rule issues. And, we continue to participate in ASTM and IEEE standards committees, as well as ISO TC204 WG 15 and WG 16 committees working on short-, medium-, and long-range, cellular, 5.9 GHz, 60 GHz, and IR vehicle communication integration issues.

If you have a communication requirement that could benefit from the characteristics of the new DSRC service and need sound advice, call ARINC.

Compatible Electronic Toll Collection Nationwide is One Goal of Proposed DSRC Standard

The U.S. Federal HighwayAdministration (FHWA) wants technically compatible electronic toll boothcollection systems in all 50 states. In 1999, the FHWA made a cooperativeagreement with ASTM to develop a new Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC)standard.

The DSRC standard is beingdeveloped by representatives of some of the world's largest electronicscorporations, smaller vendors and producers, members of the FHWA, stateDepartments of Transportation, and toll authorities collaborating on ASTMCommittee E17 on Vehicle Pavement Systems.

When a new radio spectrum at5.9 GHz was provided by the Federal Communication Commission, ASTM gatheredstakeholders to develop a new standard appropriate to the new frequency,explained Lee Armstrong, a committee member leading the ASTM standarddevelopment. After a year of research, the committee decided to base theirstandard on IEEE 802.11a R/A (Roadside Applications) technology, saidArmstrong, who is a multi-discipline engineer and president of ArmstrongConsulting, Inc., Newtonville, Mass.

"This 5.9 GHz DSRC standardwill be designed to support a wide variety of applications that need lowlatency, short range, high-data rate communications service," said BroadyCash, a principal engineer of ARINC, Annapolis, Md., who will help to developthe standard.

"Along with criticalsafety warnings and traffic information while driving," Cash said,"our standard will provide high-speed Internet access in designated 'hotspots' such as, service stations, truck stops, parking lots, home garages, etc.DSRC systems will enable the downloading of maps, traffic information, MP3(music) files, movies, and other useful information to vehicle computers whilestopped at these locations."

Applications of DSRC



PATH and Daimler-Chrysler are active members of the DSRC

1) Design and analyze ad-hoc Medium Access Control protocols to meet the communication requirements of active safety systems on-board the vehicle.  

2) Develop a simulator to analyze DSRC communications with vehicular traffic. The simulator models freeway vehicle traffic, protocols at various layers, and has tools to post-process the output data.   

3) Measure and model the 5.9GHz wireless channel in various roadway environments.  

4) Theoretically analyze the optimality of estimation and control system with information conveyed over wireless network.

5) Build a system to give the vehicle a map of its neighborhood based on vehicle-vehicle and roadside-vehicle communications.

6) Build roadside-vehicle wireless communications for Intersection Decision Support.

7) Study the benefits of wireless communications used for Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) system and its impact at highway merge junctions.