Demo: simulating the impact of communication performance on road traffic safety at intersections

Performance evaluation of communication protocols is usually carried out using typical network metrics as delay, jitter, or goodput. However, recent studies in the context of Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) have shown that using these metrics is not sufficient for evaluating vehicular safety applications. To highlight the importance of safety metrics and their applicability, we extended our existing simulation framework Veins to visualize these metrics live while the road traffic and network simulation are running in parallel. In particular, we demonstrate the impact of communication on intersection assistance applications. To simulate different intersection approaches, we implemented a simulation model that resembles different kinds of driver behavior and enables crashes at intersections. The resulting situations are displayed in the road traffic simulator and give the visitor insights on the current state of endangered vehicles. Furthermore, an autonomous controller has been implemented which tries to avoid accidents and hence shows the real-world impact, i.e., accidents can be avoided using advanced beaconing techniques. To increase interactivity of the demo, visitors will have the possibility to interact with and take control over endangered vehicles.