Measurement-Based Evaluation of Environmental Diffraction Modeling for 3D Vehicle-to-X Simulation

In this paper we present the results of a field experiment to validate the applicability of our diffraction model for the representation of three-dimensional terrain shape in Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) simulation. We describe the measurement setup using readily available hardware and open-source software. Based on periodic beaconing, the course of the received power along a characteristic route has been recorded. With the help of accurate GNSS positioning the test drive has been reconstructed in simulation. This approach offers the possibility of directly comparing the simulated and measured received power and hereby evaluating the performance of the environmental diffraction model. The outcome of the simulation shows good accordance with the measurements. In contrast, a comparative 2D simulation fails to recognize characteristic drops in received power. Furthermore, we investigate the dependence of the model’s accuracy on elevation models of varying horizontal resolution, indicating overpessimistic results when using coarsely resolved datasets.