The Physical Layer of the IEEE 802.11p WAVE Communication Standard: The Specifications and Challenges

In the recent years, Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) emerged with great interest due to their impact in reducing traffic jams and increasing safety as well as alternative emergency communication system in case of natural disasters, when there is lack of ordinary communication systems. IEEE 802.11p standard known as Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) is specially developed to adapt VANETs requirements and support intelligent transport systems (ITS). The performance of WAVE physical layer is one of the important factors that play a great role in the communication process. This paper presented an overview of the physical layer (PHY) of the IEEE 802.11p standard. The specifications, components, performance and challenges of the PHY layer are discussed and analyzed. Index Terms—VANET, WAVE, IEEE 802.11p, PHY, IEEE 802.11 frequency band, OFDM, preamble