VSmart @ CPS Lab, McGill University

VSmart is among the first to apply Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technologies. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, DSRC is "a two-way short- to- medium-range wireless communications capability that permits very high data transmission critical in communications-based active safety applications." The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has allocated 75 MHz of licensed spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band for DSRC. That's to say, DSRC is free from contention and collisions of all other communication technologies (e.g., 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, bluetooth, Zigbee and etc). In this way, DSRC is envisioned to provide more reliable and timely V2V communications than existing technologies.

VSmart employs a fleet of DSRC-enabled smart vehicles based on iRobot, USRP, laptops and tablets. With VSmart, we have shown the benefits and challenges of utilizing DSRC in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). To realize these benefits and tackle the challenges, we have designed and implemented our online control algorithms (e.g., OnCAR) on VSmart. Experiments demonstrate that OnCAR-enhanced DSRC greatly improves safety and reliability of critical vehicular applications including Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Lane Change Assist (LCA), and Autonomous Intersection Management (AIM).

Demos

We have made a series of demos, which are available on YouTube.

Episode 0 - Introduction;

Episode 1 - OnCAR-enhanced Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC);

Episode 2 - OnCAR-enhanced Lane Change Assist (LCA);

Episode 3 - OnCAR-enhanced Autonomous Intersection Management (AIM) ;

to be continued ...

Devices used in VSmart

VSmart is built on four iRobot Create, four USRP B210 radios, three laptops and two tablets.