Exploring Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications (V2V) in an Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Program

In this paper, V2V communication is discussed based on a wireless protocol called Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC). This protocol allows cars on the road to form a dynamic wireless networks that aid in driving with the overall goal of reducing car accidents and carbon footprint. The onboard car computer manages and controls all the communication systems as well as electrical systems or subsystems in the vehicle which involve many sophisticated sensors. These sensors, and the software, help cars to make automatic, or semi-automatic, decisions and provide warning information. V2V includes control technology that comes into play at the local (sensor-level) and higher layers of the communication architecture for this dynamic wireless network to work properly. Note that V2V is also being heavily promoted by the US government and car manufacturers should have all this technology ready for deployment in the near future. The authors stress that V2V is a very good example of systems engineering where different architectures (mechanical, electrical, computers and communications), including government policy, are integrated into a product. While this type of development is being disseminated through national media, which gives the public a better understanding as to why V2V communication is important, in-depth discussion of this technology is not typically found in an electrical engineering undergraduate curriculum. This paper is based on a report written in the context of an undergraduate Electrical Engineering computer and communications course at Penn State Harrisburg.