Jürgen Rataj

Iterative design process for the development and testing of cooperative applications

For future assistance systems Car-to-X communication is a key technology for cooperative applications ranging from highly dynamic safety systems to information systems, informing the driver about situational aspects non-detectable for on-board sensors. To test such systems in real world experiments the testing effort as well as the associated costs are exorbitant compared to simulation trials. Thus, simulation seems a promising alternative for testing and evaluating wireless communication technologies and its corresponding applications in the automotive domain. The presented paper describes a common design process for the development and testing of applications based on Car-to-X communication technology using as an example a traffic management application. Thereby, this process starts with the investigation of the application within a macroscopic scenario view to parameterize the variables influencing the intended effect of the application e.g. penetration rate, communication range, etc. This is done until the intended effect of the application is provable in the simulation results. Afterwards, the environmental influences on message propagation are investigated within a microscopic scenario view. Thus a parameterization of communication specific parameters like transmit power, antenna position etc. has to be done. The choice of the right level of detail of the simulators and the choice of the right models in both scenario views is mainly focused for the issue to be explored as well as the parameterization of these models according to the intended effect of the application. Finally, the influence of the parameters found in the macroscopic scenario view on the parameters in the microscopic scenario view and vice versa is described in detail.