The increasing number of vehicles on streets especially in urban areas causes traffic problems like congestion, an increased risk for accidents, but also increased emissions of greenhouse gas and noise. Platooning is an application in the context of cooperative mobile systems and vehicular networks that addresses the aforementioned problems. However, platooning is usually considered for freeway scenarios only, meaning a road with multiple lanes without further restrictions like intersections, vulnerable road users or traffic lights.

Yet, platooning in urban areas requires a much more dynamic and flexible handling compared to platooning on freeways. This includes the handling of traffic light controlled intersection. Recent research showed that platooning at traffic lights can lead to a great improvement in terms of travel time and fuel consumption [1].

Green light optimal speed advisory (GLOSA) is a well-investigated application for cooperative driving, which enables vehicles to pass the intersection with a certain speed such that no vehicle has to stop at the intersection. However, comprehensive and well-investigated simulation studies for GLOSA in combination with platooning are still active research.

Goals of the thesis

This thesis will investigate the potential of GLOSA algorithms for platooning at traffic light controlled intersections. To achieve this, an existing GLOSA algorithm will be implemented and validated. Building on Veins, an open source vehicular network simulation framework that can simulate wireless networks of cars, the thesis will analyze the performance improvement that can be gained from applying GLOSA to platoons in the given scenario. Consequently, different metrics to measure the intersection, traffic and the platoon properties have to be considered.

Keywords

C++, Platooning, Collision Avoidance, Network Simulation, Vehicular Networking

[1] Tobias Hardes and Christoph Sommer, “Dynamic Platoon Formation at Urban Intersections,” Proceedings of 44th IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN 2019), Poster Session, Osnabrück, Germany, October 2019.

[2] David Eckhoff, Bastian Halmos and Reinhard German, “Potentials and Limitations of Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory Systems,” Proceedings of 5th IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference (VNC 2013), Boston, MA, December 2013, pp. 103-110.