Virtual Lab of Connected Vehicle Technology

This paper presents a virtual lab of connected vehicle technology. The virtual lab features an interactive website where remote users, who are unable to learn connected vehicle technology at expensive real labs, can interact with the virtual environment. A team of traffic engineers, computer scientists/engineers, and electrical engineers propose this integrated and high-fidelity simulation platform to evaluate the timeliness and reliability of network design for vehicle-tovehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, and vehicle-to-handheld device wireless communications. The work pioneers the interdisciplinary research of transportation cyber-physical systems by combining microscopic traffic simulation and computer network simulation. The model incorporates driving maneuvers, traffic dynamics, and control strategies to provide a realistic environment. The influence of transportation features on data rate and channel access of communication network is closely examined to evaluate the timing and reliability requirements. The paper also examines the effectiveness of virtual labs comparable to real labs in engineering education and training.