Rohde & Schwarz and Audi partner to enable Cellular-V2X application testing.
Rohde & Schwarz and Audi are creating road traffic scenarios in the laboratory and using the same traffic scenarios to conduct end-to-end testing on the Audi proving ground with an R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester.
Rohde & Schwarz says that Cellular-V2X (C-V2X) is a key technology that will increase traffic efficiency, improve road safety and enhance autonomous driving in the coming years. Of particular importance is the C-V2X PC5 interface, operating in the 5.9 GHz ITS frequency band. This enables direct, reliable, low latency communications between vehicles (V2V), vehicles and infrastructure (V2I) and vehicles and pedestrians (V2P).
To accelerate the deployment of this technology, cooperation between companies within the industry becomes increasingly important. In a joint project with Audi, Rohde & Schwarz have developed a C-V2X test solution that allows traffic scenarios involving multiple simulated vehicles and the communications between them to be tested in the laboratory in a precise and repeatable way. This enables the correct operation of C-V2X applications such as emergency brake warnings in realistic and demanding traffic scenarios to be verified in the laboratory. Jointly with Audi, the laboratory solution was extended for use at the proving ground. This enabled the verification of several scenarios with one single physical vehicle and many simulated vehicles emulated by the Rohde & Schwarz test equipment.
The key benefits of this approach are using the same test equipment in both locations and reducing the number of vehicles required for the proving ground. In addition, this test approach allowed Audi to perform various load tests and corner case scenarios using test vehicles and simulated vehicles together at the proving ground. The excellent cooperation between the teams facilitated the co-development of this innovative C-V2X test setup, helping to reduce time to market and saving capital expenditure.
The system comprises an R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester, an R&S SMBV100B vector signal generator (laboratory only), the Vector CANoe Car2x software, an R&S BBA150 amplifier and an R&S HF918 antenna with a tripod and adapter. This system can easily generate signals with up to 33dBm output power, which is required for emergency vehicles in specific markets. Furthermore, synchronization of the simulated cars and the test vehicle at the proving ground with real GNSS sources allows real-time verification of complex traffic scenarios.
As C-V2X continues to increase its footprint in the automotive industry, having a test system that scales into different phases of the automotive verification cycle becomes increasingly important to reduce time to market and minimize capital expenditure.