The Christian Doppler Laboratory for Wireless Technologies for Sustainable Mobility (2009-2016) addressed fundamental research questions arising from traffic and transportation related information technology infrastructures in the field of wireless communication. In the lab, we focus on questions relating to connectivity, reliability, and availability for vehicular, cellular and short-range communications. By a tight coupling of experimental work and design, we avoid the need for simplistic assumptions on communication channel statistics. We evaluate our designs on testbeds comprising real-world wireless communication environments. Thereby, we validate the devised algorithms in-situ. Key performance indicators for such wireless technologies are the reliability, the capability to meet strict deadlines, and coverage which we aim to achieve through multiple antenna transmission and reception.
Our research plan consists of five modules:
- Vehicular Connectivity,
- Smart Tags for Sensor Nets,
- Mobile Communications Evolution,
- Nearfield Power Efficiency
- Integrated Vehicle Chassis Antennas.
The research in Module 1 focuses on dependable wireless technologies in time-variant communication scenarios for safety related applications. The term “dependable” refers to guaranteed data packet delivery within a specified deadline. In Module 2, we investigate advanced transmission techniques for low energy consumption tags and aim at increasing the robustness of transmission in industrial environments. In Module 3, we measure and optimize multiuser throughput of multi antenna transmission under delay constraints on the wireless channel and the novel inter-base station co-operative signalling. Further, we evaluate the potential gain of interference management for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). Efficient energy and data transmission for contactless identification is the central challenge in Module 4. Finally, the scope of Module 5 is targeted to research on novel antenna design approaches and manufacturing technologies to enable conformal antennas for vehicle chassis based on carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers.
