Vehicular-networking- and road-weather-related research in Sodankylä

Abstract

Abstract. Vehicular-networking-and especially safetyrelated wireless vehicular services have been under intensive research for almost a decade now. Only in recent years has road weather information also been acknowledged to play an important role when aiming to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities via intelligent transport systems (ITSs). Part of the progress can be seen as a result of the Finnish Meteorological Institute's (FMI) long-term research work in Sodankylä within the topic, originally started in 2006.Within multiple research projects, the FMI Arctic Research Centre has been developing wireless vehicular networking and road weather services, in co-operation with the FMI meteorological services team in Helsinki. At the beginning the wireless communication was conducted with traditional Wi-Fi type local area networking, but during the development the system has evolved into a hybrid communication system of a combined vehicular ad hoc networking (VANET) system with special IEEE 802.11p protocol and supporting cellular networking based on a commercial 3G network, not forgetting support for Wi-Fi-based devices also. For piloting purposes and further research, we have established a special combined road weather station (RWS) and roadside unit (RSU), to interact with vehicles as a service hotspot. In the RWS-RSU we have chosen to build support to all major approaches, IEEE 802.11, traditional Wi-Fi and cellular 3G. We employ road weather systems of FMI, along with RWS and vehicle data gathered from vehicles, in the up-to-date localized weather data delivered in real time. IEEE 802.11p vehicular networking is supported with This paper briefly introduces the research work related to vehicular networking and road weather services conducted in Sodankylä, as well as the research project involved in this work. The current status of instrumentation, available services and capabilities are presented in order to formulate a clear general view of the research field.

Connected Vehicles: V2V and V2I Road Weather and Traffic Communication Using Cellular Technologies

“…In 2019, T. Ojanperä et al [ 8 ] conducted pilot measurements related to the use of road weather services provided by road weather stations (RWS) through Wi-Fi and IEEE 802.11p-based vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The performance of IEEE-802.11p was better in contrast to the Wi-Fi standard.…”

Snow Samples Combined With Long-Range Transport Modeling to Reveal the Origin and Temporal Variability of Black Carbon in Seasonal Snow in Sodankylä (67°N)

“…More details about instrumentation (description, coordinates, sensor types, and data availability) can be found at http://litdb.fmi.fi. Snow-related Sodankylä measurements also include the automatic weather station (AWS) data, the micrometeorological mast (Kangas et al, 2016), the road weather station (Sukuvaara et al, 2016), the UV measurement field (Meinander et al, 2013;Mäkelä et al, 2016), the distributed soil moisture and frost stations (Ikonen et al, 2015), and the optical laboratory (Lakkala et al, 2016). The area is characterized with very low wind speeds, e.g., with a monthly wind speed average of 2.5-2.9 m s −1 above the treetops and a 2-year average during the snow season at 1.5 m height in a forest opening of 1.17 +/− 0.56 m/s −1 (Pirinen et al, 2012).…”

Vehicular Networking: ITS-G5 vs 5G Performance Evaluation using Road Weather Information

“…They exploit road traffic data by permitting more precise and accurate instant service generation directly to different traffic and transport actors. For traffic safety, the next generation of applications and services aims to include the combination of road weather and wireless communication link together (VANET & cellular network) [6]. This combination "Next Generation Application" can provide the advanced specifications that forecast, assess and address the climatic impacts on roads, travelers and vehicles.…”

“…The 4G/5G networking has also a vision of providing the vehicular communication-type of operation with high bandwidth and ultra-low network delays. Radio technology together with road weather service applications can improve the safety application efficient as well as the traffic flow [6,7]. [9].…”