IEEE Begins Base WAVE Radio Communication Standard - IEEE P1609.0

January 22, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

The new standards development project, IEEE P1609.0 - Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) - Architecture for New Standard Vehicular Technology/Intelligent Transportation Systems, will be an overview document offering general descriptions of the messaging multi-channel WAVE devices need when communicating in mobile vehicular environments.

WAVE technology (also called Dedicated Short Range Communications or DSRC) is a short-to-medium-range radio link that will allow passenger vehicles in the U.S. to communicate with roadside stations and other WAVE-equipped vehicles.

It operates at 5.9 GHz and will complement cell phones by offering high data rates. Its upper layer protocols and services requirements are described by IEEE 1609 standards that build on IEEE 802.11 and IEEE P802.11p local area network standards.

According to IEEE, in addition to giving drivers information to help them reach their destinations safely and efficiently, WAVE radio will open a new generation of transportation applications, such as Internet access, arranging for lodging and ordering goods and services in transit. WAVE radio will operate in the 5.9 GHz band as authorized by the U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for intelligent transportation systems (ITS).

The auto industry is developing ways to add this technology to cars, radio chip manufacturers have built prototype WAVE radios and testing of a prototype WAVE radio system is underway in California. In addition to auto and wireless equipment manufacturers, stakeholders in WAVE technology include state and local transportation departments, toll authorities, public safety organizations and public transit organizations.

IEEE 1609 standards are trial-use standards scheduled to be updated based on experience and should become full-use standards in 2008 or 2009. Three other IEEE 1609 standards were previously approved:

• IEEE 1609.1 - Trial-Use Standard for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) - Resource Manager, which describes the flow of the command-response interchange between multiple remote applications and the resource manager.
• IEEE 1609.2 - Trial-Use Standard for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments - Security Services for Applications and Management Messages, which covers methods to make WAVE messages secure against eavesdropping, spoofing and other attacks.
• IEEE 1609.4 - Trial Use Standard for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) – Multichannel Operation, which provides an interface to the medium-access control of the communication stack and provides for multi-channel operation versus the single channel of IEEE 802.11p.

A fourth standard, IEEE P1609.3, is under development.

Source: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE).