Title: First Weekly Meeting
Author: Jacob Cytron
Date: 1/28/2018
Hours: 1
I attended the first weekly meeting. We clarified our end goals for the piCar project and talked over how we will accomplish our goals.
https://classes.engineering.wustl.edu/ese205/core/index.php?title=Pi_Car_Comm
Title: First Weekly Meeting
Author: Jacob Cytron
Date: 1/28/2018
Hours: 1
I attended the first weekly meeting. We clarified our end goals for the piCar project and talked over how we will accomplish our goals.
Title: PiCar Research
Author: Jacob Cytron
Date: 1/28/2018
Hours: 2
I read some articles on the 802.11 modules and I also read through the thesis on the DriveIt communication between Raspberry Pi cars.
Title: Yet Another WiFi Adapter
Author: Patrick Naughton
Date: 1/28/2018
Hours: 1
Found yet another WiFi adapter, this one suggested by a paper specifically about using the Raspberry Pi as an "on board unit" for DSRC in a VANET. This specific adapter, at least upon initial inspection, looks like it would be a good candidate because it has Linux support, can run in ad hoc mode (CTRL-F the documentation for ad hoc, it specifies how to set it up), and runs in the 5GHz band with backwards compatibility for the 802.11a protocol. Additionally, the authors of the paper successfully used it to establish communication on a Raspberry Pi, meaning this is possible.
Adapter: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Adapter-Archer-T1U/dp/B016K088UC
Adapter documentation: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1BISG1QKyS.pdf
Title: A Better WiFi Adapter and a Tutorial
Author: Patrick Naughton
Date: 1/28/2018
Hours: 1
Just found a Wi-Fi adapter compatible with the 802.11a standard. It does not come with a driver on the latest version of the Raspberry Pi, which could actually be a good thing because it means we can compile the driver ourselves (modifying open source designs to suit our needs). Links to the adapter and tutorial can be found at the end of the post.
This is available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811UTC-Dual-Band-Connectivity-Exceeding/dp/B00FW6T36Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517199327&sr=8-1&keywords=AC600+Wireless+Dual-Band+Mini+USB+Adapter+EW-7811UTC) for about $16
Tutorial: https://layereight.de/raspberry-pi/2016/08/25/raspbian-rtl8812au.html
Link to github for open source driver: https://github.com/gnab/rtl8812au
Reference: adapters that work with Raspberry Pi: https://elinux.org/RPi_USB_Wi-Fi_Adapters
Title: WiFi Adapter and more
Author: Patrick Naughton
Date: 1/27/2018
Hours: 1.5
Based on this article (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6060057&tag=1), we should be able to use an 802.11a driver to mimic a worst case scenario 802.11p driver. The paper concludes that with minor software adjustments,
VANET solutions that are validated using this approximation will also work on real hardware with better signal quality. As long as experimenters are aware of the limitations of the presented solution, it can be successfully applied as a cost-effective tool for VANET research.
We therefore need not find an 802.11p module - a more common 802.11a module will do.
Unfortunately, finding an 802.11a module is also surprisingly difficult. However, an 802.11n module should be able to operate in 802.11a mode because they share the same frequency (5GHz). This means an 802.11n module should suit our needs, as long as we can modify the device driver to make the minor adjustments the above paper discusses. Directly below is an example of such a driver.
https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-wifi.html
In addition to supporting 802.11n operation, the dongle must also support ad hoc mode. This is because that seems to be the best way to set up a network mesh among multiple raspberry pis. Instructions for doing so can be found at the following link:
http://www.ericerfanian.com/mobile-mesh-networks-with-the-raspberry-pi-part-1/
Using an ad-hoc network mesh seems to be the best available solution. DSRC/WAVE, which nearly every source cites as the way to send emergency communications between cars, is an ad hoc network (https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jat/2017/2750452/). Such a network does not rely on external routers, so even if the cars lose internet access, they can still communicate with one another.
Title: Link Dump
Author: Patrick Naughton
Date: 1/26/2018
Hours: ~10-15
Link dump of all the papers/modules I've found regarding this project.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jat/2017/2750452/
http://sandhill.com/wp-content/files_mf/whitepapervehicle_to_vehicle_communicationeinfochips.pdf
http://www.promiot.com/v2x/vtx-201
https://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/its/current/msg00935.html
http://dimme.net/tag/raspberry-pi/ <-- This is the master's thesis that's really good/thorough
https://www.unex.com.tw/products/dsrc-v2x/technology/v2x-on-board-unit/1609x-stack/detail/obu-201u
https://www.academia.edu/20878754/Accessible_customizable_high-performance_IEEE_802.11p_vehicular_communication_solution?auto=download
Author: Patrick Naughton
Date: 1/26/2018
Link to modification article. Hopefully we can use this to modify an existing 802.11a (WiFi) module to fit our needs.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6060057&tag=1
Author: Patrick Naughton
First log