Status and New Challenges in Performance Testing of Wireless Automotive Communication Systems

The development of mobility is moving rapidly towards intelligent connected vehicles, further automation of driving functions and eventually self-driving vehicles. In future automobiles, wireless systems for communications and sensing will play an even more crucial role than today. Within automobiles as well as between multiple automobiles, car-to-car, (C2C) and the surrounding road infrastructure, car-to-infrastructure (C2I), reliable wireless links become indispensable. The communication standards, the vehicular electronic control systems, as well as the hybridisation of cellular and ad-hoc networks are moving towards increased complexity. Additionally, the performance validation is moving towards Over-The-Air (OTA) system testing. Consequently, the requirements on test facilities, equipment and methods increase accordinglyIn this paper, we give an overview of state-of-the art full-vehicular testing with emphasis on recent developments in advanced post-processing techniques to evaluate final system performance. The discussion is supported by measured examples on a car mock-up.