Cooperative Advanced Road Traffic System and Method Using CPM Importance Index for Redundancy Mitigation

Abstract

A method for exchanging information between stations constituting a cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) using a wireless communication channel includes: detecting a plurality of objects present within a field of view (FOV) of at least one sensor provided in each station or present in a shared message received from another station as present in the vicinity of the station, acquiring object data of each detected object from the at least one sensor and / or the shared message, filling collective perception messages (CPMs) with the object data of the objects, calculating a collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI) for each collective perception message (CPM) filled with object data, identifying available channel resources of the wireless communication channel, and performing transmission of the collective perception messages (CPMs) according to the available channel resources in order of the CPM having the highest collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI).

Description

Cross-reference to related applications

[0001] This application claims the benefit of European Patent Application No. EP21202059.8, filed on October 12, 2021. All disclosures of the above application are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the exchange of information in a cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS), and more specifically, to a method for exchanging information between stations of a C-ITS using a wireless communication channel, a cooperative intelligent transport system, and a computer-implemented system.

Background Art

[0003] Known cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) are composed of stations (e.g., vehicles and / or roadside units) that exchange information using (direct) wireless communication. Such wireless communication is known as vehicle-to-X or vehicle-to-everything (V2X, direct).

[0004] V2X is a general term for traffic networking as electronic communication between road users in the form of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-network (V2N), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P). The wireless communication can be based on the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard (802.11p extension and, for example, its European profile ITS-G5), and is particularly called WLAN-V2X. Alternatively, the wireless communication can also be based on the 3GPP standard, particularly called cellular V2X, C-V2X, or sidelink. In V2X, not only Internet and database content, but also safety messages, traffic messages, emergency data, service data, toll billing, and navigation are exchanged. The purposes of V2V include notifying drivers of critical and dangerous situations at an early stage, improving the recognition of vehicles by the surroundings, supporting the driver assistance system of vehicles, supporting cooperative automated mobility, thereby improving traffic safety and optimizing traffic flow.

[0005] The ITS stations (ITS-Ss) of C-ITS share CAM (Cooperative Awareness Messages) and notify each other of their positions, kinematics, and other data. The ITS stations use DENM (Decentralized Environmental Notification Messages) to notify each other of dedicated events such as hard braking or obstacles on the road.

[0006] Another V2X message is the Collective Perception Message (CPM), which contains information about in-vehicle sensors, such as the Field of View (FOV), free space, and objects detected by the in-vehicle sensors of the ITS-S within the traffic environment. Figure 1 shows an example of a vehicle setup of a vehicle set equipped with sensors 1 to 6 each having a predetermined field of view. Exemplary objects are shown around the vehicle.

[0007] CPM is transmitted periodically and contains information about one or more detected objects, the field of view, and other characteristics of in-vehicle sensors such as radar and cameras. As shown in Figure 2 showing the ETSI ITS stack and CPS from a perspective centered on CPS, CPM is created by the Collective Perception Service (CPS) within the facility layer of the ETSI ITS stack. Figure 3 shows the current functions of CPS and is further referred to in relation to Figure 4 below.

[0008] In C-ITS, the concept of Distributed Congestion Control (DCC) is adopted to handle congested channels. DCC operates in all layers of the ETSI ITS stack.

[0009] In the technical field referred to so far, document DE102015105784A1 discloses transmitting object information about vulnerable road users in a distributed system for detecting and protecting vulnerable road users, and controlling the transmission of this information based on the kinematics, novelty, detectability by others, etc. of the object.

[0010] Furthermore, Document EP3462754A1 discloses an apparatus and method for V2X communication configured to detect whether two objects are the same in order to avoid duplication in CPM.

[0011] Also, Document WO2021 / 040352A1 discloses a method for a device to transmit and receive CPM in a wireless communication system for assisting sidelink, and a device therefor. In this method, it is detected whether an object recognized by an ITS-S has already been transmitted by another ITS-S, and based on this, transmission of such an object is avoided.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0012]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Summary of the Invention

[0013] The present disclosure provides a method, a cooperative advanced road traffic system, and a computer-implemented system that can safely transmit packets containing important information and prevent them from being dropped in a congested V2X wireless channel, particularly for CPM. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for exchanging information between stations in a cooperative advanced road traffic system (C-ITS) uses a wireless communication channel. The above information exchange includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding a collective perception message (CPM) that includes information about in-vehicle sensors and / or information about objects detected by in-vehicle sensors in the traffic environment. The method according to the first aspect above includes detecting a plurality of objects that are within the field of view (FOV) of at least one sensor provided at each station or are included in a shared message received from another station as being present in the vicinity of the station, obtaining object data of the detected individual objects from at least one sensor and / or the shared message, filling a collective perception message (CPM) with the object data of the objects, calculating a collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI) for each collective perception message (CPM) filled with the object data of the objects, identifying available channel resources of the wireless communication channel, and transmitting a collective perception message (CPM) from the CPM having the highest collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI) according to the available channel resources.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0014] To better understand the present disclosure, various forms thereof will be described below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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[0015] The drawings described in this specification are for illustrative purposes only and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0016] Before describing the embodiments of the present disclosure, the technical problems in the related art will be described.

[0017] CPM can contain a large number of detected objects, which results in a relatively large CPM size. As a result, even when the transmission rate is low, the transmission of CPM can cause congestion in the V2X wireless channel. In a congested V2X wireless channel, DCC is executed at all ITS-Ss (in various layers of the ETSI ITS stack). DCC determines a specific channel capacity for ITS-S according to the level of congestion. If the sum of all messages generated by ITS-Ss exceeds the aforementioned capacity, the DCC access layer function (DCC_ACC) drops packets indiscriminately, that is, without considering the content of the packets or the importance of the information therein at all. In particular, in the case of CPM, this means that packets containing important information (such as objects with high relevance to the safety of ITS-S) may be dropped. The interconnection between CPM transmission and DCC is shown in FIG. 6.

[0018] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method, a cooperative advanced road traffic system, and a computer-implemented system that can safely transmit packets containing important information and prevent them from being dropped in a congested V2X wireless channel, particularly for CPM. In the present disclosure, the exchange of information includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding collective perception messages (CPM) including information about in-vehicle sensors and / or information about objects and / or free spaces detected by in-vehicle sensors in a traffic environment.

[0019] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for information exchange between stations of a cooperative intelligent transportation system (C-ITS) uses a wireless communication channel. The information exchange includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding a collective perception message (CPM) including objects detected by in-vehicle sensors in a traffic environment and / or information regarding the in-vehicle sensors. The method according to the first aspect includes detecting a plurality of objects that are within the field of view (FOV) of at least one sensor provided at each station or are included in a shared message received from another station as being present in the vicinity of the station, obtaining object data of the detected individual objects from the at least one sensor and / or the shared message, filling a collective perception message (CPM) with the object data of the objects, calculating a collective perception message significance index (CPM-SI) for each collective perception message (CPM) filled with the object data of the objects, identifying available channel resources of the wireless communication channel, and transmitting each collective perception message (CPM) from the collective perception messages (CPM) having the highest collective perception message significance index (CPM-SI) according to the available channel resources.

[0020] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, which depends on the first aspect, an object significance index (O-SI) is calculated for each detected object based on the object data, and a collective perception message (CPM) is filled with the object data of the objects according to the calculated object significance index.

[0021] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, which depends on the second aspect, the object significance index (O-SI) is calculated by adding values of different object data elements and normalizing the result to an integer significance index (SI) value. The integer significance index is configured to be between 1 and 10 in a preferred embodiment, but is not limited thereto.

[0022] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure that depends on the second or third aspect, the collective perception message importance indicator (CPM-SI) is an integer parameter having a value calculated by taking the average of the object importance indicators (O-SI) of all objects within the collective perception message. The integer importance indicator is configured to be between 1 and 10 in a preferred embodiment, but is not limited thereto.

[0023] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure that depends on any one of the first to fourth aspects, the object importance indicator is calculated based on at least one of the kinematics of the object, the novelty of the detection of the object, the elapsed time since the last update of the object, the classification of the object, and the reliability of the detection of the object.

[0024] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure that depends on any one of the first to fifth aspects, the object importance indicator is calculated based on the demand of other stations, and the demand includes at least one of the kinematics of the object, the difficulty or impossibility of detection by adjacent stations, the occlusion state of the object, the object being on or outside the boundary of the field of view of the sensors of adjacent vehicles, the low reliability of detection at adjacent stations, and the difference in detection positions between stations.

[0025] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure that depends on any one of the first to sixth aspects, the wireless communication is direct V2X communication.

[0026] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure that depends on any one of the first to seventh aspects, the collective perception message (CPM) is transmitted periodically.

[0027] According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, which depends on any one of the first to eighth aspects, the available channel resources are related to the channel load. When it is determined that the channel load is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold indicating a congested channel, a plurality of collective perception messages (CPMs) are transmitted from the CPM having the highest collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI).

[0028] According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, a cooperative intelligent transport system for the exchange of information between stations constituting a cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) uses a wireless communication channel. The above information exchange includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding a collective perception message (CPM) including information on in-vehicle sensors and / or objects detected by the above in-vehicle sensors in the traffic environment. The cooperative intelligent transport system according to the ninth aspect includes at least one sensor provided at each station and configured to be able to detect a plurality of objects existing within a field of view (FOV), a receiving unit configured to receive a shared message including information on at least one object existing in the vicinity of the station from another station, a data acquisition unit arranged to acquire object data of each detected object from at least one sensor and / or the shared message, a filling unit configured to fill a collective perception message (CPM) with the object data of the object, a second calculation unit configured to calculate a collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI) for each collective perception message (CPM) filled with the object data of the object, a specifying unit configured to specify available channel resources of the wireless communication channel, and a transmitting unit configured to transmit a collective perception message (CPM) according to the available channel resources from the CPM having the highest collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI).

[0029] According to an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-implemented system for exchanging information in a cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) between stations uses a wireless communication channel. The exchange of that information includes transmitting, receiving, processing and / or discarding a cooperative perception message (CPM) including objects detected by in-vehicle sensors in a traffic environment and / or information regarding the in-vehicle sensors. The system according to the tenth aspect, when executed by a processor, detects a plurality of objects that are present within the field of view (FOV) of at least one sensor provided at an individual station or are received from other stations as being present in the vicinity of the station, obtains object data for each detected object from at least one sensor and / or the shared message, fills a cooperative perception message (CPM) with the object data of the object, calculates a cooperative perception message significance indicator (CPM-SI) for each cooperative perception message (CPM) filled with the object data of the object, identifies available channel resources of the wireless communication channel, and transmits a plurality of cooperative perception messages (CPM) according to the available channel resources from the CPM having the highest cooperative perception message significance indicator (CPM-SI), and includes a memory for storing instructions for causing the processor to execute the above.

[0030] It will be understood that the second to ninth aspects described above are similarly applicable to the systems according to the tenth and eleventh aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] The present disclosure is advantageously designed to provide for the consideration of additional parameters for importance determination (e.g., detection reliability, location discrepancy), the consideration of any type of object (not limited to VRUs for example), the consideration of any type of ITS-S (not limited to vehicles for example), the consideration of area perception requirements (APR), the transmission of the importance parameters themselves, the selective aggregation of objects (something different from aggregating all detected objects into one message, one message per object for example), and the consideration of specific V2X messages (CPM).

[0032] In the above concept, it will be understood that when the processing capacity is limited, a configuration is preferred such that at least the CPMs with high CSI among the received CPMs are processed first.

[0033] Furthermore, as will be understood, without being limiting, in the above context, ITS-Ss include at least vehicles and / or roadside units in a traffic environment to which the foregoing aspects are applicable.

[0034] As described at the beginning, V2X is a general term for traffic networks for mutual electronic communication between road users in the form of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-network (V2N), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P). Wireless communication can be based on the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard (802.11p extension and, for example, its European profile ITS-G5), and is particularly called WLAN-V2X. Alternatively, wireless communication can also be based on 3GPP standards, particularly called cellular V2X, C-V2X, or sidelink. For example, in V2X, in addition to safety messages, traffic messages, emergency data, service data, toll billing, and navigation, Internet and database content are exchanged. The purposes of V2X include notifying drivers of important and dangerous situations at an early stage, improving the vehicle's recognition of the surroundings, supporting the vehicle's driver assistance system, supporting cooperative automated mobility, thereby improving traffic safety and optimizing traffic flow.

[0035] Two alternative access layer technologies for ITS are defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), respectively.

[0036] The first approach supports vehicle ad-hoc connections using wireless local area network (WLAN) technology standardized as IEEE 802.11p, often called dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), which is the basis of the European standard ETSI ITS-G5. The second approach is cellular-based V2X (C-V2X), a proposal by 3GPP based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE), which is also known as LTE-V2X or sidelink.

[0037] In this context, cooperative awareness in road traffic means that road users and roadside infrastructure inform each other about their positions, dynamics, and attributes. Road users are all types of users on or near the road that play a role in traffic safety and control, such as automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, and roadside infrastructure facilities including road signs, traffic lights, barriers, gates, etc. As described in ETSI TR 102638, mutual awareness is the basis for several traffic safety and traffic efficiency applications involving many use cases. This is achieved through the periodic broadcast of information from vehicles to vehicles (V2V) as well as from infrastructure to any road user and between road users, such as V2I, I2V, or X2X based on a wireless network, called the V2X network, and is part of the intelligent transport system (ITS).

[0038] In cooperative safety and traffic efficiency applications, to achieve situation awareness including the presence and behavior of nearby road users, subsystems of the intelligent transport system (ITS) (such as road users, roadside units, etc.) and multiple ITS-stations (ITS-Ss) are required. The vehicle subsystem and the roadside subsystem enable situation awareness through their respective perception sensors and communication with other surrounding ITS-Ss. CA basic service EN302637-2 is a European standard (EN) that specifies how an ITS-S notifies other stations of the position, dynamics, and attributes of its associated subsystems by transmitting cooperative awareness messages (CAMs) in accordance with EN302637-2.

[0039] Collective perception services (CP services or CPS) complement the CA basic services. The CPS specification defines how ITS-S notifies other stations of the positions, dynamics, and attributes of neighboring road users, other objects, and free spaces detected by local perception sensors. With CPS, the ITS subsystem can share information about other road users and obstacles detected by local perception sensors such as radar and cameras. In this sense, CPS aims to enhance the recognition among ITS subsystems by mutually providing information about the objects recognized by the ITS subsystems to the knowledge bases of individual subsystems.

[0040] Collective perception messages (CPMs) enable the sharing of information about objects detected by scattered ITS subsystems. The messages consist of scattered ITS subsystems, their perception capabilities, and information about the detected objects. Therefore, the messages provide general data elements for describing the objects detected within the reference frames of the scattered ITS subsystems. CPMs are transmitted periodically at an adaptive message generation rate while focusing on reporting changes in the dynamic road environment and reducing the resulting channel load.

[0041] In particular, the ETSI technical specification draft ETSI TS103324 currently focuses, in the V0.2.22 draft (2021-05), on the specification of CPMs transmitted by ITS-S participating in the V2X network and the specification of CPS with trigger conditions for transmitting CPMs.

[0042] As used herein, an object in the context of CPS is defined as a state space representation of an object physically detected within the sensing range of a sensor, an object list is defined as a set of objects temporally aligned at the same timestamp, a collective perception (CP) service is defined as a function in the ITS-S facility layer for generating, receiving, and processing CPMs, a collective perception message (CPM) is defined as a CP service PDU (protocol data unit), a collective perception message (CPM) data is defined as a partial or complete CPM payload, a collective perception (CPM) protocol is defined as an ITS facility layer protocol for CPM transmission and reception operations, an ITS station is defined as a functional entity specified by the ITS station reference architecture, object reliability is defined as a quantification of the reliability that the detected object actually exists, i.e., was previously detected by a sensor and is continuously being detected, a roadside ITS station is defined as an ITS station of the roadside ITS subsystem, a sensor measurement is defined as the operation of a sensor based on the operating principle for generating a state space representation of the detected object, a state space representation is defined as a mathematical description of the detected object consisting of state variables such as distance, speed, object dimensions, etc., and a vehicle ITS station is defined as an ITS station within the vehicle ITS subsystem. The CPU(s) in ITS-S execute the functions of each layer, such as the application layer, the facility layer, and the network layer and transport layer.

[0043] Figure 2 shows in more detail the collective perception (CP) service within the ITS-S architecture, along with the logical interfaces with other layers and entities within the facility layer. CPS is a facility layer entity of the ITS-S-S architecture. CPS interfaces with other entities in the facility layer and the ITS application and collects relevant information for CPM generation and for transferring received CPM content for further processing.

[0044] The entities for data collection to generate CPM are the Device Data Provider (DDP), Position and Time Management (POTI), and Local Dynamic Map (LDM). In the vehicle ITS subsystem, the DDP is connected to the in-vehicle network and provides vehicle state information. In the roadside ITS subsystem, the DDP is connected to sensors attached to roadside infrastructure such as poles and gantries. The POTI entity provides the position and time information of the ITS-S. The LDM is the database of the ITS-S and is configured to be updated with data received from messages such as CAM and CPM in addition to in-vehicle sensor data. The ITS application obtains information from the LDM for further processing. Also, the CPS interfaces with the Service Announcement (SA) service to indicate the capabilities of the ITS-S for generating CPM and for providing details regarding the communication technology used.

[0045] Message transmission specific information related to the current channel utilization rate is received by interfacing with the DCC-FAC (Distributed Congestion Control in the Facility Layer) entity and the DCC-Cross entity (located in the management plane and not shown in Figure 2). The CPS interfaces with the networking and transport layer (N&T) via the NF-SAP (Service Access Point for the Networking Facility Layer Interface) for the exchange of other ITS-S and CPM, accesses the security service for CPM transmission and CPM reception via the SF-SAP (Service Access Point for the Security Facility Layer Interface) to interface with the security entity, interfaces with the management entity via the MF-SAP (Service Access Point for the Management Facility Layer Interface), and interfaces with the application layer via the FA-SAP (Service Access Point for the Facility Application Layer Interface) in case the received CPM data is directly provided to the application. Note that SAP is the abbreviation of Service Access Point, and SA is the abbreviation of Service Announcement.

[0046] As shown in Figure 3, the CPS functions in each ITS-S include inputs from the DCC (e.g., those containing information on available channel resources), inputs from in-vehicle sensors (e.g., those containing information on sensor characteristics, FOV, objects, free space), CPM transmission management, CPM reception management, CPM encoding, and CPM decoding based on CAMs and CPMs (from outside each ITS-S, e.g., from one or more other ITS-S).

[0047] Figure 4 shows a comparison of the changes in the CPS functions according to this embodiment with Figure 3. The changes in the CPS functions are indicated in bold italic with underlines in Figure 4 and will be referred to in more detail below.

[0048] Figure 5 shows the current state of the ETSI CPM format and identifies where the present disclosure fits into this format. The current ETSI development for specifying CPS services is described in a technical report that describes the CPM format and CPM generation rules as a baseline for the CPS specification of ETSI TS 103324.

[0049] As shown in Figure 5, the CPM message includes an ITS (Intelligent Transport System) PDU (Protocol Data Unit) header, and four types of containers, namely, a management container, a station data container, multiple sensor information containers (SICs), and multiple perception object containers (POCs).

[0050] The ITS PDU header includes data elements such as a protocol version, a message ID, and a station ID. The management container is mandatory and provides basic information about the transmitting vehicle (such as the position of the transmitting vehicle). The position information is used by the recipient to reference the detected object. The station data container is optional and includes additional information about the transmitting vehicle (e.g., speed, direction of travel, or acceleration). Further, CPM can accommodate up to 128 SICs to describe the capabilities of the sensors incorporated in the transmitting vehicle. Finally, the POCs provide information about the detected object (e.g., the distance between the detected object and the transmitting vehicle), the speed and size of the object, and the time at which these measurements were made. A single CPM can accommodate up to 128 POCs.

[0051] The CPM generation rules define the timing at which a vehicle should generate and transmit CPM, and the information to be included in the CPM. According to the current ETSI CPM generation rules, a vehicle is required to check at a predetermined interval whether it needs to generate and transmit a new CPM. By default, the predetermined interval is set to 100 ms, but it can be set to any multiple of 100 ms within the range of 100 ms to 1000 ms. When a new object is detected, or when the absolute position of the vehicle has changed by a predetermined amount (e.g., 4 m) since the absolute position data was last included in the CPM, or when the absolute speed of the vehicle has changed by a predetermined value (e.g., 0.5 m / s) since the absolute speed data was last included in the CPM, or when the last detected object was included in the CPM more than a predetermined time period (e.g., 1 second or more) ago, the vehicle needs to generate a new CPM at each predetermined interval. The vehicle includes in the new CPM all newly detected objects and objects that satisfy at least one of the above-mentioned conditions. Even if there are no detected objects that satisfy any of the above-mentioned conditions, the vehicle generates CPM every second. Information regarding in-vehicle sensors is included in the CPM only once per second.

[0052] As further shown according to FIG. 5, the present disclosure can be incorporated into the pending ETSI CPM format by optionally adding a management container (refer to the box marked CSI (“CPM-SI”)), POCs (refer to the boxes marked OSI (“O-SI”) with indexes 1 to 128), and new APR containers 1 to n (refer to the right side of FIG. 5).

[0053] In the above context, FIG. 6 shows the cooperation between CPM transmission and DCC in ITS-S within the layers of the ETSI ITS stack, including the concept of importance indicators introduced for CPMs according to this embodiment. In step 10 of FIG. 6, the CPS receives data from the sensors of ITS-S and / or CAM / CPM. In step 20, after the CPS receives data from the sensors and / or CAM / CPM of other ITS-S in step 10, the CPM is filled with object data of the object according to the object importance indicator (O-SI). In step 30, the SI for the detected object is calculated. In step 40, the CPS creates a CPM. At this time, the CPM size and rate are adapted based on the channel congestion information from the DCC. In step 50, the CPM passes through the stack to the access layer via networking. In step 60, the access layer transmits or drops the CPM according to the current channel load (access layer DCC function DCC-ACC).

[0054] The present disclosure has multiple aspects, and the following shows an overview thereof.

[0055] According to FIG. 3, within the context of CPS functions including CPM transmission management, CPM reception management, CPM encoding, and CPM decoding, the existing CPS functions are extended and / or adapted by incorporating an importance indicator (SI).

[0056] Accompanying the incorporation of the SI, which plays a role in avoiding loss of important information, the importance of the CPM is based on the importance indicator (SI) of the object information to be incorporated, and the CPS adaptively ensures that only the most important objects (e.g., from a safety perspective) are included in the CPM according to the current V2X channel load.

[0057] Here, ITS-Ss other than the host ITS-S (of oneself) can be considered to affect the SI calculation of the host ITS-S by sending requests for areas where they want to receive object information. Furthermore, the same can be considered for other applications within the C-ITS system, such as on-demand CPM transmission.

[0058] Preferably, the SI is calculated by the CPS based on data including at least one of kinematic, novelty, elapsed time since the last update, classification, and detection reliability obtained at the host ITS-S for the detected object, and / or based on the needs of other ITS-Ss.

[0059] As used herein, kinematic shall include, but not be limited to, at least one of position, velocity, and acceleration. That is, kinematic includes parameters suitable for indicating that an object may pose a safety hazard to one or more road users. For example, in a case where one vehicle is moving slowly and another vehicle is moving fast, and it is determined that the faster vehicle is more likely to pose a safety hazard, the higher the likelihood of posing a safety hazard, the higher its importance.

[0060] As used herein, novelty means an object that has not been detected so far. Novel objects are of higher importance. The elapsed time since the last update is related to an object that has not been reported for a predetermined period. The longer the elapsed time since the last update, the higher its importance. Classification usually refers to the type of object and considers more "valuable" objects such as vulnerable road users (VRUs). And classes including such valuable objects are judged to be of higher importance. Similarly, for the detection reliability (value), the higher the reliability (value), the higher its importance.

[0061] Regarding the needs of other ITS-Ss, it is preferable that objects with kinematics (e.g., position, velocity, acceleration) related to one or more road users (vicinity, collision path, etc.) be considered when determining the importance of the object. FIG. 7 shows an example where when the ITS-S of a vehicle detects a first object (Object 1) and a second object (Object 2), the first object is considered more important than the second object because there is a possibility of a collision path with the first object while there is no such possibility with the second object.

[0062] Also, regarding the needs of other ITS-Ss, objects that are difficult or impossible to detect by neighboring ITS-Ss, such as concealed objects that are partially or completely hidden based on the positions of other known objects, and the FOVs of sensors of known neighboring vehicles, are preferably considered when determining the importance of the object. FIG. 8 shows an example where in a traffic environment including a first and a second vehicle, and first and second objects, the first vehicle (Vehicle 1) considers the first object (Object 1) more important than the second object (Object 2) because the first object is hidden by the second object within the FOV of the sensor of the second vehicle.

[0063] Objects that are difficult or impossible to detect may further include objects on or completely outside the boundary of the FOV of sensors of neighboring ITS-Ss, and objects detected by other ITS-Ss with a lower reliability than the host ITS-S. FIG. 9 shows an example where in a traffic environment including a first and a second vehicle, and first and second objects, the first object is completely outside the FOV of the second vehicle (Vehicle 2), so the first vehicle (Vehicle 1) considers the first object (Object 1) more important than the second object (Object 2).

[0064] Also, regarding the needs of other ITS-Ss, it is preferable that objects with different detection positions among ITS-Ss, for example, objects of a vehicle ITS-S type where the position shown in the CAM is different from the position detected by the sensors of other ITS-Ss, be considered when determining the importance of the object.

[0065] Furthermore, regarding the needs of other ITS-Ss, it is preferable that several area perception requests (APRs) by other ITS-Ss in the area where the object detected by the host ITS-S is located be considered when determining the importance of the object. Here, as a non-limiting example, the request for this area may be explicitly transmitted by a neighboring ITS-S, and / or the request may be part of an optional container in the CPM where the transmitting ITS-S can indicate the area where it desires to receive object information. FIG. 10 shows an example where, in a traffic environment including the first and second vehicles, the first and second objects, and for example a building, the first object (object 1) is considered more important than the second object (object 2) because the first object belongs to the area perception request (APR) of the second vehicle (vehicle 2) by the first vehicle (vehicle 1).

[0066] FIG. 11 is an exemplary flowchart of a method according to an embodiment.

[0067] When starting at step 100, the method steps for the CPS to calculate and transmit the significance index (SI) include step 110 of detecting a plurality of objects that are present within the field of view (FOV) of at least one sensor provided at each station or are included in the shared messages received from other stations as being present in the vicinity of the station.

[0068] Next, at step 120, object data (kinematic and trajectory if applicable) of each detected object is acquired from at least one sensor and / or the shared message. The detected objects include the objects detected via CAMs.

[0069] Note that the common message includes the CPMs obtained from other ITS-Ss and containing their FOVs and / or APRs. Further, note that if the processing capacity is limited and the CPMs obtained from other ITS-Ss include the Collective Perception Message Significance Indicator (CPM-SI), the common message is preferably configured such that the CPMs with high CPM-SI are processed first.

[0070] In the subsequent step 130, the Collective Perception Message (CPM) is filled with the object data of the objects. As a non-limiting example, in the simple filling model, the filling starts from the most important object, and the filling of the objects continues in descending order of importance as long as the CPM configuration rules regarding the CPM size permit.

[0071] In step 140, the Collective Perception Message Significance Indicator (CPM-SI) for each Collective Perception Message (CPM) filled with the object data of the objects is calculated. In other words, in this step, the CPM-SI of each CPM is calculated and input. An example of a non-limiting simple model includes taking the average of the O-SIs of all the objects therein. Note that both the O-SI and the CPM-SI are integer-type parameters, and the values are, for example, from 1 to 10. The CPM-SI may be abbreviated as "CSI".

[0072] In the next step 150, the available channel resources of the wireless communication channel are identified.

[0073] Finally, in step 160, a plurality of Collective Perception Messages (CPMs) are transmitted from the CPM with the highest Collective Perception Message Significance Indicator (CPM-SI) according to the available channel resources. Preferably, if the channel is congested, the plurality of CPMs are transmitted in order from the highest CPM-SI until the available channel resources (determined by the DCC entity) are exhausted.

[0074] In the modification example, in the next step following step 120, an object importance index (O-SI) of each detected object is calculated based on the object data. At this time, the calculation of the O-SI is performed based on various elements described above. As a non-limiting example, a simple calculation model includes adding the value for each factor to obtain an SI value and normalizing the addition result to a value from 1 to 10. Next, in step 130, the object data of the object is filled into the collective perception message (CPM) according to the calculated object importance index. As a non-limiting example, a simple filling model starts filling from the most important object, and the filling of the objects continues in descending order of importance as long as the CPM configuration rules regarding the CPM size permit. It should be noted that calculating the O-SI and filling the object data of the object into the CPM according to the O-SI is an exemplary method for calculating the CPM-SI. Other methods for calculating the CPM-SI are also conceivable, and the method disclosed as a modification example in this specification does not impose a limitation on the method for determining the priority order of the CPM.

[0075] In this embodiment, according to the CPM-SI, a plurality of CPMs are transmitted in order from the CPM with the highest collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI) according to the available channel resources. The CPM-SI can reduce the possibility that an important CPM is discarded.

[0076] The technical effect of O-SI is to adaptively include only the most important objects within the CPM, thereby reducing and / or restricting the CPM size, and thereby reducing the load on the V2X wireless channel. The most important objects added to the CPM are identified based on the calculated O-SI. For example, by adaptively including only the most important objects within the CPM based on, for example, an importance encapsulation threshold, it is possible to prevent the CPM from containing a large number of detected objects, mitigate redundant information, reduce the CPM size, and in particular, use less (or free up) capacity in a (potentially or actually) congested V2X wireless channel, and prevent packets containing important information regarding relevant objects from being dropped. The criteria for adaptive encapsulation include, but are not limited to, the current channel load and safety perspectives. As described herein, reducing the number of objects within the CPM by adaptively including objects also makes it possible to reduce the processing load and speed up the response time.

[0077] The APR container supports similar or analogous technical effects in that it affects the calculation of SI at the host ITS-S by requesting information about areas where other ITS-Ss want to receive object information using the APR. In other words, objects in the area of interest requested from other ITS-Ss are ranked as more important at the host ITS-S, information regarding such objects is prioritized and preferably transmitted, while objects in other areas (which are of decidedly low interest to other ITS-Ss) can be set to a lower rank. Here too, objects ranked as more important are prioritized in the process of adaptive encapsulation, supporting the effects described above as well.

[0078] The present disclosure is described using one of its preferred embodiments. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the specifically described embodiments, and is understood to include and encompass additional aspects, configurations, and modifications without departing from the scope of the described and claimed subject matter. Such additional aspects, configurations, and modifications may include, for example, methods, computational programs, and apparatuses for calculating the SI of each CPM based on the SI of the objects within the CPM, inputting the SI values into the CPM packets, and filling the CPM with objects based on the individual SIs.

[0079] Such additional aspects, configurations, and modifications may further include methods, computational programs, and apparatuses for calculating the SI for each object based on parameters within the object data, such as, for example, the kinematics of the object, the history of the object, visibility, detectability, and quality of detection, and / or the classification of the object, or methods, computational programs, and apparatuses for calculating the SI of each object based on the number of APRs from other ITS-Ss in the area where the object detected by the host ITS-S is located, or based on a combination of each piece of information.

[0080] Yet another aspect, configuration, and modification may be related to, for example, methods, computer programs, and apparatuses for constructing, transmitting, receiving, and decoding an ITS message or a part of an ITS message that includes information regarding a geographical area that is only partially or not at all detected by the sensors of the transmitting ITS-S, and / or the importance of the above area for the transmitting ITS-S, and / or methods, computer programs, and apparatuses for determining the transmission of the CPM based on the SI and available channel resources.

[0081] Generally, embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuitry, software, logic, or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software executable by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Various aspects of the present disclosure may be illustrated and described using block diagrams, flowcharts, or other graphical representations, but the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques, or methods described herein are, by way of non-limiting example, hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuitry or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers, or other computing devices, or combinations thereof.

[0082] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of a system entity, such as a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Further in this regard, it should be noted that any block of the logical flow shown in the figures may represent a program step, interconnected logical circuit, block and function, or a combination of program steps and logical circuits, blocks and functions. The software may be stored on a physical medium such as a memory chip or a memory block implemented within a processor, a magnetic medium such as a hard disk or a floppy disk, and an optical medium such as a DVD or a CD of its data variants.

[0083] The memory may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory. The data processor may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a gate-level circuit, and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture.

[0084] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented with various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is generally a highly automated process. Sophisticated and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic-level design into a semiconductor circuit design prepared to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

[0085] Electronic design automation (EDA) programs and tools use well-established design rules and a library of pre-stored design modules to automatically determine the wiring of conductors and the placement of components on a semiconductor chip. When the design of a semiconductor circuit is complete, the resulting design may be transmitted in a standardized electronic format to a semiconductor manufacturing facility or "fab" for manufacturing.

[0086] The foregoing description has provided a complete and beneficial explanation of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure by way of illustrative and non-limiting examples. However, various changes and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant art in view of the above description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. It will be understood that all such and similar changes to the teachings of the present disclosure are included within the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

[0087] According to the present disclosure described above, in a method, a cooperative advanced road traffic system (C-ITS), and a computer-implemented system for exchanging information in a cooperative advanced road traffic system between stations using a wireless communication channel, the information exchange includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding a collective perception message (CPM) including information of in-vehicle sensors and / or information regarding an object detected by an in-vehicle sensor in a traffic environment, a plurality of objects included in a shared message received from another station are detected as being present within the field of view (FOV) of at least one sensor provided at each station or being present in the vicinity of the station, object data of each object detected from at least one sensor and / or the shared message is acquired, the collective perception message (CPM) is adaptively filled with the object data of the object, a collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI) is calculated for each collective perception message (CPM) filled with the object data of the object, available channel resources of the wireless communication channel are identified, and the collective perception message (CPM) is transmitted and / or received in accordance with the available channel resources in order from the CPM having the highest collective perception message importance index (CPM-SI).

Claims

1. A method for exchanging information of a cooperative advanced road traffic system using a wireless communication channel between stations constituting the cooperative advanced road traffic system, wherein the exchange of the information includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding a collective awareness message including information about in-vehicle sensors and / or information about an object detected by the in-vehicle sensors in a traffic environment, detecting a plurality of objects included in a shared message received from another station as being present within the field of view of at least one sensor provided in each station or being present in the vicinity of the station, acquiring object data of each detected object from the at least one sensor and / or the shared message, calculating an object importance index for each detected object based on the object data, filling a collective awareness message with object data of a plurality of objects, calculating a collective awareness message importance index for each of the plurality of collective awareness messages filled with object data based on the object importance index for each object included in the collective awareness message, identifying available channel resources of the wireless communication channel, including transmitting, in order, from the collective awareness message having the highest collective awareness message importance index according to the available channel resources, a method. The object importance index is a parameter representing a high level of safety importance for road users, which is calculated based on at least one of the kinematics of the object, the novelty of the detection of the object, the elapsed time since the last update of the object, the classification of the object, and the reliability of the detection of the object.

2. Filling a collective awareness message with object data of a plurality of objects is performed according to the calculated object importance index, the method according to claim 1.

3. The object importance index is calculated by adding values of different object data elements and normalizing the result to an integer-type importance index value, the method according to claim 1.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the group awareness message importance index is an integer parameter having a value calculated by taking an average of object importance indexes for all objects included in the group awareness message.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the wireless communication is direct V2X communication.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the group awareness message is transmitted periodically.

7. The available channel resources are related to the channel load, When it is determined that the channel load is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold indicating a congested channel, a plurality of group awareness messages are transmitted in order from the one having the highest group awareness message importance index. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

8. A cooperative advanced road traffic system for exchanging information using a wireless communication channel between stations of a cooperative advanced road traffic system, wherein the exchange of the information includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding a group awareness message including information about an object detected by an in-vehicle sensor and / or within a traffic environment by the in-vehicle sensor, At least one sensor provided in each station and configured to be able to detect a plurality of objects present within the field of view, A receiving unit configured to receive a shared message including information about at least one object present in the vicinity of the station from another station, A data acquisition unit arranged to acquire object data of each detected object from the at least one sensor and / or the shared message, A first calculation unit configured to calculate an object importance index for each detected object based on the object data, A filling unit configured to fill a group awareness message with object data of a plurality of objects, A second calculation unit configured to calculate a group awareness message importance index for each of a plurality of group awareness messages filled with object data of a plurality of objects based on the object importance index for each object included in the group awareness message. A specifying unit configured to specify available channel resources of the wireless communication channel; A transmitting unit configured to transmit, in order from the collective awareness message having the highest collective awareness message importance index, according to the available channel resources; and The object importance index is a parameter representing the high level of safety importance for road users, which is calculated based on at least one of the kinematics of the object, the novelty of the detection of the object, the elapsed time since the last update of the object, the classification of the object, and the reliability of the detection of the object. A cooperative advanced road traffic system. **Claim 9**: The cooperative advanced road traffic system according to claim 8, wherein the filling unit is configured to fill a collective awareness message with object data of a plurality of objects according to the calculated object importance index. **Claim 10** A computer-implemented system for exchanging information using a wireless communication channel between stations of a cooperative advanced road traffic system, wherein the exchange of the information includes transmitting, receiving, processing, and / or discarding a collective awareness message including information about an object detected by an in-vehicle sensor and / or in a traffic environment by the in-vehicle sensor. When executed by a processor, the computer-implemented system causes the processor to Detect a plurality of objects existing within the field of view of at least one sensor provided at each individual station or included in a shared message received from another station as existing in the vicinity of the station; Obtain object data of each detected object from the at least one sensor and / or the shared message; Calculate an object importance index for each detected object based on the object data; Fill a collective awareness message with object data of a plurality of objects; Calculate a collective awareness message importance index for each of the plurality of collective awareness messages filled with object data of a plurality of objects based on the object importance index for each object included in the collective awareness message; Specify available channel resources of the wireless communication channel; A memory for storing instructions to cause, in order from the group awareness message having the highest group awareness message importance index, transmission according to available channel resources. The object importance index is a parameter representing the level of safety importance for road users, calculated based on at least one of the kinematics of the object, the novelty of object detection, the elapsed time since the object's last update, the classification of the object, and the reliability of object detection, in a computer-implemented system.

11. The instructions further cause the processor to Fill the group awareness message with object data of a plurality of objects according to the calculated object importance index. The computer-implemented system according to claim 10.

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