Analysis of IEEE 802.11p MAC Protocol for Safety Message Broadcast in V2V Communication

V2X communication technology is expected to improve road safety and optimize transportation efficiency. Safety message broadcasting is in need of high reliability and requires real-time communications between vehicles under adverse environments. In this study, we evaluate IEEE 802.11p MAC protocol performance in terms of packet delivery ratio (PDR), by means of simulation and analysis. Analytical expression of PDR is derived for packets with exponential and deterministic inter-arrival time by taking hidden terminal problem into account as the major cause of performance degradation. Furthermore, the effects of various data rate, packet arrival rate, and packet size towards PDR performance are evaluated. Numerical and simulation results show how packet delivery ratio (PDR) drops dramatically in cases with hidden problem nodes.