Context-based Broadcast Acknowledgement for Enhanced Reliability of Cooperative V2X Messages

Most V2X applications/services are supported by the continuous exchange of broadcast messages. One of the main challenges is to increase the reliability of broadcast transmissions that lack of mechanisms to assure the correct delivery of the messages. To address this issue, one option is the use of acknowledgments. However, this option has scalability issues when applied to broadcast transmissions because multiple vehicles can transmit acknowledgments simultaneously. To control scalability while addressing reliability of broadcast messages, this paper proposes and evaluates a context-based broadcast acknowledgement mechanism where the transmitting vehicles selectively request the acknowledgment of specific/critical broadcast messages, and performs retransmissions if they are not correctly received. In addition, the V2X applications/services identify the situations/conditions that trigger the execution of the broadcast acknowledgment mechanism, and the receiver(s) that should acknowledge the broadcast messages. The paper evaluates the performance of the context-based broadcast acknowledgment mechanism for a Collective Perception Service. The obtained results show the proposed mechanism can contribute to improve the awareness of crossing pedestrians at intersections by increasing the reliability in the exchange of CPM messages between vehicles approaching the intersection. This solution is being discussed under IEEE 802.11bd, and thus can be relevant for the standardization process.