Performance Evaluation of Concurrent IEEE 802.11 Systems in the Automotive Domain

Wireless systems have migrated into the automotive domain very fast in the recent years. Car passengers expect to have seamless integration of their consumer electronic devices in their cars. IEEE 802.11 systems are popular for entertainment services inside the car, however due to the fact that IEEE 802.11 use the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands, the wireless coexistence problem will lead to dramatic decrease of throughput. This can affect the performance of different applications in cars. This paper presents both test drives and measurements in the lab. The target is to have an impression on the influence of the surrounding systems on 802.11 systems inside the cars. The results show that the WLAN signals from the surrounding strongly affect the throughput of the systems inside the cars. A throughput drop by 80% compared to maximum was observed in one test drive in the city center.