Nikita Smirnov

Nikita Smirnov, Sven Tomforde

This conceptual analysis examines the dynamics of data transmission in 5G networks. It addresses various aspects of sending data from cameras and LiDARs installed on a remote-controlled ferry to a land-based control center. The range of topics includes all stages of video and LiDAR data processing from acquisition and encoding to final decoding, all aspects of their transmission and reception via the WebRTC protocol, and all possible types of network problems such as handovers or congestion that could affect the quality of experience for end-users. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate the key aspects of the data transmission. These include simulation-based reproducible runs and real-world experiments conducted using open-source solutions we developed: "Gymir5G" - an OMNeT++-based 5G simulation and "GstWebRTCApp" - a GStreamer-based application for adaptive control of media streams over the WebRTC protocol. One of the goals of this study is to formulate the bandwidth and latency requirements for reliable real-time communication and to estimate their approximate values. This goal was achieved through simulation-based experiments involving docking maneuvers in the Bay of Kiel, Germany. The final latency for the entire data processing pipeline was also estimated during the real tests. In addition, a series of simulation-based experiments showed the impact of key WebRTC features and demonstrated the effectiveness of the WebRTC protocol, while the conducted video codec comparison showed that the hardware-accelerated H.264 codec is the best. Finally, the research addresses the topic of adaptive communication, where the traditional congestion avoidance and deep reinforcement learning approaches were analyzed. The comparison in a sandbox scenario shows that the AI-based solution outperforms the WebRTC baseline GCC algorithm in terms of data rates, latency, and packet loss.

Yuzhou Liu, Georg Novotny, Nikita Smirnov et al.

In the context of Intelligent Transportation Systems and the delivery of goods, new technology approaches need to be developed in order to cope with certain challenges that last mile delivery entails, such as navigation in an urban environment. Autonomous delivery robots can help overcome these challenges. We propose a method for performing mixed reality (MR) simulation with ROS-based robots using Unity, which synchronizes the real and virtual environment, and simultaneously uses the sensor information of the real robots to locate themselves and project them into the virtual environment, so that they can use their virtual doppelganger to perceive the virtual world. Using this method, real and virtual robots can perceive each other and the environment in which the other party is located, thereby enabling the exchange of information between virtual and real objects. Through this approach a more realistic and reliable simulation can be obtained. Results of the demonstrated use-cases verified the feasibility and efficiency as well as the stability of implementing MR using Unity for ROS-based robots.

Walter Morales Alvarez, Nikita Smirnov, Elmar Matthes et al.

With the growing technological advances in autonomous driving, the transport industry and research community seek to determine the impact that autonomous vehicles (AV) will have on consumers, as well as identify the different factors that will influence their use. Most of the research performed so far relies on laboratory-controlled conditions using driving simulators, as they offer a safe environment for testing advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). In this study we analyze the behavior of drivers that are placed in control of an automated vehicle in a real life driving environment. The vehicle is equipped with advanced autonomy, making driver control of the vehicle unnecessary in many scenarios, although a driver take over is possible and sometimes required. In doing so, we aim to determine the impact of such a system on the driver and their driving performance. To this end road users' behavior from naturalistic driving data is analyzed focusing on awareness and diagnosis of the road situation. Results showed that the road features determined the level of visual attention and trust in the automation. They also showed that the activities performed during the automation affected the reaction time to take over the control of the vehicle.

Walter Morales Alvarez, Francisco Miguel Moreno, Oscar Sipele et al.

Rapid advancements in driver-assistance technology will lead to the integration of fully autonomous vehicles on our roads that will interact with other road users. To address the problem that driverless vehicles make interaction through eye contact impossible, we describe a framework for estimating the crossing intentions of pedestrians in order to reduce the uncertainty that the lack of eye contact between road users creates. The framework was deployed in a real vehicle and tested with three experimental cases that showed a variety of communication messages to pedestrians in a shared space scenario. Results from the performed field tests showed the feasibility of the presented approach.