Characterization of DSRC performance as a function of transmit power

IEEE 802.11p is an emerging standard designed to provide wireless access in a vehicular environment. A major application of 802.11p-based Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) is Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) safety messaging. The US FCC has designated 75 MHz of bandwidth in the 5.9GHz band to support DSRC with a maximum permissible transmit power level of 33 dBm. In this paper we study the relationship between transmission power and packet reception in realistic propagation environments in an effort to understand the impact transmission power has on the performance of safety applications. The study is based on field tests with vehicles communicating using prototype DSRC radios.