NZ605937B - Method for radio communication between a radio beacon and an onboard unit, and radio beacon and onboard unit therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

Patent 605937 A method for the selective radio communication between a radio beacon and an on-board unit of a vehicle passing the radio beacon is disclosed. The method comprises determining the current heading of the on-board unit and transmitting information thereon to the radio beacon in the in the on-board unit and in the radio beacon: checking whether the heading indicated in the heading information is within predetermined boundaries, and if so, carrying out a radio communication with the on-board unit Also disclosed is the radio beacon comprising a transceiver for radio communication with on-board units of passing vehicles. The radio beacon is configured to receive information from an on-board unit indicating the current heading thereof via radio and to check whether the heading is within predetermined boundaries, and to carry out the radio communication with the on-board unit only if this is the case The on-board unit for mounting on a vehicle is disclosed comprising a transceiver for radio communication with radio beacons along the way, and further comprising a processor and a device for determining the heading thereof. The on-board unit is configured to determine the current heading when a radio beacon is detected in the vicinity thereof, and to transmit information thereon to the radio beacon. the on-board unit and in the radio beacon: checking whether the heading indicated in the heading information is within predetermined boundaries, and if so, carrying out a radio communication with the on-board unit Also disclosed is the radio beacon comprising a transceiver for radio communication with on-board units of passing vehicles. The radio beacon is configured to receive information from an on-board unit indicating the current heading thereof via radio and to check whether the heading is within predetermined boundaries, and to carry out the radio communication with the on-board unit only if this is the case The on-board unit for mounting on a vehicle is disclosed comprising a transceiver for radio communication with radio beacons along the way, and further comprising a processor and a device for determining the heading thereof. The on-board unit is configured to determine the current heading when a radio beacon is detected in the vicinity thereof, and to transmit information thereon to the radio beacon.

Description

Patents Form 5 N.Z. No. 605937 NEW ZEALAND Patents Act 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION METHOD FOR RADIO COMMUNICATION BETWEEN A RADIO BEACON AND AN ONBOARD UNIT, AND RADIO BEACON AND ONBOARD UNIT THEREFOR We, KAPSCH TRAFFICCOM AG, an Austrian company of Am Europlatz 2, A- 1120 Wien, Austria, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- (Followed by 1A) Method for Radio Communication between a Radio Beacon and an Onboard Unit, and Radio Beacon and Onboard Unit Therefor The present invention relates to a method for the selective radio communication between a radio beacon and an onboard unit of a vehicle passing the radio beacon. The invention further relates to a radio beacon and to an onboard unit for carrying out this method.

Radio beacons (roadside units, RSUs) and onboard units (OBUs) of this type are used in infrastructure-bound road toll and communication systems. These systems are based on a plurality of geographically dis- tributed stationary radio beacons, which communicate via short-range radio with onboard units of passing vehicles so as to localize them to their limited beacon radio coverage range. This allows location usages by the vehicles to be subjected to tolls, for example, or to supply these with loca- tion-specific information. To this end, it is frequently important to be able to associate the radio communication between a radio beacon and an onboard unit located in the vicinity thereof with a particular vehicle, for example so as to identify the communicating vehicle in a camera image of the radio beacon during high traffic density.

At present, radio beacons having a particularly small, strongly di- rectional radio coverage range are generally used for this purpose, for example those according to the dedicated short range communication (DSRC) standard, and are thus specifically associated with each individ- ual lane of multi-lane road. When radio beacons that have a larger radio coverage range, for example according to the wireless access in a vehicle environment (WAVE) standard, are used, additional lane-specific identifi- cation devices such as lane antennas, radio direction finding receivers or the like are required to associate the radio communication to vehicles.

Both variants require the lane-specific installation of infrastructure on the road, which is accomplished by mounting installations that span the road ("gantries) or by masts containing mounting booms that are provided on the road. Such mounting installations, masts and booms are not only ex- tremely expensive to set up, but because of the massive design thereof also take up a lot of space and are not attractive, especially in residential areas and natural landscapes.

It is the object of the invention to create a method and devices for the selective radio communication between radio beacons and onboard units which overcome the aforementioned drawbacks.

This object is achieved in a first aspect of the invention by a method of the type mentioned above, comprising: in the onboard unit: determining the current heading of the on- board unit and transmitting information thereon to the radio beacon; in the radio beacon: checking whether the heading indicated in the heading information is within predetermined boundaries, and if so, carry- ing out a radio communication with the onboard unit.

The invention is based on the novel approach of evaluating the di- rection of movement ("heading") of an onboard unit moving about in the radio coverage range of a radio beacon, so as to selectively carry out ra- dio communication only with such onboard units that move about in a par- ticular direction. This allows radio communications with onboard units in lanes in different driving directions to be distinguished from each other, without requiring expensive, massive, space-consuming and landscape- changing installation structures. In addition, onboard units that move about in an undesired directional range, for example vehicles in trans- verse traffic, can be ignored and suppressed.

As a result, selective radio communication between a radio beacon and onboard units of the flowing traffic is achieved in a simple, cost- effective and space-saving manner, whereby it is possible, for example, to also employ radio beacons having larger radio coverage ranges without the use of gantries, which can be arranged hidden so as to preserve the landscape.

The onboard unit can periodically emit the heading information thereof, so that radio beacons along the way can receive the same. For example, the onboard unit can use so-called 'common awareness mes- sages' (CAMs) according to the ETSI ITS-G5 standard for this purpose, which are emitted every 100 milliseconds by the onboard unit to neighbor- ing motorists and radio beacons.

As an alternative, the onboard unit transmits the heading informa- tion thereof only when it detects a radio beacon in the vicinity, so as to attain maximum accuracy and efficiency.

A radio beacon can be detected in the vicinity of the onboard unit in any manner that is known from the prior art, for example by means of optical sensors of the onboard unit, which detect optical markers or the appearance of a radio beacon; by detecting when known locations of ra- dio beacons are reached, when the onboard unit can determine the own position thereof, for example by means of satellite navigation, or the like.

The radio beacon preferably periodically emits communication requests, and the aforementioned detection of the radio beacon is achieved by re- ceiving a communication request in the onboard unit, whereby no addi- tional devices of the onboard unit, beyond the existing communication devices, are required.

The aforementioned predetermined boundaries are preferably one or more angular ranges of geographical directions. This allows tolerance ranges to be created for permissible onboard unit movements in particu- lar geographical directions, and selective radio communication can be associated therewith.

A further advantage of the method of the invention is that an omni- directional antenna can be used for emitting the communication request and carrying out the radio communication in the radio beacon. The method of the invention is thus particularly suited for WAVE radio bea- cons having non-directional, large-area radio coverage ranges, which parasitically capture multiple lane directions, intersecting roads and the like, so as to selectively carry out radio communication with onboard units in particular road directions.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the onboard unit can additionally determine the current position thereof and transmit this to the radio beacon, and the radio beacon can additionally check whether the position thus received is within predetermined bounda- ries, and the radio communication can be carried out only if this is the case. As an alternative, the radio beacon can determine the current posi- tion of the onboard unit and can additionally check whether the position thus determined is within predetermined boundaries, and the radio com- munication can be carried out only if this is the case. This also allows on- board units that move in the same direction, for example in different lanes in the same driving direction, to be distinguished from each other.

The onboard unit preferably also sends a unique radio identifier together with the heading information, the identifier being used to address the onboard unit in the radio communication. This is advantageous with higher traffic densities, when multiple onboard units simultaneously move about in the radio coverage range of a radio beacon.

The heading, and optionally the position of the onboard unit, can be determined in a wide variety of ways known from the prior art. For ex- ample, the onboard unit could contain an electronic compass, be mounted on the vehicle in a predetermined location relative to the wheels of the vehicles and receive a speed reading from the speedometer of the vehicle, so that the heading of the onboard unit can be determined based on the compass direction at a speed that is greater than zero. The deter- mination is preferably carried out using a satellite navigation receiver that is arranged in the onboard unit and can calculate movement vectors ("headings"), and thus the respective current direction of movement, from consecutive 'position fixes'.

The method of the invention is suitable for all types of short-range radio communication between radio beacons and onboard units, for ex- ample according to the DSRC standard mentioned above. The use is par- ticularly favorable for radio communication according to the WAVE stan- dard, which was developed for network radio communication.

Advantageously, the radio beacon and the onboard unit are part of a road toll system, and the radio communication is used to impose tolls for road usage by the onboard unit.

In a second aspect, the invention creates a radio beacon compris- ing a transceiver for radio communication with onboard units of passing vehicles, which is configured to receive information from an onboard unit about the current heading thereof via radio and to check whether the heading is within predetermined boundaries, and to carry out the radio communication with the onboard unit only if this is the case.

In a third aspect, the invention creates an onboard unit for mount- ing on a vehicle, comprising a transceiver for radio communication with radio beacons along the way, and further comprising a processor and a device for determining the heading thereof, which is configured to deter- mine the current heading when a radio beacon is detected in the vicinity thereof, and to transmit information thereon to the radio beacon.

Reference is made to the above descriptions of the method with respect to additional features and advantages of the radio beacon and onboard unit according to the invention.

The invention will be described in more detail hereafter based on an exemplary embodiment, which is shown in the accompanying draw- ings. In the drawings: shows a schematic perspective view of an exemplary radio communication situation of the method and devices according to the in- vention; shows the headings of the communication subscribers of illustrated on a compass rose; is a schematic top view of another exemplary radio commu- nication situation of the method and devices according to the invention; is a block diagram of an onboard unit according to the in- vention; is a flow chart of a first embodiment of the method accord- ing to the invention; and is a flow chart of a second embodiment of the method ac- cording to the invention.

FIGS. 1 and 3 show a radio beacon 1, which is located between two roads 2, 3 containing various lanes 2 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 3 , 3 . A cross-road 1 2 3 1 2 3 4, which runs approximately at a right angle thereto and contains lanes 4 , 4 , is shown by way of example in The radio beacon 1 comprises one (or more) transceiver having a radio coverage range 5, in which the beacon can maintain radio commu- nication 6 with onboard units (OBUs) 7 carried by vehicles 8 , 8 , 8 pass- a b c ing the radio beacon 1. The radio coverage range 5 can be distributed non-directionally around the radio beacon 1, for example if the same comprises an omnidirectional antenna. As an alternative, the antenna characteristics of the radio beacon 1 may be directional, for example lim- ited to one or more roads 2 to 4 or the lanes thereof. The method de- scribed hereafter concerns the situation in which the radio coverage range 5 of vehicles 8 8 , 8 , 8 can be traversed at various directions of a b c movement ("headings") hd , hd , hd . The headings hd , hd , hd of the a b c a b c exemplary vehicles are plotted in for illustration purposes on a windrose (compass rose) 9 in relation to the geographical directions that are north (0°), east (90°), south (180°) and west (270°).

The method described hereafter, part of which takes place in the radio beacon 1 and part of which takes place in the onboard units 7, is used to carry out radio communication 6 selectively with onboard units 7 having certain headings hd , hd , hd . For example, this allows the radio a b c beacon 1 to communicate only with onboard units 7 that belong to vehi- cles 8 on road 3, or to vehicles 8 on the 2, and, for example, under no circumstances with onboard units 7 that are carried by vehicles 8 on the cross-road 4. Specially equipped onboard units 7 are used for this pur- pose, the design of which is shown schematically in According to the onboard units 7 comprise a central proc- essor 10, a transceiver 11 for radio communication with the radio beacon 1, and a device 12 for determining the heading hd , hd hd ("hd" in gen- a b, c eral) thereof in a reference system, such as the windrose 9. Optionally, the device 12 can additionally be used to determine the respective cur- rent position p of the onboard unit 7 in a reference system, for example a global coordinate system or the radio coverage range 5.

For example, the device 12 is a satellite navigation receiver for a global satellite navigation system (GNSS) such as GPS, GLONASS, Gali- leo or the like, and determines current positions ("position fixes") p , p , i i+1 p and the like continually, or periodically, or only when prompted by the processor 10. Based on positions p , p determined at two consecutive i i+1 times t , t , the device 12 can then determine a respective current i i+1 movement vector as the heading hd of the onboard unit 7 in the reference system 9 in the known manner by subtraction p - p . i+1 i As an alternative, the device 12 could contain an electronic com- pass (magnetic field sensor), for example, and additionally receive a speed reading from a speed indicator (speedometer) of the vehicle 8.

Having knowledge of a predetermined installation location of the onboard unit 7 on the vehicle 8, and more particularly relative to the rolling direc- tion of the wheels of the vehicle 8, it is then possible, at a speed that is different from zero, to determine the compass direction read in the wheel rolling direction as the heading hd of the onboard unit 7 in the reference system 9.

For example, if the onboard unit 7 is installed by the user in the vehicle 8, such as by gluing it to the windshield, such a compass-based device 12 could be "oriented" using a simple calibration trip, for example by the user driving north and pushing a corresponding calibration button of the onboard unit 7, so as to always determine a correct heading hd in the reference system 9, even with differing installation locations of the onboard unit 7 relative to the rolling direction of the wheels of the vehicle The heading hd thus determined is thereafter transmitted in a pre- liminary phase of radio communication 6 by the onboard unit 7 to the ra- dio beacon 1, which independently of the heading hd decides whether or not the radio communication 6 is carried out. shows the flow of this method in detail. The left half of shows the part of the method that takes place in the radio beacon 1, and the right half shows the part of the method that takes place in the onboard unit 7. shows several ex- emplary positions p (p , p , ... p ), which the onboard unit 7 assumes i 1 2 14 over the course of the method of when passing through the radio coverage range 5 of the radio beacon 1. describes the method by way of example based on mes- sages according to the WAVE standard IEEE 802.11p exchanged be- tween the radio beacon 1 and the onboard unit 7. However, the described method is also suitable for all other types of message and radio commu- nication standards, for example other WAVE, ITS-G5 or CEN-DSCR standards, radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth , wireless lo- cal area network (WLAN) or comparable standards.

According to in a first step 13 (or one taking place perma- nently in the background) the radio beacon 1 transmits at least one com- munication request 13' (preferably multiple requests, which are repeated periodically) in the radio coverage range 5. The communication request 13' is a so-called 'WAVE service announcement' (WSA) according to the WAVE standard, for example. The communication request 13' is received by an onboard unit 7 that enters the radio coverage range 5, refer to step 14, and that was ready to receive this request, for example.

The processor 10 and the transceiver 11 of the onboard unit 7 can be programmed so that these respond only to communication requests 13', the received signal strength of which (in the WAVE standard: the "re- ceived channel power indicator" measure, RCPI) exceeds a predeter- mined threshold value s, refer to decision step 15. If a communication request 13' that is received when the radio coverage range 5 is entered does not exceed the threshold value s (branch "n"), another branching back to step 14 "Waiting for receipt and receive" takes place (loop 16). As soon as a communication request 13' has been received, the received signal strength RCPI of which exceeds the threshold value s, the process moves on to step 17 (branch "y").

Fig. 3 shows by way of example a first position p , which the on- board unit 7 assumes when passing through loop 16, and a second posi- tion p , at which the unit has entered a range 18 of exceeding the thresh- old value RCPI > s and the process proceeded to step 17.

Instead of the onboard unit 7 detecting a radio beacon 1 based on a communication request 13' emitted thereby, the onboard unit 7 could also detect the appearance of a radio beacon 1 in the vicinity, which is to say the entering of the near range 5 or range 18 of exceeding the thresh- old value, in another manner, for example by optically detecting the ap- pearance of or by optically marking the radio beacon 1 by means of a camera of the onboard unit 7; by comparing the current position p thereof (see below) to a list of predetermined or known locations of radio bea- cons 1 and so forth. Optionally, the radio beacon 1 could emit the com- munication request 13' thereof only in response to "reverse" communica- tion requests (not shown) from the onboard unit 7, which the same emits periodically.

In step 17, the onboard unit 7 determines the current heading hd thereof using the device 12, for example by way of "position fix tracking" between two positions p and p following each other at short intervals.

For example, the heading hd is indicated in the reference system of the windrose 9 as a geographical direction in degrees, for example 45º for northeast. In addition to the heading hd, in step 17 optionally the current position p , p in general, which here is one of the positions p or p , for i 2 3 example, can be determined. Step 17 can also take place continuously or periodically in the background in the onboard unit 7.

Thereafter, in step 19 the onboard unit 7 transmits the heading hd thus determined in form of heading information 20 and - optionally - the position p thus determined in form of position information 20', via the transceiver 11 thereof to the radio beacon 1, which awaited this in step 21. For this purpose, the onboard unit 7 is at position p , for example (.

The transmission of the heading information 20, and optionally of the position information 20', in step 19 can, for example, take place in form of a vehicle service table (VST) message of the WAVE standard, or directly following such a VST message, or in another standard-compliant message format, for example in form of a "MSG_ProbeVehicleData" message of the IEEE 802.11p standard. As a result, no modification of the transmission standard to the radio interface between the radio beacon 1 and the onboard unit 7 is required.

Together with the VST message and/or with the heading informa- tion 20 and/or with all other data packets, the onboard unit 7 preferably also transmits an identifier OBU-ID identifying the same, which the radio beacon 1 can use to distinguish a plurality of onboard units 7 and radio communication 6 maintained therewith from each other. Instead of the onboard unit 7 transmitting the current position p thereof in step 19, the radio beacon 1 can determine the position p of the onboard unit 7 in an optional step, for example by way of radio direction finding or conven- tional position determination devices such as light barriers, scanners, cameras or the like.

Thereafter, in step 23 the radio beacon 1 verifies that the heading hd indicated in the received heading information 20 is within predeter- mined boundaries ("range") w. The boundaries w define those headings hd that the onboard units 7 must have for the radio beacon 1 to carry out radio communication 6 with them. The aforementioned boundaries w can indicate one (or more) angular ranges w , w (, which, in turn, are defined by upper and lower boundary angles w , w , w , w , for ex- a,1 a,2 b,1 b,2 ample. The angular ranges w , w are preferably selected so large that they can accommodate measuring tolerances of the onboard unit 7 in the determination of the heading hd thereof, for example tolerance ranges t or t of ± 5° of the directions hd , hd of the onboard units 7 of the vehi- b a b cles 8a or 8b. The angular ranges w , w shown in are defined so that they allow only radio communication 6 with onboard units 7 on roads 2, 3 and can be distinguished from each other, and block radio communi- cation with onboard units 7 on road 4.

Optionally, in step 23 it can additionally checked whether or not the additional condition, according to which the position p of the onboard unit 7 is present within predetermined boundaries ("area"), is met. The prede- termined boundaries a for checking the position p can, for example, be the geographical outlines of a particular lane 2 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 3 , 3 , 3 so as 1 2 3 1 2 3 3 to be able to distinguish, for example, onboard units 7 having the same heading hd on different lanes 2 from each other.

If the check "hd in range w?" - and optionally additionally also the check "p in area a?" - in step 23 produce positive results (branch "y"), in step 24 the radio beacon 1 carries out the radio communication 6 with the onboard unit 7. For this purpose, the onboard unit 7 carries out a com- munication step 25 that is complementary to step 24. While the radio communication 6 takes place in steps 24/25, the onboard unit 7 moves, for example progressively, from position to position p , until the radio 14 communication 6 is completed.

In the course of the radio communication 6, data packets are transmitted back and forth in the manner known per se between the radio beacon 1 and the onboard unit 7, wherein in addition to the onboard unit identifier OBU-ID, the data packets contain other identifiers of the on- board unit 7 and/or of the vehicle 8 thereof, information about toll pa- rameters, the movement history thereof, applicable toll rates and the like.

Based on the radio communication 6, for example toll transactions can be generated in the radio beacons 1 and transmitted to a back office of a road toll system, fees can be debited to an "electronic wallet" in the on- board unit 7, or the like.

If in step 23 of the radio beacon 1 the comparison "hd in range w?" (or optionally the comparison "p in area a?") produces negative results (branch "n"), communication step 24 is skipped (arrow 26) and no radio communication 6 takes place with the onboard unit 7. For example, as a result no radio communication 6 is carried out with onboard units 7 of ve- hicles 8 , the heading hd of which - taking into consideration the toler- ance threshold t - is not covered by one of the ranges w , w of permissi- c a b ble headings, which is to say such onboard units 7 are ignored.

Optionally, following the radio communication 6 of step 25 - but also if the same does not take place, which is to say already after trans- mission step 19 - a waiting period or time out can be activated in the on- board unit 7, during which the onboard unit 7 does not again respond to a communication request 13'. This can prevent that one and the same on- board unit 7 in the radio coverage range 9, and more particularly in the threshold exceeding range 18, supplies the heading hd thereof more than once to a radio beacon 1 and thus unnecessarily blocks the radio chan- nel.

Of course, the radio beacon 1 does not necessarily have to be set up in a stationary manner or on the road, but can also be arranged on a mobile control vehicle, for example. The boundaries w, within which it communicates with onboard units 7 of passing vehicles 8, can accord- ingly refer to their own driving direction, which is to say a local coordinate system of the moving radio beacon 1. shows an alternative embodiment of the method of wherein identical reference numerals denote identical elements as in In the embodiment of the onboard unit 7 transmits the heading information 20 therefore continually, for example periodically. Steps 17 and 19 are repeated in a loop 27, for example every 100 milliseconds. As soon as a radio beacon 1 receives (step 21) the heading information 20 of an onboard unit 7, it decides again in step 23 whether (steps 24/25) or not (arrow 26) to carry out the radio communication 6 with this onboard unit 7.

In the example shown in the heading information 20 (and optionally the position information 20') is transmitted in step 19, for exam- ple in form of a so-called common awareness message (CAM) according to the ETSI ITS-G5 standard. For example, such CAMs are emitted every 100 milliseconds by an ITS-G5 onboard unit 7 to provide information to surrounding motorists and can also optionally contain the heading infor- mation 20 (and optionally the position information 20') and be evaluated by a radio beacon 1 along the path of the onboard unit 7 in the manner described above, so as to selectively carry out radio communication 6 with onboard units 7 having a particular heading hd.

The invention is not limited to the shown embodiments, but en- compasses all variants and modifications that are covered by the scope of the accompanying claims.

Claims (24)

What we claim is:

1. A method for the selective radio communication between a radio beacon and an onboard unit of a vehicle passing the radio beacon, com- prising: in the onboard unit: determining the current heading of the on- board unit and transmitting information thereon to the radio beacon; in the radio beacon: checking whether the heading indicated in the heading information is within predetermined boundaries, and if so, carry- ing out a radio communication with the onboard unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the on- board unit periodically emits the heading information thereof.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the on- board unit transmits the heading information thereof when the onboard unit detects a radio beacon in the vicinity.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the radio beacon periodically emits communication requests, and the aforemen- tioned detection of the radio beacon takes place by receiving a communi- cation request in the onboard unit.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the predetermined boundaries are one or more angular ranges of geographical directions.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that an omnidirectional antenna is used for emitting the communication request and carrying out the radio communication in the radio beacon.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the onboard unit additionally determines the current position thereof and transmits this to the radio beacon, and the radio beacon addi- tionally checks whether the position thus received is within predetermined boundaries, and carries out the radio communication only if this is the case.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the radio beacon determines the current position of the onboard unit and additionally checks whether the position thus determined is within predetermined boundaries, and carries out the radio communica- tion only if this is the case.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the onboard unit sends a unique radio identifier together with the heading information, the identifier being used to address the onboard unit in the radio communication.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, character- ized in that the direction of movement, and optionally the position of the onboard unit, are determined using a satellite navigation receiver ar- ranged in the onboard unit.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, character- ized in that the communication request and the heading information are transmitted as messages according to the WAVE standard.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, character- ized in that the radio beacon and the onboard unit are part of a road toll system, and the radio communication is used to impose tolls for road us- age by the onboard unit.

13. A radio beacon comprising a transceiver for radio communica- tion with onboard units of passing vehicles, characterized by being con- figured to receive information from an onboard unit indicating the current heading thereof via radio and to check whether the heading is within pre- determined boundaries, and to carry out the radio communication with the onboard unit only if this is the case.

14. The radio beacon according to claim 13, characterized in that the predetermined boundaries are an angular range of geographical di- rections.

15. The radio beacon according to claim 13 or 14, characterized by comprising an omnidirectional antenna for the aforementioned radio re- ception and the aforementioned radio communication.

16. The radio beacon according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized by being configured to determine the current position of the onboard unit and additionally to check whether the position thus deter- mined is within predetermined boundaries, and to carry out the radio communication only if this is the case.

17. The radio beacon according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized by periodically emitting communication requests so as to prompt onboard units in the vicinity thereof to transmit via radio the head- ings thereof.

18. The radio beacon according to any one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that it uses a radio identifier of the onboard unit that is received together with the heading information, so as to address the radio communication to this onboard unit.

19. An onboard unit for mounting on a vehicle, comprising a trans- ceiver for radio communication with radio beacons along the way, and further comprising a processor and a device for determining the heading thereof, characterized by being configured to determine the current head- ing when a radio beacon is detected in the vicinity thereof, and to transmit information thereon to the radio beacon.

20. The onboard unit according to claim 19, characterized by being configured to detect the radio beacon by receiving a communication re- quest from the radio beacon.

21. The onboard unit according to claim 19 or 20, characterized by having a unique radio identifier, which the onboard unit transmits together with the heading information.

22. The onboard unit according to any one of claims 19 to 21, characterized by further comprising a device for determining the position thereof and being configured to transmit the position thereof together with the heading information.

23. The onboard unit according to any one of claims 19 to 22, characterized in that the device for determining the heading and/or posi- tion is a satellite navigation receiver.

24. The onboard unit according to any one of claims 19 to 23, characterized in that the transceiver operates according to the WAVE standard and transmits the heading information following a VST mes- sage. KAPSCH TRAFFICCOM AG By Their Attorneys HENRY HUGHES Per: RSU 1 OBU 7 13 13' 14 repeat wait brdcst WSA rcv WSA RCPI > s ? calc hd [,p] 21 20 20' 19 wait rcv VST hd [,p] send VST hd [,p] VST OBU-ID det p hd in range w? [p in area a?] 23 6 24 25 com com