Communication apparatus and method for performing inter-vehicular communication

A communication method for inter-vehicular communication, the communication method comprising:

• estimating network state information based on messages received from neighboring vehicles;
• controlling whether to transmit a message based on the network state information;
• determining lengths of time slots forming a time frame according to the network state information;
• determining an arbitrary idle time slot among the time slots forming the time frame as a time slot to transmit the message;
• calculating a delay time corresponding to the determined time slot;
• storing the message;
• and
• delaying transmission of the stored message according to the delay time.

A communication apparatus installed in a host vehicle, the communication apparatus comprising;

• a transceiver configured to receive vehicle safety messages from nearby vehicles, each vehicle safety message comprising an identification of a nearby vehicle transmitting the particular vehicle safety message, location information of the nearby vehicle, a speed of the nearby vehicle, a movement direction of the nearby vehicle, a time stamp, and a message counter of the particular vehicle safety message;
• and
• at least one controller configured to:
• estimate a probability of successful reception of a host vehicle safety message at the nearby vehicles, the host vehicle safety message comprising an identification of the host vehicle, location information of the host vehicle, a speed of the host vehicle, a movement direction of the host vehicle, and a message counter of the host vehicle safety message,
• determine, based on the estimated probability, whether to broadcast the host vehicle safety message,
• calculate a delay time for broadcasting the host vehicle safety message,
• store the host vehicle safety message in a buffer memory, and
• cause the transceiver to broadcast the host vehicle safety message stored in the buffer memory according to the delay time for broadcasting the host vehicle safety message.