Wireless mediums, such as RF, optical, or acoustical, provide finite resources for the purposes of remote sensing (such as radar) and data communications. Often, these two functions are at odds with one another and compete for these resources. Applications for wireless technology are growing rapidly, and RF convergence is already presenting itself as a requirement for both users as consumer and military system requirements evolve. The broad solution space to this complex problem encompasses cooperation or codesigning of systems with both sensing and communications functions. By jointly considering the systems during the design phase, rather than perpetuating a notion of mutual interference, both system’s performance can be improved. We provide a point of departure for future researchers that will be required to solve this problem by presenting the applications, topologies, levels of system integration, the current state of the art, and outlines of future information-centric systems.

Survey of RF Communications and Sensing Convergence Research

The development of light detection and ranging, Radar, camera, and other advanced sensor technologies inaugurated a new era in autonomous driving. However, due to the intrinsic limitations of these sensors, autonomous vehicles are prone to making erroneous decisions and causing serious disasters. At this point, networking and communication technologies can greatly make up for sensor deficiencies, and are more reliable, feasible and efficient to promote the information interaction, thereby improving autonomous vehicle’s perception and planning capabilities as well as realizing better vehicle control. This paper surveys the networking and communication technologies in autonomous driving from two aspects: intra- and inter-vehicle. The intra-vehicle network as the basis of realizing autonomous driving connects the on-board electronic parts. The inter-vehicle network is the medium for interaction between vehicles and outside information. In addition, we present the new trends of communication technologies in autonomous driving, as well as investigate the current mainstream verification methods and emphasize the challenges and open issues of networking and communications in autonomous driving.

Networking and Communications in Autonomous Driving: A Survey

During the last decade, the exponential growth of mobile devices and wireless services created a huge demand for radio frequency-based technologies. Meanwhile, the lighting industry has been revolutionized due to the popularization of LED light bulbs, which are more economical and efficient. In that context, visible light communication (VLC) is a disruptive technology based on LEDs that offers a free spectrum and high data rate, which can potentially serve as a complementary technology to the current radio frequency standards. In this paper, we present a comprehensive state-of-the-art survey of VLC, as well as the main concepts and challenges related to this emergent area. We overview VLC technology, from its physical aspects and communication architecture to its main applications and research challenges. Finally, we present the main research platforms available today, along with a deep analysis of the system design and future directions in the field.

Visible Light Communication: Concepts, Applications and Challenges

In the context of an increasing interest toward reducing the number of traffic accidents and of associated victims, communication-based vehicle safety applications have emerged as one of the best solutions to enhance road safety. In this area, visible light communications (VLC) have a great potential for applications due to their relatively simple design for basic functioning, efficiency, and large geographical distribution. This paper addresses the issues related to the VLC usage in vehicular communication applications, being the first extensive survey dedicated to this topic. Although VLC has been the focus of an intensive research during the last few years, the technology is still in its infancy and requires continuous efforts to overcome the current challenges, especially in outdoor applications, such as the automotive communications. This paper is aimed at providing an overview of several research directions that could transform VLC into a reliable component of the transportation infrastructure. The main challenges are identified and the status of the accomplishments in each direction is presented, helping one to understand what has been done, where the technology stands and what is still missing. The challenges for VLC usage in vehicle applications addressed by this survey are: 1) increasing the robustness to noise; 2) increasing the communication range; 3) enhancing mobility; 4) performing distance measurements and visible light positioning; 5) increasing data rate; 6) developing parallel VLC; and 7) developing heterogeneous dedicated short range communications and VLC networks. Addressing and solving these challenges lead to the perspective of fully demonstrating the high potential of VLC, and therefore, to enable the VLC usage in road safety applications. This paper also proposes several future research directions for the automotive VLC applications and offers a brief review on the associated standardization activities.

Current Challenges for Visible Light Communications Usage in Vehicle Applications: A Survey

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have become one of the most promising and fastest growing subsets of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). They are comprised of smart vehicles and roadside units (RSU) which communicate through unreliable wireless media. By their very nature, they are very susceptible to attacks which may result in life-endangering situations. Due to the potential for serious consequences, it is vital to develop security mechanisms in order to detect such attacks against VANETs. This paper aims to survey such possible attacks and the corresponding detection mechanisms that are proposed in the literature. The attacks are classified and explained along with their effects, and the solutions are presented together with their advantages and disadvantages. An evaluation and summary table which provides a holistic view of the solutions surveyed is also presented.

A survey of attacks and detection mechanisms on intelligent transportation systems

The last couple of years, the vehicle industry tends to increase the performance of lights based on led technologies. Nowadays, led systems are used as a standard by motor vehicles manufacturers. Led lights present higher reliability and are more flexible regarding design or power adjustments. Furthermore, led systems are also very convenient for intensity modulation used in telecommunication fields. We developed a very simple data transmission system based on led lights which is highly robust for short or medium distances ± from a few meters up to 15 meters. This visible light communication is dedicated to the cooperation between vehicles and road infrastructures to enhance traffic security. This paper explains the choices and first results on the data transmission performances. In this paper, we present a first prototype of our system and experimental results.

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Visible light communications: Application to cooperation between vehicles and road infrastructures

As the demand for wireless communication technologies is exponentially increasing, using the visible light electromagnetic spectral region is a logical option. This article provides a general analysis of the IEEE 802.15.7 standard for optical communications using visible light, focusing on the PHY I, intended for outdoor applications. Moreover, the article discusses how the standard's specifications apply to visible light communication use in vehicular networking applications. The article concentrates on the standard's applicability in this domain, and points out the fact that it has not been widely accepted, as most of the VLC developers are focused on decreasing system complexity and implementation costs, rather than complying with the standard's requirements. Furthermore, the article points out the necessity of a novel vehicular applications VLC specific standard, which should focus on the requirements imposed in this specific area.

Impact of IEEE 802.15.7 Standard on Visible Light Communications Usage in Automotive Applications

This paper addresses the issues related with the employment of wireless communication in vehicle safety applications. It focuses on the usage of the 5.9 GHz dedicated short range communications (DSRC) under the 802.11p standard. By analyzing the theoretical and experimental literature, the paper highlights the vulnerabilities associated with the DSRC usage. Besides the radio frequency DSRC, the usage of visible light communication is discussed as well. It was found out that the two are complementary technologies, each of them being suitable in the scenario in which the other one is vulnerable. Under these circumstances, the junction of the two has the potential to ensure a reliable link even in challenging conditions.

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A survey on the usage of DSRC and VLC in communication-based vehicle safety applications

This paper presents an easy-to-use sensor aimed for traffic safety applications using visible light communications. A central problem in this area is the design of a suitable sensor able to enhance the conditioning of the signal and to avoid disturbances due to the environmental conditions. The visible light communication sensor proposed in this paper addresses these issues and enables a robust communication for short to medium distances. The presentation is focused on hardware aspects and low-level coding techniques. The experimental validation of the proposed sensor has been conducted by analyzing communication performances between a commercial traffic light and the sensor, for distances up to 50 m. The measurements exhibit bit error ratio lower than $10^{-7}$ in an outdoor configuration , using two well-known codes (Manchester and Miller) without any error-correcting codes or complex signal processing. The prototype is aimed for automotive applications but other outdoor configurations can also be addressed by slight changes in the system design.

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Alin-Mihai Cailean

Papers

Current Challenges for Visible Light Communications Usage in Vehicle Applications: A Survey

Visible light communications: Application to cooperation between vehicles and road infrastructures

Impact of IEEE 802.15.7 Standard on Visible Light Communications Usage in Automotive Applications

A survey on the usage of DSRC and VLC in communication-based vehicle safety applications

Novel Receiver Sensor for Visible Light Communications in Automotive Applications