Showing papers in "IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine in 2017"

LTE-V for Sidelink 5G V2X Vehicular Communications: A New 5G Technology for Short-Range Vehicle-to-Everything Communications

Abstract: This article provides an overview of the long-term evolution-vehicle (LTE-V) standard supporting sidelink or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications using LTE's direct interface named PC5 in LTE. We review the physical layer changes introduced under Release 14 for LTE-V, its communication modes 3 and 4, and the LTE-V evolutions under discussion in Release 15 to support fifth-generation (5G) vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications and autonomous vehicles' applications. Modes 3 and 4 support direct V2V communications but differ on how they allocate the radio resources. Resources are allocated by the cellular network under mode 3. Mode 4 does not require cellular coverage, and vehicles autonomously select their radio resources using a distributed scheduling scheme supported by congestion control mechanisms. Mode 4 is considered the baseline mode and represents an alternative to 802.11p or dedicated shortrange communications (DSRC). In this context, this article also presents a detailed analysis of the performance of LTE-V sidelink mode 4, and proposes a modification to its distributed scheduling.

Mobile-Edge Computing for Vehicular Networks: A Promising Network Paradigm with Predictive Off-Loading

Abstract: Cloud-based vehicular networks are a promising paradigm to improve vehicular services through distributing computation tasks between remote clouds and local vehicular terminals. To further reduce the latency and the transmission cost of the computation off-loading, we propose a cloud-based mobileedge computing (MEC) off-loading framework in vehicular networks. In this framework, we study the effectiveness of the computation transfer strategies with vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication modes. Considering the time consumption of the computation task execution and the mobility of the vehicles, we present an efficient predictive combination-mode relegation scheme, where the tasks are adaptively off-loaded to the MEC servers through direct uploading or predictive relay transmissions. Illustrative results indicate that our proposed scheme greatly reduces the cost of computation and improves task transmission efficiency.

Taking Drones to the Next Level: Cooperative Distributed Unmanned-Aerial-Vehicular Networks for Small and Mini Drones

Abstract: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been widely used in both military and civilian applications. However, the cooperation of small and mini drones in a network is capable of further improving the performance and the coverage area of UAVs. There are numerous new challenges to be solved before the widespread introduction of multi-UAV-based heterogeneous flying ad hoc networks (FANET), including the formulation of a stable network structure. Meanwhile, an efficient gateway-selection algorithm and management mechanism is required. However, the stability control of the hierarchical UAV network guarantees the efficient collaboration of the drones. In this article, we begin by surveying the FANET structure and its protocol architecture. Then, a variety of distributed gateway-selection algorithms and cloud-based stability-control mechanisms are addressed, complemented by a range of open challenges.

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe: Current Deployment Status and Outlook

Abstract: The cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) (also known as connected vehicle technology in the United States) is an application using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, at a carrier frequency of 5.9 GHz, to increase road traffic safety and efficiency in Europe. In this article, we hope to shed light on the current status of the C-ITS in Europe and the activities that must be accomplished before deployment can commence in 2019, the date announced by the CAR-2-CAR Communication Consortium (C2C-CC). There is immense activity regarding the launch of the C-ITS in Europe, and the automotive industry is also currently planning for the future.

Fog Vehicular Computing: Augmentation of Fog Computing Using Vehicular Cloud Computing

Abstract: Fog computing has emerged as a promising solution for accommodating the surge of mobile traffic and reducing latency, both known to be inherent problems of cloud computing. Fog services, including computation, storage, and networking, are hosted in the vicinity of end users (edge of the network), and, as a result, reliable access is provisioned to delay-sensitive mobile applications. However, in some cases, the fog computing capacity is overwhelmed by the growing number of demands from patrons, particularly during peak hours, and this can subsequently result in acute performance degradation. In this article, we address this problem by proposing a new concept called fog vehicular computing (FVC) to augment the computation and storage power of fog computing. We also design a comprehensive architecture for FVC and present a number of salient applications. The result of implementation clearly shows the effectiveness of the proposed architecture. Finally, some open issues and envisioned directions are discussed for future research in the context of FVC.

Driving with Sharks: Rethinking Connected Vehicles with Vehicle Cybersecurity

Abstract: In a public service announcement on 17 March 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation jointly with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a warning regarding the increasing vulnerability of motor vehicles to remote exploits [18]. Engine shutdowns, disabled brakes, and locked doors are a few examples of possible vehicle cybersecurity attacks. Modern cars grow into a new target for cyberattacks as they become increasingly connected. While driving on the road, sharks (i.e., hackers) need only to be within communication range of a vehicle to attack it. However, in some cases, they can hack into it while they are miles away. In this article, we aim to illuminate the latest vehicle cybersecurity threats including malware attacks, on-board diagnostic (OBD) vulnerabilities, and automobile apps threats. We illustrate the in-vehicle network architecture and demonstrate the latest defending mechanisms designed to mitigate such threats.

Better Platooning Control Toward Autonomous Driving : An LTE Device-to-Device Communications Strategy That Meets Ultralow Latency Requirements

Abstract: Platooning is the first step toward fully autonomous driving, which is deemed as one of the most representative fifth-generation (5G) use cases. Spacing and speed in a platoon of vehicles are regulated by a fully automated control system that relies on updated vehicles? kinematics data. In this article, we investigate the potential of long-term evolution (LTE) device-todevice (D2D) communications for data dissemination in the platoon. Exploiting pooled LTE resources and the coordination by the in-front vehicle of the platoon, the proposed solution is shown to fulfill the ultralow latency requirements of messaging in the platoon. As a further advantage, our proposal is able to provide spatial reuse of LTE resources among members of the same platoon and of different platoons, thus drastically reducing the capacity demand.

Vehicles as Connected Resources: Opportunities and Challenges for the Future

Abstract: With the introduction of smartphones, cloud and edge computing, and mobile Internet, the automotive ecosystem is shifting toward the Internet of Vehicles (IoV). This article looks at the evolution leading to the IoV and identifies related research and engineering challenges, including 1) coexistence of cloud, edge computing, and data caching strategies at the edge; 2) integration of data processing and management as IoV services; and 3) seamless interoperability among vehicular sensors, computing platforms, and consumer devices. To address these challenges, we present an Internet of Things (IoT) architecture that considers vehicles as IoT resources and provides 1) mechanisms to integrate them in an IoV ecosystem and 2) seamless interoperation among components (e.g., vehicular sensors, computational platform, and consumers). The functional elements and operational stages of the architecture also assist in maintaining interoperability among the components.

The Big-Data-Driven Intelligent Wireless Network: Architecture, Use Cases, Solutions, and Future Trends

Abstract: The concept of using big data (BD) for wireless communication network optimization is no longer new. However, previous work has primarily focused on long-term policies in the network, such as network planning and management. Apart from this, the source of the data collected for analysis/model training is mostly limited to the core network (CN). In this article, we introduce a novel data-driven intelligent radio access network (RAN) architecture that is hierarchical and distributed and operates in real time. We also identify the required data and respective workflows that facilitate intelligent network optimizations. It is our strong belief that the wireless BD (WBD) and machine-learning/artificial-intelligence (AI)-based methodology applies to all layers of the communication system. To demonstrate the superior performance gains of our proposed methodology, two use cases are analyzed with system-level simulations; one is the neural-network-aided optimization for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and the other is prediction-based proactive mobility management.

The Software-Defined Vehicular Cloud: A New Level of Sharing the Road

Abstract: A vehicular cloud (VC) is a type of mobile ad hoc cloud in which multiple vehicles share their resources and perform collaborative jobs. In this article, we propose a software-defined (SD) VC (SDVC) architecture to achieve flexible VC control and efficient resource utilization in a centralized manner.

Initial Steps Toward a Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything Standard [Connected Vehicles]

Abstract: The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed some functionalities to provide enhancements of cellular standards specifically for vehicular communications. These include both direct communication (between vehicles, vehicle-to-pedestrian, and vehicleto-infrastructure) and cellular communications with networks. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) work item builds on earlier work on device-todevice (D2D) communications and introduces a new D2D interface (designated as PC5, which is also known as the sidelink at the physical layer), specifically addressing communications at vehicular speeds. To that end, four additional pilot symbols have been added to the demodulation reference signal to allow for better tracking of the channel despite high Doppler effects associated with relative speeds of up to 500 km/h and at high frequency (with 5.9 GHz ITS band being the main target).

Secure Group Communications in Vehicular Networks: A Software-Defined Network-Enabled Architecture and Solution

Abstract: As a means to improve road safety and efficiency and to provide high-performance data transmission service for vehicular networks, group-based vehicular communications (e.g., platoon) has attracted a lot of attention from both academia and industry. In this article, we introduce group-based vehicular communication and address two major security challenges: 1) securely and dynamically setting up and managing the group for a decentralized network, which guarantees the confidentiality and integrity of information being exchanged among vehicles; and 2) secure group access and mobility management for the centralized network, which enables group members to securely and efficiently access the Internet, especially while moving across heterogeneous networks. We propose an integrated network architecture for secure group communication, taking advantage of the software-defined network (SDN) technology in fifth generation (5G) mobile networks.

Unsupervised Long- Term Evolution Device-to-Device: A Case Study for Safety-Critical V2X Communications

Abstract: In this article, we explore the recent Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE) device-to-device (D2D) radio resource management specification (Release 14) to identify the challenges and evaluate the potential of unsupervised LTE D2D (mode 2) for safety-critical vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. We also propose two distributed resource allocation strategies for unlicensed band access. Complementary to dedicated short-range communication (DSRC)/intelligent transport system (ITS)-G5, unsupervised LTE D2D presents an opportunity to provide redundancy for ultrareliable systems, such as safety-critical V2X communications.

Connected Vehicular Transportation: Data Analytics and Traffic-Dependent Networking

Abstract: With onboard operating systems becoming increasingly common in vehicles, the realtime broadband infotainment and intelligent transportation system (ITS) service applications in fast-moving vehicles become ever demanding, and they are expected to significantly improve the efficiency and safety of our daily on-road lives. The emerging ITS and vehicular applications (e.g., trip planning), however, require substantial efforts in real-time pervasive information collection and big data processing to allow quick decision making and feedback to fast-moving vehicles, which imposes significant challenges on the development of an efficient vehicular communication platform. In this article, we present TrasoNET, an integrated network framework that provides real-time intelligent transportation services to connected vehicles by exploring the data analytics and networking techniques. TrasoNET is built upon two key components. The first guides vehicles to the appropriate access networks by exploring the real-time status of local traffic, specific user preferences, service applications, and network conditions. The second mainly involves a distributed automatic access engine, which enables individual vehicles to make distributed access decisions based on recommendations, local observations, and historic information. We highlight the application of TrasoNET in a case study on real-time traffic sensing based on real traces of taxis.

High-Temperature Superconducting Magnetic Levitation Vehicles: Dynamic Characteristics While Running on a Ring Test Line

Abstract: In the long-distance operation of the high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnetic levitation (maglev) systems, the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle are closely related to its security and stationarity, which require in-depth research to ensure its safe operation. Thus, we investigated the dynamic characteristics of the HTS maglev and assessed its safety and stationarity when running on a ring test line. In the experiments, the important parameters related to safety are lateral displacement (LD) and levitation height (LH). Results show that an appropriate low field-cooling height (FCH) is beneficial for its safe operation, and the maximum LD (MLD) should be considered in vehicle designs. Moreover, in other experiments, we tested the vibration acceleration of the HTS maglev vehicle using acceleration sensors and assessed its stationarity according to the Chinese National Standard GB5599-85, which is specifically published to assess the stationarity and security of railway vehicles by the China Ministry of Railways. The stationarity of the HTS maglev vehicle running on the ring test line is of good grade. When the secondary suspension and appropriate measures of vibration reduction are considered, the stationarity will be greatly improved.

5G Worldwide Developments [Mobile Radio]

Abstract: Huawei and NTT DOCOMO announced what they claim is the world's first fifth-generation (5G), large-scale field trial in the 4.5-GHz band using new numerology and frame structure complying with the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) current agreements. In the trial, 11.29 Gb/s total user throughput and less than 0.5 ms one-way user plane latency were achieved in the macrocell coverage of a real urban application scenario in Yokohama, Japan. The macrocell was made up of one base station that worked in the 4.5-GHz band with 200-MHz bandwidth, 64 transceivers, and 23 pieces of user equipment (UE) of both static and mobile types. The trial combined multiuser (MU), multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology for simultaneous multiple access and a precoding algorithm that optimizes signals for maximized performance and also limits interuser interference. It achieved a MU-MIMO transmission of a maximum 79.82 b/s/Hz/cell.

The US and Europe Advances V2V Deployment [Connected Vehicles]

Abstract: The proposed rule issued in December 2016 by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires automakers to include vehicle-tovehicle (V2V) technologies in all new light-duty vehicles. The rule suggests developing standardized messaging technology together with industry that would advance the deployment of connected vehicle technologies throughout the United States. The notice of proposed rulemaking would mandate V2V communication technology on all new light-duty vehicles, enabling a multitude of new crashavoidance applications that, once fully deployed, could prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes every year by helping vehicles communicate with each other. The notice will be open for public comment for 90 days.

Using Technology to Make Roads Safer: Adaptive Speed Limits for an Intelligent Transportation System

Abstract: Adaptive speed limits (ASLs) is a promising technique that can be used to enhance the driving conditions on various road types. Consequently, a tremendous reduction in social costs can be achieved in areas such as accidents, pollution, congestion, noise, and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the essential factors in determining the efficiency of variable speed limit traffic systems is the dissemination of the adjusted speed limit. Several research studies indicate that in-vehicle driver notification significantly outperforms dynamic roadside speed limit signs.

Road-Terrain Classification for Land Vehicles: Employing an Acceleration-Based Approach

Abstract: The perception of the environment around a land vehicle plays a crucial role for its driving assistant system. Knowledge of the road terrain is useful for handling its characteristics while driving the vehicles and improving passengers' safety and comfort. In this article, an approach to classifying road-terrain vehicles is presented. An accelerometer is mounted on the suspension of the vehicle to measure the vibration that represents the characteristics of the road terrain, and the road profile can be calculated by knowing the speed and one-quarter-dynamic model of the vehicle. The optimized classifier and features, speed independency, and the effect of employing principal component analysis (PCA) are investigated, and the simulation shows that this acceleration-based approach is feasible for land vehicles in a range of outdoor scenarios.

Predictive Offloading in Cloud-Driven Vehicles: Using Mobile-Edge Computing for a Promising Network Paradigm

Abstract: Cloud-based vehicular networks are a promising paradigm to improve vehicular services through distributing computation tasks between remote clouds and local vehicular terminals. To further reduce the latency and the transmission cost of the computation off-loading, we propose a cloud-based mobileedge computing (MEC) off-loading framework in vehicular networks. In this framework, we study the effectiveness of the computation transfer strategies with vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication modes. Considering the time consumption of the computation task execution and the mobility of the vehicles, we present an efficient predictive combination-mode relegation scheme, where the tasks are adaptively off-loaded to the MEC servers through direct uploading or predictive relay transmissions. Illustrative results indicate that our proposed scheme greatly reduces the cost of computation and improves task transmission efficiency.

Smart Cameras Are Making Our Beaches Safer: A 5G-Envisioned Distributed Architecture for Safe, Connected Coastal Areas

Abstract: With the explosive growth of smart city and Internet of Things (IoT) applications in recent years, a series of efforts has been undertaken to bring more intelligence to the smart cities and public transportation to solve essential problems like human surveillance for safety, traffic, and congestion management. In this article, we define a fifth-generation (5G)-envisioned architecture to enable cooperative sensing in the IoT for smart beaches and intelligent transportation systems and to develop a reference end-to-end implementation exploiting big data. Currently, many beaches are able to offer urban sophistication, but they lack a safety and connectivity infrastructure. Similarly, the dependence on road transport in our daily lives has grown massively, along with the problems arising from its use: permanent congestion, energy waste, and excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We aim to address these safety and connectivity challenges and thus make a qualitative leap toward the future IoT and big-data application for smart cities and mobility. We present an architecture that raises the implementation of a platform to merge and integrate heterogeneous data sources into a common system and provide a set of advanced tools for the monitoring, simulation, and prediction to achieve a safer, less congested, and better connected beach. Our results will enable advanced surveillance at beaches along with traffic and travel management strategies based on reliable, real-time input data. The effectiveness of such new strategies, together with the proposed system, is assessed in field trials.

Securing Vehicular Controller Area Networks: An Approach to Active Bus-Level Countermeasures

Abstract: With the increasing number of embedded processors and wireless interfaces being incorporated into modern automobiles, cybersecurity is emerging as a major concern for the automotive industry [1], [2]. Numerous remote attack surfaces and a high level of computer-controlled critical systems make security of automotive networks an increasingly complex technical challenge [3], [4]. Many researchers have demonstrated attacks that leverage a car's wireless interfaces to gain access to internal communication buses [5], [6]. With bus level access, an attacker has the ability to control or manipulate critical systems, such as the antilock brakes and cruise control, potentially affecting driver safety [7], [8].

Vehicular Networking in the TV White Space Band: Challenges, Opportunities, and a Media Access Control Layer of Access Issues

Abstract: With the increase of wireless data traffic demand, supplementing dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) with additional spectral opportunities becomes very important. In many countries, due to the switchover from analog to digital television, a significant portion of the television (TV) band has been released for opportunistic cognitive access. Therefore, one possible solution to the spectrum scarcity problem in the DSRC band is to offload a portion of data traffic to the TV white space (TVWS) band. However, expansion of vehicular networks to the TVWS by means of cognitive radio technologies causes novel challenges such as random channel availability, strict protection of incumbent spectrum users, and dealing with interference among heterogeneous cognitive networks. In this article, we outline the challenges and opportunities involving TVWS access for vehicular networks, with an emphasis on media access control (MAC) layer issues. Numerical results of the DSRC system augmented with a TVWS cognitive module are also presented.

Indoor Use of Gray and White Spaces: Another Look at Wireless Indoor Communication

Abstract: Television (TV) white space (WS) constitutes a key technology to support the increasing worldwide growth of spectrum demand with several regulation standards that are already available for long- and medium-range communications. At the same time, estimations based on WS spectrum databases (SDBs) indicate that the availability of TVWS is often very limited in dense urban areas where spectrum resources are more needed. Therefore, the benefits provided by the utilization of TVWS have yet to be fully assessed. In this article, we rethink the utilization of TVWS in indoor communication environments through novel three-dimensional (3-D) spectrum-sharing mechanisms. Based on measurements that demonstrate the differences in terms of spectrum opportunities at different floors of the same building, we propose an underlay spectrum-sharing architecture to enable a per-building finegrained reuse of TV frequencies while protecting the operations of TV receivers in a neighborhood. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed spectrum-sharing architecture over several urban environments in Italy by taking into account many real characteristics of the scenarios. Our results demonstrate that through our architecture, more spectrum resources than what are reported in the SDB can be available for indoor scenarios, even in highly congested urban areas, paving the way to novel TVWS applications.

The Useful Impact of Carrier Aggregation: A Measurement Study in South Korea for Commercial LTE-Advanced Networks

Abstract: Carrier aggregation (CA) is one of the main features of the long-term evolution (LTE)-Advanced network that was introduced in Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 10 (Rel-10). CA was applied to commercial cellular networks in South Korea in the middle of 2013; however, the performance of CA in commercial networks has not yet been well studied. This article describes how CA technology is applied to a commercial network and how it performs. An extensive field drive test was conducted to compare CA technology performance with that of non-CA technology by using commercial evolved node B (eNB) and user equipment (UE) in a dense urban area and a suburban area. Downlink (DL) CA with two component carriers (CCs) of 30-MHz aggregated bandwidth (BW) was used in the network with one CC of 20-MHz BW at Band 7 and the other with 10-MHz BW at Band 5. The measurement results verified that the maximum DL data rate of CA reached 203 Mb/s, close to the theoretical peak bit rate of 225 Mb/s, and the average DL data rate was 76 Mb/s during the suburban drive test. As a comparison, the maximum DL data rate of single-carrier Band 7 was 141 Mb/s, and the average DL data rate was 51 Mb/s in the same area.

Mobile Flywheel Energy Storage Systems: Determining Rolling Element Bearing Loads to Expand Possibilities

Abstract: Efficient energy storage is the key to modern hybrid or zero emission vehicles and low carbon mobility in general. Compared to conventional storage technologies like batteries, flywheel energy storage systems (FESSs) offer various theoretical advantages, such as high cycle life, no capacity fade over time, temperature independence, easy determination of state of charge, and complete recyclability. However, the special operating conditions of FESSs-such as vacuum, high rotational speeds, and high gyroscopic reactions, etc.-make bearing design a complex and crucial endeavor. This article describes methods of determining loads for rolling element bearings in automotive FESSs. An overview of FESS technology is given, followed by the discussion of an analytic, numeric, and empiric approach, including a detailed comparison of the different methods. Furthermore, the concept of a test bench investigating flywheel behavior in a resilient mount is described, and its results regarding the design of an FESS-tovehicle mount are discussed in depth.

Motivating Network Deployment: Vehicular Communications

Abstract: Many new and promising vehicular communications applications are currently being developed. However, sufficient network resources to support these applications, in terms of equipped vehicles, base stations, and other infrastructure, are simply not yet available and are progressing slowly. In this article, we examine the strengths and uses of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) and cellular vehicular networks. We then explore strategies, beyond government mandates and subsidies, to encourage vehicular network deployment.

Reliable Deep-Space File Transfers: How Data Transfer Can Be Ensured Within a Single Round-Trip Interval

Abstract: The challenging problem of mission control and data delivery in deep-space explorations is a typical application scenario of delay-/disruption-tolerant networking (DTN) technology. The development of protocols and efficient data transmission mechanisms for space-vehicle networks and deepspace-vehicle communications is presently underway. In this article, we show how to ensure successful file transfers in deep-space-vehicle communications within a single round-trip interval using a bundle protocol (BP), the main protocol of DTN, despite the high rate of data loss, long signal propagation delay, and highly asymmetric channel rates that characterize deepspace channels. The key concept is anticipatory retransmission: bundles are proactively retransmitted, long before the round-trip interval elapses, based on expected transmission failure rather than detected transmission failure.

5G Developments Are in Full Swing [Mobile Radio]

Abstract: Nokia has successfully carried out the world's first connection based on the Verizon fifth-generation (V5G) technical forum (TF) interface, which is known as the industry-agreed specification for prestandard 5G applications The test adds another key component to the development of 5G technologies and the execution of the first 5G applications, demonstrating the ability to provide fast-paced implementation, according to early standards, including device interoperability At the end of 2016, Nokia introduced 45G Pro and announced plans for 49G, providing operators with the critical increases to capacity and speed that will be needed for future 5G operations

Continued Dispute on Preferred Vehicle-to-Vehicle Technologies [Connected Vehicles]

Abstract: As reported in the June issue of IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine [1], the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Department of Transportation has issued a proposed rule, "The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS); Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Communications," that would require automakers to include V2V technologies in all new light-duty vehicles. The proposed rule was open for public comments until 12 April and received several replies, which were most notably from four different stakeholders, reflecting the still-ongoing heated debate about sharing the intelligent transport systems (ITS) frequency band in the United States.