Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles

A special issue of Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks (ISSN 2224-2708).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 32030

Special Issue Editor

Department of Electrical, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Interests: wireless technologies; connected vehicles; C-V2X; medium access control; radio resource management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Connectivity and automation are two aspects that will jointly revolutionize transport systems. Although the latter aspect has had a larger media impact and might appear to be the core of the change, automation alone must rely on the partial information provided by short-range sensors and cannot support coordination among vehicles. With the aid of wireless communication, cars and trucks can see connected objects far away or behind an obstacle, can obtain information in advance about the route (congestion, weather), and can collaborate with each other to improve efficiency and safety.

Several technologies have been considered to enable the paradigm of connected vehicles. A first option is the widely-diffused long-range cellular (from LTE to 5G and beyond), which however hardly guarantees ubiquitous coverage and might suffer in crowded areas. Another is direct communications at microwave frequencies, including above all IEEE 802.11p, which is well-tested but has been criticized for its limited coverage and unreliability during congestion, and the recent short-range cellular-V2X option, based on more advanced features but still under testing. Furthermore, technologies intended for other scopes, such as Bluetooth or ZigBee, or novel solutions such as mmWave or visible light communications, have been also considered. Each of the mentioned options has pros and cons, but they all appear to still be insufficient for advanced applications like dense platooning, advanced intersection management, or remote driving (considered by 3GPP for eV2X). Improvements are thus under development and the use of hybrid technologies increasingly appears to be the right path.

Although the time seems to be coming for mass deployment, still several issues remain to be solved, starting with the need for novel applications to boost innovation, the improvements required for an increase of throughput and coverage, to models and simulations able to validate all aspects of the system. Additionally, particular attention is also required for advanced security and positioning, which are key components of connected vehicles.

This Special Issue solicits the submission of high-quality and unpublished papers that aim to solve open technical problems and challenges related to wireless communications for connected and automated vehicles. Both theoretical and experimental studies are encouraged, as well as high-quality review and survey papers.

Dr. Alessandro Bazzi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Wireless technologies for advanced applications (e.g., platooning, intersection management, remote driving)
  • Crowd sensing vehicular networks
  • C-V2X and its evolution through 5G and beyond
  • IEEE 802.11p/ITS-G5 and enhancements
  • Hybrid wireless communications for connected vehicles
  • New PHY/MAC solutions for connected vehicles
  • mmWave, visible light communications, and other technologies applied to connected vehicles
  • Full duplex radios applied to connected vehicles
  • Testbeds and experiments about connected vehicles
  • Large scale simulations of connected vehicles
  • Precise localization for connected vehicles
  • Security and privacy issues
  • Vehicle to vulnerable user communications

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 186 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial of the MDPI JSAN Special Issue on Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles
by Alessandro Bazzi
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2023, 12(1), 6; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jsan12010006 - 18 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1165
Abstract
Connectivity and automation are two aspects that, together, will revolutionize the transport system [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles)

Research

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20 pages, 7766 KiB  
Article
Wi-Fi Direct Performance Evaluation for V2P Communications
by Thales Teixeira de Almeida, José Geraldo Ribeiro Júnior, Miguel Elias M. Campista and Luís Henrique M. K. Costa
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2020, 9(2), 28; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jsan9020028 - 06 Jun 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4247
Abstract
The high cost of IEEE 802.11p-compliant devices and the lack of a widely adopted standard motivate the search for alternative methods for vehicular communication. As a consequence, and due to the ubiquity of smartphones, we see an increasing number of proposals based on [...] Read more.
The high cost of IEEE 802.11p-compliant devices and the lack of a widely adopted standard motivate the search for alternative methods for vehicular communication. As a consequence, and due to the ubiquity of smartphones, we see an increasing number of proposals based on Wi-Fi Direct, especially related to the integration of pedestrians in VANETs. Nevertheless, given the complexity of real experimentation, it is difficult to assess the ability of Wi-Fi Direct to offer connectivity in the vehicular environment on a large scale, leading to the evaluation through simulation. In order to verify the ability of a simulation model of reproducing the Wi-Fi Direct behavior, we analyze the performance of a safety application based on the communication range, packet delivery rate, and packet inter-reception time. In V2P scenarios, with and without line of sight, with varying vehicle speed, measurements using smartphones are performed and their results compared with those of OMNeT++ simulator. The results indicate, apart from the simulator’s accuracy, that the connection establishment time hinders the use of Wi-Fi Direct as a replacement to 802.11p. As an outcome of this observation, we evaluate a new transmission method for Wi-Fi Direct based on beacon stuffing, which mitigates the long connection establishment issue. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles)
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20 pages, 1290 KiB  
Article
On the Needs and Requirements Arising from Connected and Automated Driving
by Konstantinos Antonakoglou, Nadia Brahmi, Taimoor Abbas, Antonio Eduardo Fernandez Barciela, Mate Boban, Kai Cordes, Mikael Fallgren, Laurent Gallo, Apostolos Kousaridas, Zexian Li, Toktam Mahmoodi, Erik Ström, Wanlu Sun, Tommy Svensson, Guillaume Vivier and Jesus Alonso-Zarate
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2020, 9(2), 24; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jsan9020024 - 15 May 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4842
Abstract
Future 5G systems have set a goal to support mission-critical Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications and they contribute to an important step towards connected and automated driving. To achieve this goal, the communication technologies should be designed based on a solid understanding of the new [...] Read more.
Future 5G systems have set a goal to support mission-critical Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications and they contribute to an important step towards connected and automated driving. To achieve this goal, the communication technologies should be designed based on a solid understanding of the new V2X applications and the related requirements and challenges. In this regard, we provide a description of the main V2X application categories and their representative use cases selected based on an analysis of the future needs of cooperative and automated driving. We also present a methodology on how to derive the network related requirements from the automotive specific requirements. The methodology can be used to analyze the key requirements of both existing and future V2X use cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles)
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11 pages, 525 KiB  
Article
Minimization of IEEE 802.11p Packet Collision Interference through Transmission Time Shifting
by Martin Klapez, Carlo Augusto Grazia and Maurizio Casoni
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2020, 9(2), 17; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jsan9020017 - 26 Mar 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3773
Abstract
V2I communications are characterized by the presence of network nodes in vehicles and in the infrastructures that these vehicles use, as well as by the wireless interactions among them. Safety-related applications demand stringent requirements in terms of latency and packet delivery probability, especially [...] Read more.
V2I communications are characterized by the presence of network nodes in vehicles and in the infrastructures that these vehicles use, as well as by the wireless interactions among them. Safety-related applications demand stringent requirements in terms of latency and packet delivery probability, especially when safety messages have to be delivered to vehicles by the infrastructure. Interference issues stem from the typical characteristics of wireless communications, i.e., the noise of the wireless medium, the limited communication range of the wireless entities, and the receiver passivity of all the conventional wireless transceivers during transmissions. This paper presents a synchronization mechanism to artificially replicate at a host premises destructive interference due to hidden terminals, together with an application-level technique to minimize that interference by shifting the packet transmission time, similarly to the MAC TDMA channel access method. As both have been field-tested, the paper also analyzes the results of these tests, all performed with real hardware on IEEE 802.11p over different frequencies and transmission powers, and with repeatability in mind. The resulting figures attest that interference effects due to hidden terminals may indeed take place on real IEEE 802.11p networks, and that carefully designed time-shifting mechanisms can actively mitigate them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles)
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18 pages, 1117 KiB  
Article
An Integrated Turning Movements Estimation to Petri Net Based Road Traffic Modeling
by Youness Riouali, Laila Benhlima and Slimane Bah
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2019, 8(3), 49; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jsan8030049 - 18 Sep 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5266
Abstract
The tremendous increase in the urban population highlights the need for more efficient transport systems and techniques to alleviate the increasing number of the resulting traffic-associated problems. Modeling and predicting road traffic flow are a critical part of intelligent transport systems (ITSs). Therefore, [...] Read more.
The tremendous increase in the urban population highlights the need for more efficient transport systems and techniques to alleviate the increasing number of the resulting traffic-associated problems. Modeling and predicting road traffic flow are a critical part of intelligent transport systems (ITSs). Therefore, their accuracy and efficiency have a direct impact on the overall functioning. In this scope, a new approach for predicting the road traffic flow is proposed that combines the Petri nets model with a dynamic estimation of intersection turning movement counts to ensure a more accurate assessment of its performance. Thus, this manuscript extends our work by introducing a new feature, namely turning movement counts, to attain a better prediction of road traffic flow. A simulation study is conducted to get a better understanding of how predictive models perform in the context of estimating turning movements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles)
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Review

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11 pages, 282 KiB  
Review
A Review on IEEE 802.11p for Intelligent Transportation Systems
by Fabio Arena, Giovanni Pau and Alessandro Severino
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2020, 9(2), 22; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jsan9020022 - 26 Apr 2020
Cited by 139 | Viewed by 12104
Abstract
Road safety is an active area of research for the automotive industry, and certainly one of ongoing interest to governments around the world. The intelligent transportation system (ITS) is one of several viable solutions with which to improve road safety, where the communication [...] Read more.
Road safety is an active area of research for the automotive industry, and certainly one of ongoing interest to governments around the world. The intelligent transportation system (ITS) is one of several viable solutions with which to improve road safety, where the communication medium (e.g., among vehicles and between vehicles and the other components in an ITS environment, such as roadside infrastructure) is typically wireless. A typical communication standard adopted by car manufacturers is IEEE 802.11p for communications. Thus, this paper presents an overview of IEEE 802.11p, with a particular focus on its adoption in an ITS setting. Specifically, we analyze both MAC and PHY layers in a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Technologies Applied to Connected and Automated Vehicles)
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