Project started: 01/03/2013 – closed: 29/02/2016
Currently a specific standard (802.11p) for wireless vehicular environment is developed, which allows car to car and car to infrastructure communications. The standard has been defined in a way to enable even time critical applications requiring low latency. However this system requires a high market penetration and therefore becomes critical in terms potential short-term business cases. On the other hand 3GPP has developed LTE (Long Term Evolution), which is designed to achieve low latencies. The expected fast deployment of LTE will pave the way to complement 802.11p with an advanced cellular technology to bring wireless connectivity in vehicles faster and cheaper. Since both technologies have their specific strengths and weaknesses, in this proposed research project we will study, in a first step, which of the car-related services will be suitable to be carried by LTE and which services still require the use of IEEE802.11p. Latency, bandwidth, coverage, cost, reliability, and security are examples of criteria to be considered in the study. In a second step, optimized protocols and mechanisms for data collection and dissemination using LTE combined with 802.11p will be developed. A key innovation of this research will be also the development of strategies to combine IEEE802.11p with LTE for Delay-Tolerant Services. The basic tools to carry out this investigation are system simulations in realistic scenarios using realistic LTE and 802.11p simulators.