Implementation and Deployment of a Server at the Edge Using OpenStack Components

As the 5th telecommunication Generation (5G) deployments are spreading around via various mobile operators, the capabilities behind 5G are becoming more and more understandable. Infrastructure vendors, operators, and end users now have a clear picture of the 5G potential and, for that reason, the research and the development of 5G are surely continuing. The one-to-one mapping between 5G and Software Defined Network - Network Function Virtualization (SDN-NFV) architecture is not in discussion, but the impact of porting SDN-NFV into the Radio Access Network (RAN) is still under investigation. Sometimes, the RAN requirements set strong limitations even in the basic hardware and software setup. For example, the most complete and very well integrated SDN-NFV infrastructure distributions require specific hardware capabilities in terms of available nodes, in contrast with the RAN requirement to be economic, power consumption limited and with limited overhead due to operating system and middleware cost. For that reason, this study uses only a minimal set of OpenStack components in order to evaluate what is the minimal hardware capability needed to set up a basic, but fully working environment for NFV, highlighting the pros and cons of embracing a solution solely based on standard OpenStack components

Software-Defined Approach for Communication in Autonomous Transportation Systems

Autonomous driving technology offers a promising solution to reduce road accidents, traffic congestion, and fuel consumption. The management of vehicular networks is challenging as it demands mobility, location awareness, high reliability and low latency of data traffic. In this paper, we propose a novel communication architecture for vehicular network with 5G Mobile Networks and SDN technologies to support multiple core networks for autonomous vehicles and to tackle the potential challenges raised by the autonomous driving vehicles. Data requirements are evaluated for vehicular networks with respect to number of lanes and cluster size, to efficiently use the frequency and bandwidth. Also, the network latency requirements are analysed, which are mandatory constraints for all the applications where real time end-to-end communication is necessary. A test environment is also formulated to evaluate improvement in vehicular network using SDN-based approach over traditional core networks

Investigation of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communication for Autonomous Control of Connected Vehicles

Autonomous Driving Vehicles (ADVs) has received considerable attention in recent years by academia and industry, bringing about a paradigm shift in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), where vehicles operate in close proximity through wireless communication. It is envisioned as a promising technology for realising efficient and intelligent transportation systems, with potential applications for civilian and military purposes. Vehicular network management for ADVs is challenging as it demands mobility, location awareness, high reliability, and low latency data traffic. This research aims to develop and implement vehicular communication in conjunction with a driving algorithm for ADVs feedback control system with a specific focus on the safe displacement of vehicle platoon while sensing the surrounding environment, such as detecting road signs and communicate with other road users such as pedestrian, motorbikes, non-motorised vehicles and infrastructure. However, in order to do so, one must investigate crucial aspects related to the available technology, such as driving behaviour, low latency communication requirement, communication standards, and the reliability of such a mechanism to decrease the number of traffic accidents and casualties significantly. To understand the behaviour of wireless communication compared to the theoretical data rates, throughput, and roaming behaviour in a congested indoor line-of-sight heterogeneous environment, we first carried out an experimental study for IEEE 802.11a, 802.11n and 802.11ac standards in a 5 GHz frequency spectrum. We validated the results with an analytical path loss model as it is essential to understand how the client device roams or decides to roam from one Access Point to another and vice-versa. We observed seamless roaming between the tested protocols irrespective of their operational environment (indoor or outdoor); their throughput efficiency and data rate were also improved by 8-12% when configured with Short Guard Interval (SGI) of 400ns compared to the theoretical specification of the tested protocols. Moreover, we also investigated the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) for vehicular communication and compared it with the traditional network, which is generally incorporated vertically where control and data planes are bundled collectively. The SDN helped gain more flexibility to support multiple core networks for vehicular communication and tackle the potential challenges of network scalability for vehicular applications raised by the ADVs. In particular, we demonstrate that the SDN improves throughput efficiency by 4% compared to the traditional network while ensuring efficient bandwidth and resource management. Finally, we proposed a novel data-driven coordination model which incorporates Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication and Intelligent Driver Model (IDM), together called V2X Enabled Intelligent Driver Model (VX-IDM). Our model incorporates a Car-Following Model (CFM), i.e., IDM, to model a vehicle platoon in an urban and highway traffic scenario while ensuring the vehicle platoon's safety with the integration of IEEE 802.11p Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication scheme. The model integrates the 802.11p V2I communication channel with the IDM in MATLAB using ODE‐45 and utilises the 802.11p simulation toolbox for configuring vehicular channels. To demonstrate model functionality in urban and highway traffic environments, we developed six case studies. We also addressed the heterogeneity issue of wireless networks to improve the overall network reliability and efficiency by estimating the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) parameters for the platoon vehicle's displacement and location on the road from Road-Side-Units (RSUs). The simulation results showed that inter-vehicle spacing could be steadily maintained at a minimum safe value at all the time. Moreover, the model has a fault-tolerant mechanism that works even when communication with infrastructure is interrupted or unavailable, making the VX-IDM model collision-free