5G Network Performance Experiments for Automated Car Functions

This article discusses the results of supporting transition towards fully automated driving with remote operator support via the novel V2X channels. Automated passenger cars are equipped with multiple sensors (radars, cameras, LiDARs, inertia, GNSS, etc. ), the operation of which is limited by weather, detection range, processing power and resolution. The study explores the use of a dedicated network for supporting automated driving needs. The MEC server latencies and bandwidths are compared between the Tampere, Finland test network and studies conducted in China to support remote passenger car operation. In China the main aim is to evaluate the network latencies in different communication planes, whereas the European focus is more on associated driving applications, thus making the two studies mutually complementary. 5G revolutionizes connected driving, providing new avenues due to having lower and less latency variation and higher bandwidths. However, due to higher operating frequencies, network coverage is a challenge and one base station is limited to a few hundred meters and thus they deployed mainly to cities with a high population density. Therefore, the transport solutions are lacking so-called C-V2X (one form of 5G RAT) to enable data exchanges between vehicles (V2V) and also between vehicles and the digital infrastructure (V2I). The results of this study indicate that new edge-computing services do not cause a significant increase in latencies (100 ms), but that latency variation (11 - 192 ms) remains a problem in the first new network configurations.