Video: demo #1 - simulation of connected mobility
What is connected mobility?
Definition
Cooperative, Connected, and Automated Mobility (CCAM) refers to autonomous vehicles that are able to cooperate via wireless communication technologies and take coordinated mobility decisions in order to increase the overall safety, efficiency, and comfort of the transportation system. The nature of cooperation depends on the type of connectivity (communication):
- Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) – communication among vehicles;
- Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) – communication between vehicles and infrastructure nodes (e.g., traffic lights, speed signs);
- Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) – communication between vehicles and pedestrians;
- Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) – communication between vehicles and the network (e.g., in-vehicle service providers, infotainment services).
Use cases and benefits
Connectivity, cooperation, and automation are key to enable a wide range of emerging services, applications, and new business opportunities that are expected to revolutionize the way we move. CCAM services and use cases can be categorized in one or more groups, based on the different needs they are aiming to fulfill [1]:
- Safety: cooperative traffic gap, interactive vulnerable road user (pedestrian, cyclist) crossing;
- Vehicle Operations Management: software updates;
- Convenience: automated valet parking, cooperative lateral parking obstructed view assist, in-vehicle entertainment;
- Autonomous Driving: automated intersection crossing, cooperative lane merge, coordinated and cooperative driving maneuver, teleoperated driving;
- Platooning: vehicular platooning on highway and in urban scenarios;
- Traffic Efficiency and Environmental Friendliness: group start, continuous traffic flow via green lights coordination;
- Society and Community: accident report, patient transport monitoring.
All these services and use cases are only possible if reliable, low-latency, and high-bandwidth communication is available. Such stringent communication requirements can be provided by 5G networks. The maximum end-to-end latency required by these applications can be as low as hundreds and even tens of milliseconds.
The benefits of CCAM are directly related to the level of connectivity that can be achieved. For example, recent studies [2] have shown that some CCAM applications can reduction in CO2 emissions by 38%, hinting that higher connectivity levels could have an even higher impact on reducing the CO2 emission levels.
How to measure the benefits of CCAM?
Since today the CCAM services are not yet widely deployed, it is quite challenging to measure their benefits in real environments. In addition, car manufacturers, road traffic authorities, and service providers must be convinced that it is worth investing and deploying these technologies. For this reason, we have to find a way to measure the benefits of CCAM.
Our approach is to rely on computer simulations by building realistic representations of the reality, build and deploy CCAM services in these environments, and run large-scale simulation campaigns to measure their performance. When simulating CCAM applications, there are three main elements that must be considered: connectivity, mobility, and automation.
In 5G-PLANET we use a set of simulation frameworks and tools that, when combined together, allow us to simulate and measure the benefits of CCAM applications. In particular, connectivity is simulated using the following tools:
- OMNeT++ [3]: a discrete-event network simulator that is also extensible and modular;
- Veins [4]: an open-source framework for running vehicular network simulations;
- Simu5G [5]: an OMNeT++ model library simulating the 5G networks.
Regarding mobility simulation, we use SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility) [6] – an open source, highly portable, microscopic and continuous multi-modal traffic simulation package designed to handle large networks. SUMO provides a rich set of features, such as traffic management, microscopic mobility simulation, multimodal traffic, road network import, traffic demand generation, traffic lights management, and others.
Finally, regarding automation functionalities, we rely on CARLA [7] – a simulation platform designed to support development, training, and validation of autonomous driving systems. CARLA provides, among other things, simulation of Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), autonomous driving sensor suite, visual perception, planning and control.
[1] 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), C-V2X Use Cases Volume II: Examples and Service Level Requirements -version 1.0, White Paper, Oct. 2020.
[2] S. Partani, A. Qiu, R. Sattiraju, S. Tayade, H. D. Schotten, “Quantitative Assessment of CCAM Applications on Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, IEEE VTC2022-Spring ExpCCAM Workshop, June 2022.