Millimeter-Wave Fast Beam Tracking Enabled by RAN/V2X Cooperation

Automated driving has the same limitations as human drivers because it functions as a replacement for humans and operates based on local information using onboard sensors and computers. Cooperative automated vehicles (CAVs) are expected to achieve both safety and efficiency, which could not be achieved by imitating human driving, by sharing sensor information from roadside equipment and other vehicles. Since such sensor information is enormous, it is desirable to utilize mm W, which are capable of high-capacity transmission. However, wireless communication systems for CAV have the challenge of radio quality degradation due to vehicle movement. Our research project aims to realize stable millimeter-wave transmission by incorporating open radio access network (O- RAN) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) functions. This paper presents the overall proposed concept and an example of validation; we show the results of evaluating our previously proposed fast beam following scheme in a handover environment with multiple roadside units.

I. Introduction

Society 5.0 has been proposed as a vision of future society in Japan. This is a concept that aims to create a prosperous society as a whole by utilizing advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to achieve both economic development and solutions to social issues [1]. Automated driving is considered to be one of the technologies that will play an important role in the realization of forthcoming society/industry. Although automated driving is currently under active research and development, its autonomous driving functionality currently replaces the driver, i.e., it drives based on local information, and thus has the same limitations as the driver. In contrast to such basic self-driving, “cooperative automated vehicle (CAV)” is expected to be realized. Infrastructure equipped with communication functions and various transportation systems will work together to enable cooperative recognition, decision-making, and steering execution. Traffic conditions are acquired from various sensors such as high-definition cameras and Light Detection And Ranging (LiDARs) installed in roadside units (RSUs) and shared with automated vehicles [2]. A digital twin infrastructure that enables wireless communication systems and CAV to interoperate with each other is necessary to realize such safer automated driving [3].