Performance Comparison of IEEE 802.11p and LTE-V2X Through Field-Tests and Simulations

Vehicular communication is a key enabler in making Automated Vehicles (AVs) collaborate by sharing information, which complements on-board sensor information and facilitates precise vehicle control. This paper presents a tailored measurement campaign aimed at analyzing the performance of two vehicular communication technologies, namely IEEE 802.11p and LTE-V2X. Our study focuses on key metrics for cooperating AVs, such as end-to-end latency and packet delivery ratios. Additionally, we investigate the feasibility of channel coexistence, assessing the challenges associated with concurrent channel access. The results derived from field tests are correlated with simulations conducted on PLEXE and OpenCV2X, i.e., platforms used for simulating IEEE 802.11p and LTE-V2X, respectively. This combined methodology, comprising field tests and simulations, enables the attainment of replicable conclusions, which in turn enables better design choices.