Performance Evaluation of MQTT and ZeroMQ for V2X Communications over 5G Networks

With the rapid deployment of 5G technology, Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication is becoming increasingly critical for enabling real-time data exchange in connected and autonomous vehicles. This demands ultra-low latency and high reliability, especially in high-mobility environments. In this study, we evaluate the performance of two prominent IoT application layer protocols—MQTT and ZeroMQ—for V2X communications over 5G networks. A comprehensive simulation environment was developed using OMNeT++ integrated with INET for networking, Veins for vehicle mobility, and Simu5G to emulate the 5G infrastructure. Custom modules for both protocols were implemented to assess their behavior under varying data loads. Performance metrics, particularly end-to-end latency, were analyzed across diverse traffic scenarios. Results demonstrate that ZeroMQ, due to its lightweight and brokerless architecture, consistently outperforms MQTT in terms of latency, making it a strong candidate for latency-sensitive V2X applications.