Surveillance Plane Aided Air-Ground Integrated Vehicular Networks: Architectures, Applications, and Potential

Future air-ground integrated vehicular network (AGVN) is a vital part of the expected ubiquitous communication system. The resources in AGVN are geographically separated and are often heterogeneous. Therefore, distributed management and cooperative management are key issues in a multi-tier based topology of AGVN. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) shows advantages in facilitating the management of AGVN; however, adequate, real-time, and secure information for driving AI is still a big concern. In this article, we propose a conceptual enhanced AGVN by introducing a so-called surveillance plane to promote the management in the control plane. Thus, components such as virtual network functions (VNFs) and service function chaining (SFC) can get profits. Concepts and trials of utilizing the surveillance plane and side information are presented from three different aspects, namely networking, security, and application. We also summarize research directions in designing a more flexible management scheme by coupling the service, surveillance, and control planes of the enhanced AGVN.