V2X-supported automated driving in modern 4G networks

With connected and automated vehicles and remote-controlled driving, available 4G/5G network capacity performance is the key issue. Wide bandwidth allows vehicles to receive and send real-time sensor data to a MEC (Mobile edge computing) server or remote controller. Wide download bandwidth doesn't ensure low latency with vital data, e.g. control commands or camera image. The main difference between 4G and 5G cellular networks is the capability to ensure wide bandwidth for uploading data from a vehicle to a MEC server but also low and predictable latency. This article studies baseline measurements conducted in the modern 4G network, taking into account the expected 5G features. This publication introduces the results from the VTT automated vehicle in the KPN (Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company) cellular test-network at the automotive test-track between Helmond and Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The tests are carried out to understand potential performance improvements when updating 4G network to 5G network for autonomous vehicles. Measurements are taken by using two MQTT servers. The local MQTT server is the MEC server in the KPN network. The second reference server is located at VTT's premises in Finland. This publication shows that 4G technology performance is not sufficient even in a dedicated test network with a controlled amount of simultaneous users.