5GAA releases white paper on the benefits of using existing cellular networks for the delivery of C-ITS
In this white paper, 5GAA provides analysis on the benefits of using existing cellular networks for the delivery of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) services, in combination with RSU deployments. The analysis describes deployment options in terms of expenditures over a ten-year timeframe for the deployment of ITS services for vehicles communicating with infrastructure. For each option, the deployment costs, operation and maintenance cost, and connectivity costs are evaluated. The analysis highlights complementarity between cellular long-range technologies, i.e., mobile networks, using the cellular (Uu) interface and sidelink (PC5) technologies.
The paper defines the scope of services that can be reasonably delivered over cellular networks, and which services would require road side units (RSU) as an integral part of the solution. It also explains the state of the industry, highlighting examples where infrastructure services are already being provided over cellular networks today, as well as the architectural and technical considerations that are important to delivery of these services, such as spectrum, coverage, multi-operator and roaming agreements. The document details two different technical approaches: either build-out of dedicated RSU-based communication V2I infrastructure (C-V2X PC5 or 802.11p based ITS-G5/DSRC), or a mix of RSU and cellular based deployment. The cost models of these approaches are also analyzed, including the capital (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) considerations that are important for road operators. These different models are applied to a variety of road scenarios to clearly show that the cost of delivering ITS services with existing cellular networks is significantly lower compared to widespread RSU rollout – to the extent that without this approach, it may not be reasonable to deploy V2I services in some areas at all.
