SURROGATES: Virtual OBUs to Foster 5G Vehicular Services
Open Access
- 22 January 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Electronics
- Vol. 8 (2), 117
- https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8020117
Abstract
Virtualization technologies are key enablers of softwarized 5G networks, and their usage in the vehicular domain can provide flexibility and reliability in real deployments, where mobility and processing needs may be an issue. Next-generation vehicular services, such as the ones in the area of urban mobility and, in general, those interconnecting on-board sensors, require continuous data gathering and processing, but current architectures are stratified in two-tier solutions in which data is collected by on-board units (OBU) and sent to cloud servers. In this line, intermediate cache and processing layers are needed in order to cover quasi-ubiquitous data-gathering needs of vehicles in scenarios of smart cities/roads considering vehicles as moving sensors. The SURROGATES solution presented in this paper proposes to virtualize vehicle OBUs and create a novel Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) layer with the aim of offloading processing from the vehicle and serving data-access requests. This deals with potential disconnection periods of vehicles, saves radio resources when accessing the physical OBU and improves data processing performance. A proof of concept has been implemented using OpenStack and Open Source MANO to virtualize resources and gather data from in-vehicle sensors, and a final traffic monitoring service has been implemented to validate the proposal. Performance results reveal a speedup of more than 50% in the data request resolution, with consequently great savings of network resources in the wireless segment. Thus, this work opens a novel path regarding the virtualization of end-devices in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) ecosystem.Funding Information
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (732497, 825496)
- Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (TIN2017-86885-R)
- Fundación BBVA (Leonardo 2018)
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Intelligent Transport System in Smart CitiesUrban Computing, 2018
- Seamless IPv6 connectivity for two-wheelersPervasive and Mobile Computing, 2017
- Correction to: Cloud-based vehicular networks: a taxonomy, survey, and conceptual hybrid architectureWireless Networks, 2017
- Cloud Computing in VANETs: Architecture, Taxonomy, and ChallengesIETE Technical Review, 2017
- Internet of Vehicles: Motivation, Layered Architecture, Network Model, Challenges, and Future AspectsIEEE Access, 2016
- Providing flexible services for heterogeneous vehicles: an NFV-based approachIEEE Network, 2016
- The challenge of cellular cooperative ITS services based on 5G communications technologyPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2016
- Virtualizing vehicular node resources: Feasibility study of virtual machine migrationVehicular Communications, 2016
- LTE4V2X - impact of high mobility in highway scenariosPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2011
- Dynamic Clustering-Based Adaptive Mobile Gateway Management in Integrated VANET — 3G Heterogeneous Wireless NetworksIEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 2011