A method of allocating sidelink radio resources to a group of vehicles, in a telecommunication network, wherein vehicles within said group of vehicles intent to use said sidelink for vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V, communication

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national stage application of PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2018/070419 filed on Jul. 27, 2018, the disclosure and content of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to the field of Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and, more specifically, to the allocation of radio resources to groups of vehicles for mitigating interference.

BACKGROUND

Vehicle-to-everything, V2X, communication relates to the exchange of information from a vehicle to any entity that may affect the vehicle, and vice versa. It is considered a vehicular communication system that may incorporate other more specific types of communication such as Vehicle-to-Infrastructure, V2I communication, Vehicle-to-network, V2N communication, Vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V communication, Vehicle-to-Pedestrian, V2P communication, Vehicle-to-device, V2D communication, and Vehicle-to-grid, V2G communication. The present disclosure is most prominently directed to the V2V communication.

The basic motivations for V2X are directed to safety and energy savings. The challenges in this field are related to legal issues and the fact that, unless almost all vehicles adopt it, its effectiveness may be limited.

Basically, there are two types of sidelink V2X communication technologies depending on the underlying technology being used: Network assisted which is referred to as Mode 3 communication and an ad-hoc mode which is referred to as Mode 4 communication.

Mode 4 supports decentralized resource assignment where UEs, i.e. vehicles that are able to communicate, are solely responsible for selecting transmission/radio resources. If more than one UE in close proximity uses the same resources data loss is very likely. Mode 3 lets the base station, for example the eNodeB, decide on resource selection. It can therefore schedule resources in a way preventing more than one UE in close proximity to use the same resources. The drawback here relates to increased latency since UEs must request resources from the eNB and additional implementation effort in all eNBs.

The original V2X communication uses a wireless communication technology and works directly between vehicles, which form a vehicular ad-hoc network (Mode 4) as two V2X senders come within each other's range. Hence it does not require any infrastructure for vehicles to communicate, which may assure safety in remote or little developed areas. This is also referred to as LTE-V2X sidelink mode 3.

More recent, V2X communication uses a telecommunication network and is called Cellular V2X/mode 3, or C-V2X/Mode 3, to differentiate it from the ad-hoc based V2X/mode 4. In 3GPP Release 15, the V2X functionalities are expanded to support 5G. The main advantage of C-V2X includes support of both direct communication between vehicles, V2V, and traditional cellular-network based communication.

One of the drawbacks of Mode 4 relates to the implementation part thereof. Supporting Mode 3 requires implementation changes to all base station, i.e. eNB's, and, even then, interference among UEs, i.e. among vehicles, served by different eNBs cannot be prevented. The result is high and especially unpredictive packet loss. Safety of life critical use cases are then not well supported.

SUMMARY

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide for a method for allocating radio resources to a group of vehicles which does not require implementation changes to all base station, and which has improved frequency allocation techniques such that interference is reduced.

It is another object of the present disclosure to provide for a V2V control entity arranged for allocating the radio resources to groups of vehicles.

In a first aspect, there is provided a method of allocating sidelink radio resources to a group of vehicles, wherein vehicles within said group of vehicles intent to use said sidelink radio resources for vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V, communication.

The method comprising the steps of:receiving, by a V2V control entity residing in, or accessible via, a core network of said telecommunication network, a resource request, from said group of vehicles, for requesting radio resources to be used for said V2V communication;determining, by said V2V control entity, radio resources to be allocated for said V2V communication;transmitting, by said V2V control entity, to said group of vehicles, a resource grant comprising said determined allocated radio resources.

It was found that a V2V control entity residing in, or accessible via, a core network of the telecommunication network may be useful in allocating the resources for the groups of vehicles for a plurality of reasons.

The V2V control entity may thus reside in a private or public data network accessible from the telecommunication network.

First, the existing base stations, i.e. eNodeB's, do not need to be updated to support any radio resource allocation algorithm. The baste stations do not perform the radio resource allocation. In the presented method, the base stations merely forward message from the group of vehicles to the V2V control entity, and vice versa. This thus requires less implementation effort.

Further, the V2V control entity is able to communicate with each of the groups of vehicles that are connected to the radio base stations in the telecommunication network. This allows the V2V control entity to allocate radio resources much more efficiently, especially in situations in which a group of vehicles is on the edge of a cell served by a particular base station. The V2V control entity may be aware of the radio resources that are allocated to groups of vehicles in the neighbouring cells of that particular cell, i.e. groups of vehicles served by another base station, and may use that information for actually determining which radio resources are to be allocated for the group of vehicles on the edge of a cell.

In accordance with the present disclosure, a group of vehicles may be formed using multiple principles.

The group of vehicles may be established on an ad-hoc basis, wherein a particular vehicle transmits discovery messages to vehicles that are in its proximity, and, based on the discovery responses, the particular vehicle may be included in a group or a new group may be established.

Another option is that the formation of a group is centralized, or coordinated, by the telecommunication network. The telecommunication network may receive all kinds of geographical position information of vehicles, and even the intended routes of these vehicles, and may form the groups of vehicles based on the received information.

It is further noted that the step of determining the radio resources to be used by the group for V2V communication typically includes algorithms for ensuring that assigned radio resources to different groups do not likely interfere with each other, which is explained in more detail with respect to specific examples later below.

It is noted that a group of vehicles, for example a platoon, may consist of a single vehicle or a plurality of vehicles. Each of the vehicles in the group is at least arranged for V2V communication.

According to the present disclosure a telecommunication network comprises a core network and one or more Radio Access Networks, RAN's. The V2V control entity resides in the core network, or the V2V control entity is reachable via the core network, such that each base station, i.e. eNB, in the RAN is able to have access the V2V control entity. The V2V control entity may thus also reside in a private or public data network, wherein a gateway present in the core network provides connectivity to the private or public data network. The V2V control entity may be a standalone entity, or the functionality of the entity may be comprised by an already existing entity/node in the telecommunication network.

In an example, the resource request comprises a position indication for indicating a geographical position of said group of vehicles, and, optionally. comprises a route indication for indicating a route of said group of vehicles, and wherein said step of determining comprises:determining, by said V2V control entity, said radio resources to be used for said V2V communication based on said position indication and, optionally, said route indication.

Each vehicle in the group of vehicles may, for example, receive position updates from a positioning sensor. The positioning sensor is, for example, a Global positioning system, GPS, sensor or anything alike. The position of the group of vehicles may be defined as the center of the circular area of interference of the group of vehicles.

Typically, a single vehicle in the group of vehicles communicates with the V2V control entity, and the information exchanged with the V2V control entity may be communicated by that single vehicle to the remaining vehicles in the group using V2V communication.

The particular vehicle communicating with the V2V control entity may insert a geographical position of the group in the resource request. The geographical position of the group may be its own geographical position, i.e. the geographical position of the particular vehicle, or may be a geographical position derived from all the position updates from the positioning sensors.

For example, each vehicle in the group may broadcast its geographical position, obtained from the positioning sensor, within the group of vehicles using V2V communication. The particular vehicle, i.e. the one that communicates with the V2V control entity, may collect all these geographical positions of all the vehicles within the same group, and may determine a central geographical position which is considered a central location of the group. That central geographical position may then, subsequently, be included in the resource request which is transmitted to the V2V control entity.

A similar approach may be valid for the route of the groups of vehicles. The particular vehicle may use route information, for example from a navigation system or the like, and may include that route information in the request such that the V2V control entity is able to provide for a more balanced, efficient, allocation scheme.

In a further example, the entity comprises a database having stored therein allocated radio resources, wherein each allocated radio resource is associated with a geographical area indication, and wherein said step of determining comprises:determining, by said entity, said radio resources to be used for said V2V communication based on said allocated radio resources per geographical area.

The above described example is advantageous as the V2V control entity is able to oversee all groups of vehicles within the telecommunication network, and is thus able to determine the radio resources to be used for said V2V communication based on the already allocated radio resources within the telecommunication network.

As mentioned before, a solution in which the resource allocation is performed by the base station is not preferred as the base station is only able to oversee the groups of vehicles within the cell it is serving. The solution in accordance with the present disclosure is able to oversee all cells in the telecommunication network, and is thus also aware of the radio resource allocations performed in neighbouring cells of a particular group of vehicles. This information may be used in determining, i.e. selecting, the radio resources for a particular group of vehicles.

In a further example, said step of determining comprises:determining, by said entity, a geographical area indication for which said radio resources are granted to be used based on said stored allocated resources,

and wherein said step of transmitting comprises:transmitting, by said V2V control entity, to said group of vehicles, a resource grant comprising said determined geographical area indication for which said radio resources are valid.

It was found that it may be beneficial to provide a geographical area indication for which the radio resources are valid. Once the group of vehicles travels outside the geographical area indication, the allocated resources may no longer be used.

The V2V control entity may have determined that the allocated resources may be used for a particular geographical area indication, but that the allocated resources should not be used outside that area as that could cause interference with other groups of vehicles, i.e. with radio resource allocations to other groups of vehicles.

In yet another example, the resource grant comprises a grant renewal period indicator indicating a time period for which said determined allocated radio resources are granted to be used.

The above described example may be used solely, or, for example, in combination with the geographical are indication as described above.

It was found that the group of vehicles typically traverse a particular route. The more time has passed since the allocation of the radio resources, the greater the risk for interference from other groups of vehicles, i.e. from radio resources which are allocated to other groups of vehicles. It may therefore be beneficial to set a particular grant renewal period, such that the V2V control entity is to determine the radio resources again once the grant renewal period has expired.

In a further example, the resource grant comprises a geographical area indication for which said determined radio resources are granted to be used, and wherein said method comprises the steps of:receiving, by said V2V control entity, a tile left message thereby indicating that said group of vehicles are no longer within, or bound to leave, said geographical area indication such that said allocated resources for said group of vehicles may be freed.

The V2V control entity may base the decision on which radio resources are to be allocated for the particular group of vehicles on the actual location of the group of vehicles and the distribution, over the geographical area, of radio resources that have already been allocated to other groups of vehicles. The V2V control entity is then able to reasonably assess that the likelihood on interference is reduced as long as the group of vehicles stays within the geographical area indication.

The allocated radio resources may no longer be valid once the group of vehicles traversed to outside the geographical area indication as that would increase the likelihood to interference from other groups of vehicles.

In a further example, the radio resources comprise any of:a frequency allocation,a channel allocation,a timeslot allocation,a timeslot pattern allocation,subcarrier allocation, andPhysical Resource Blocks, PRBs, forming Transport Blocks, TBs, carrying transmitted data.

As mentioned above, the present disclosure is directed to a method for reducing the likelihood to interference during V2V communication within a group of vehicles. Interference may be caused by other vehicles that are in the proximity of that particular group. Interference may be caused when those other vehicles transmit at the same time, and at the same frequency as the vehicles within the group.

Following the principle above, the radio resources are directed to frequency, time, or code allocations such that the likelihood to interference is reduced.

In a second aspect, there is provided a V2V control entity arranged to be operative in, or reachable via, a core network of a telecommunication network, and arranged for allocating sidelink radio resources to a group of vehicles, wherein vehicles within said group of vehicles intent to use said sidelink radio resources for vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V, communication.

The entity comprising:receive equipment arranged for receiving, a resource request, from said group of vehicles, for requesting radio resources to be used for said V2V communication;process equipment arranged for determining radio resources to be used for said V2V communication;transmit equipment arranged for transmitting, to said group of vehicles, a resource grant comprising said determined radio resources.

A plurality of V2V entities may be employed to cover a particular geographical area. The present disclosure is not limited to the actual size of the geographical area that is covered by a single V2V entity.

The functionality of the V2V entity may be incorporated in a node which is already defined in a 5G telecommunication network, like the AMF or the PCF.

The advantages of the first aspect of the disclosure are also inherently a part of the second aspect, and third aspect, of the disclosure. Furthermore, it is pointed out that although the claims read as if all the modules/equipment according to this second aspect of the present disclosure are incorporated into a single entity/node, a person skilled in the art understands that the same disclosure could be implemented by, for example, distributing each of the modules over several nodes. Alternately, the disclosure could also be purely implemented in the cloud, whereby none of the physical nodes possess any of these modules/equipment as such.

In an example, the resource request comprises a position indication for indicating a geographical position of said group of vehicles, and, optionally, comprises a route indication for indicating a route of said group of vehicles, and wherein said process equipment is further arranged for:determining said radio resources to be used for said V2V communication based on said position indication and, optionally, said route indication.

In a further example, said entity comprises a database having stored therein allocated radio resources per geographical area indication, and wherein said process equipment is further arranged for:determining said radio resources to be used for said V2V communication based on said allocated radio resources per geographical area.

In yet another example, the process equipment is further arranged fordetermining a geographical area indication for which said radio resources are valid based on said stored allocated resources per geographical area.

and wherein said transmit equipment is further arranged for:transmitting, to said group of vehicles, a resource grant comprising said determined geographical area indication for which said radio resources are valid.

In an example, the resource grant comprises a grant renewal period indicator indicating a time period for which said determined allocated radio resources are granted to be used.

In a further example, the resource grant comprises a geographical area indication for which said determined radio resources are valid, and wherein said receive equipment is further arranged for:receiving a tile left message thereby indicating that said group of vehicles are no longer within, or bound to leave, said geographical area indication such that said allocated resources for said group of vehicles may be freed.

In yet another example, the radio resources comprise any of:a frequency allocation,a channel allocation,subcarrier allocation,a timeslot allocation,a timeslot pattern allocation, andPhysical Resource Blocks, PRBs, forming Transport Blocks, TBs, carrying transmitted data.

In a third aspect, there is provided a system arranged to be operative in, or reachable via, a core network of a telecommunication network, or in a private or public data network which is reachable via the core network of the telecommunication network, and arranged for allocating sidelink radio resources to a group of vehicles, wherein said system comprises a plurality of entities in accordance with any of the examples as provided above, wherein each of said entities are separate, distinctive, entities for improving redundancy.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having instructions which, when loaded by a V2V control entity in a core network of a telecommunication network, or in a data communication network which is reachable via said core network, cause said V2V control entity to perform a method in accordance with any of the method examples as provided above.

The above mentioned and other features and advantages of the disclosure will be best understood from the following description referring to the attached drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals denote identical parts or parts performing an identical or comparable function or operation.

