On Wireless Links for Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications

Future Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) will necessitate wireless Vehicle-To-Infrastructure (V2I) communications. This wireless link can be implemented by several technologies, such as digital broadcasting, cellular communication, or Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) systems. Analyzes of the coverage and capacity requirements are presented when each of the three systems are used to implement the V2I link. The authors show that digital broadcasting systems are inherently capacity limited and do not scale appropriately. Furthermore, they show that Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) can implement the V2I link using a Dedicated CHannel (DCH) or a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), as well as a hybrid approach.