阅读说明：本技术 管理v2x通信网络中通信的设备和方法 (Apparatus and method for managing communications in a V2X communication network ) 是由 周冁 塞尔绀·阿亚兹 张科 吴凡 冷甦鹏 于 2018-01-15 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种用于管理V2X通信网络(100)的多个车载用户设备(110)的V2X通信参数的全局通信管理实体(130)。所述全局通信管理实体(130)包括：处理单元(131),用于确定所述多个车载用户设备(110)中的一车载用户设备(110)的一个或多个V2X通信参数,其中所述一个或多个V2X通信参数与在所述车载用户设备(110)上实施的和/或在所述车载用户设备(110)的V2V通信模块(113)上实施的本地V2V拥塞控制方案相关联,用于与其他车载用户设备(110)通信；以及通信模块(133),用于将所述一个或多个V2X通信参数提供给所述车载用户设备(110)。此外,本发明涉及相应的V2X通信网络(100)、车载用户设备(110)和用于管理V2X通信网络(100)的多个车载用户设备(110)的V2X通信参数的方法。(The present invention relates to a global communication management entity (130) for managing V2X communication parameters of a plurality of vehicle user devices (110) of a V2X communication network (100). The global communication management entity (130) comprises: a processing unit (131) for determining one or more V2X communication parameters of an in-vehicle user device (110) of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110), wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user device (110) and/or on a V2V communication module (113) of the in-vehicle user device (110) for communicating with other in-vehicle user devices (110); and a communication module (133) for providing the one or more V2X communication parameters to the in-vehicle user equipment (110). Furthermore, the invention relates to a corresponding V2X communication network (100), a vehicle user equipment (110) and a method for managing V2X communication parameters of a plurality of vehicle user equipments (110) of a V2X communication network (100).)

1. A global communication management entity (130) for managing V2X communication parameters of a plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110) of a V2X communication network (100), the global communication management entity (130) comprising:

a processing unit (131) for determining one or more V2X communication parameters of one (110) of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110), wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user device (110) and/or on a V2V communication module (113) of the in-vehicle user device (110) for communicating with the other in-vehicle user devices (110); and

a communication module (133) for providing the one or more V2X communication parameters to the in-vehicle user equipment (110).

2. The global communication management entity (130) of claim 1, wherein said processing unit (131) is configured to determine said one or more V2X communication parameters of one (110) of said plurality of vehicle user devices (110) based on respective motion states of said plurality of vehicle user devices (110).

3. The global communication management entity (130) of claim 2, wherein said respective motion states of said plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110) comprise one or more of the following for each in-vehicle user device (110): a location of the in-vehicle user device (110), a speed of the in-vehicle user device (110), a direction of movement of the in-vehicle user device (110), a planned route of the in-vehicle user device (110).

4. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a V2V communication module (113) in the form of a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) module, and/or said one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a V2V communication module (113) in the form of a sidelink communication module.

5. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said V2X communication parameters further comprise one or more of the following parameters of said vehicle user equipment (110): frequency and multi-channel operating parameters, channel access time parameters, scheduled transmission parameters, V2X communication mode selection parameters, and/or message generation rates pertaining to traffic class applications.

6. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said global communication management entity (130) is further configured to manage infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication parameters of a plurality of roadside units (RSUs) (140) of said V2X communication network (100), wherein said processing unit (131) is configured to determine one or more I2V communication parameters of an RSU (140) of said plurality of RSUs (140) based on a respective motion state of said plurality of in-vehicle user equipments (110).

7. The global communication management entity (130) of claim 6, wherein said one or more I2V communication parameters comprise one or more of the following parameters of said RSU (140): frequency and multi-channel operating parameters, channel access time parameters, scheduled transmission parameters, I2V communication mode selection parameters, and message generation rates belonging to traffic class applications.

8. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) is running in an active mode of operation or an inactive mode of operation, and wherein the processing unit (131) is configured to adjust the mode of operation of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110).

9. The global communication management entity (130) of claim 8, wherein the active operation mode is associated with a first set of V2X communication parameters, the inactive operation mode is associated with a second set of V2X communication parameters, and a state machine of the local V2V congestion control scheme is deactivated.

10. The global communication management entity (130) of claim 9, wherein the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) is associated with a state machine defining a plurality of states, the plurality of states comprising a "relaxed" state, an "active" state and/or a "restricted" state, wherein the processing unit (111) is configured to adjust the state of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) when the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) is in the active mode of operation.

11. The global communication management entity (130) of claim 9, wherein the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) is associated with a state machine defining a plurality of states, the plurality of states including a "relaxed" state, an "active" state and/or a "restricted" state, wherein the processing unit (131) is configured to adjust the state of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) when the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) is in the inactive mode of operation.

12. The global communication management entity (130) of claim 10 or 11, wherein each state of said state machine is associated with a different set of V2X communication parameters.

13. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on said in-vehicle user equipment (110) is a local DCC scheme, and said one or more V2X communication parameters comprise a transmit power control, TPC, a transmit rate control, TRC, a transmit data rate control, TDC, a DCC sensitivity control, DSC, and/or a transmit access control, TAC.

14. The global communication management entity (130) of any preceding claim, wherein the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) is a local DCC scheme, and wherein the local DCC scheme is a passive local DCC scheme or an adaptive local DCC scheme.

15. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein said local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on said in-vehicle user equipment (110) is a local sidelink communication, in particular an LTE-V congestion control scheme, wherein said one or more V2X communication parameters comprise a maximum transmission power, a range of number of retransmissions per transport block, a range of number of RBs of a PSSCH, an MCS range and/or a maximum limit of channel occupancy.

16. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said one or more V2X communication parameters comprise a global channel busy fraction, CBR, and/or a global received signal strength indication, RSSI, associated with said V2V communication module (113), wherein said communication module (133) is configured to provide said global CBR and/or said global RSSI to said in-vehicle user equipment (110).

17. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said in-vehicle user equipment (110) is configured to determine a local CBR and/or a local RSSI associated with said V2V communication module (113), and to adjust said one or more V2X communication parameters of said in-vehicle user equipment (110) based on said local CBR and/or said local RSSI.

18. The global communication management entity (130) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said communication module (133) is configured to receive from said plurality of vehicle user devices (110) a respective local CBR and/or a respective local RSSI associated with said V2V communication module (113) of said respective vehicle user device (110), and wherein said processing unit (131) is configured to determine said one or more V2X communication parameters of a vehicle user device (110) of said plurality of vehicle user devices (110) based on said respective local CBR and/or said respective local RSSI associated with said respective V2V communication module (113) of said plurality of vehicle user devices (110).

19. A V2X communication network (100) comprising a plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110) and the global communication management entity (130) of any preceding claim for managing V2X communication parameters of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110).

20. The V2X communication network (100) according to claim 19, wherein the V2X communication network (100) further comprises a plurality of RSUs (140), the global communication management entity (130) being configured to manage I2V communication parameters of the plurality of RSUs (140).

21. The V2X communication network (100) according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the global communication management entity (130) is implemented on one or more servers, in particular on one or more cloud servers of the V2X communication network (100).

22. An in-vehicle user equipment (110) of a V2X communication network (100), the in-vehicle user equipment (110) comprising:

a processing unit (111) for implementing a local V2V congestion control scheme;

a V2V communication module (113) for communicating with other in-vehicle user devices (110) of the V2X communication network (100);

a further communication module (115) for communicating with a global communication management entity (130);

the vehicle-mounted user equipment (110) is used for receiving one or more V2X communication parameters from the global management entity (130); wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment (110) and/or on the V2V communication module (113) of the in-vehicle user equipment (110) for communicating with the other in-vehicle user equipment (110).

23. A method (200) for managing V2X communication parameters of a plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110) of a V2X communication network (100), the method (200) comprising:

determining (201) one or more V2X communication parameters of an in-vehicle user device (110) of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices (110), wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user device (110) and/or on a V2V communication module (113) of the in-vehicle user device (110) for communicating with the other in-vehicle user devices (110); and

providing (203) the one or more V2X communication parameters to the in-vehicle user device (110).

24. A computer program product, characterized in that it comprises program code for performing the method (200) of claim 23 when executed on a computer or processor.

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of wireless communications. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for managing communications in a V2X communication network.

Background

The V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle everything) communication network allows information exchange, in particular between vehicle-mounted user equipment, Road Side Units (RSUs), base stations and V2X communication management servers located, for example, in the cloud. Direct communication between vehicle user equipments, commonly referred to as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, may be achieved using different, commonly standardized communication technologies, such as Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), in particular IEEE802.11p based communication technologies, and/or sidelink communication technologies, in particular LTE-vehicle (LTE-V) technologies.

In IEEE802.11p, channel congestion and wireless channel characteristics are two major challenges affecting transmission performance between vehicles, such as message transmission rate (PDR). Most emerging road safety and traffic management applications rely on frequent exchanges of ITS information (e.g., Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAM), Distributed Environment Notification Messages (DENM)) between vehicles. However, the performance of ieee802.11p may be degraded in a congested scenario, and it is not guaranteed that a large amount of broadcast messages are reliably and timely transmitted, resulting in a serious degradation of security. It is well known that as the network load increases, the performance of the IEEE802.11p protocol for inter-vehicle communication will severely degrade. Communication channel congestion can result in a reduction in message transmission rate (PDR), resulting in a vehicle having difficulty identifying potential hazards in its vicinity.

Radio channel characteristics such as interference, shadowing, etc. also affect transmission performance. Unless controlled, the congestion degree increases with the increase of vehicle density and the change of wireless channel characteristics, which results in a large amount of lost messages and the performance of safe application is reduced.

In order to control network congestion to an acceptable level, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Intelligent Transport System (ITS) came out of the field of a scheme called Distributed Congestion Control (DCC) that works with IEEE802.11p radio technology. The DCC locally adapts the vehicle's various transmission parameters to bring the channel load below a predetermined threshold. In addition, the third generation partnership project (3GPP) has standardized a new set of protocols (referred to as "V2X sidelink communications" in release 14) that are used in conjunction with the ieee802.11p standard for vehicle direct communications, i.e., V2V communications.

Adding DCC on the basis of IEEE802.11p (dsrc) may bring some extra gain, but may still cause the following problems in the IEEE802.11 p-based ad hoc network for vehicles. DCC as local, i.e., the distributed congestion control algorithm cannot obtain any global information and thus cannot make short-term optimal adjustments to the V2X communication parameters. This can cause problems in certain traffic scenarios (e.g., at traffic intersections), where there is a need to globally adapt the V2X communication parameters of the vehicle faster in the event of congestion in a geographic area. Furthermore, sudden changes in the radio channel of the V2V communication channel due to interference, shadowing effects, etc., caused by the mobility of roadside buildings or vehicle-mounted user equipment, etc., will negatively impact communication performance. The same disadvantages apply to the congestion control mechanism for 3GPP V2X sidelink communications.

Accordingly, there is a need for improved apparatus and methods for managing V2X communication parameters of in-vehicle user devices in a V2X communication network.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus and methods for managing V2X communication parameters of in-vehicle user devices in a V2X communication network.

The above and other objects are achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further embodiments are evident from the dependent claims, the detailed description and the drawings.

According to a first aspect, the present invention relates to a global communication management entity for managing V2X communication parameters of a plurality of in-vehicle user devices of a V2X communication network. The global communication management entity comprises: a processing unit to determine one or more V2X communication parameters of an in-vehicle user device of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices, wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user device and/or on a V2V communication module of the in-vehicle user device for communicating with the other in-vehicle user devices; and a communication module for providing the one or more V2X communication parameters to the vehicle user equipment.

Accordingly, an improved apparatus for managing V2X communication parameters of vehicle user devices in a V2X communication network is provided.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the processing unit is configured to determine the one or more V2X communication parameters of an in-vehicle user device of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices based on respective motion state information of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the respective motion states of the plurality of vehicle user devices include one or more of the following for each vehicle user device: the location of the vehicle user equipment, the speed of the vehicle user equipment, the direction of motion of the vehicle user equipment, and the planned route of the vehicle user equipment.

In another possible implementation form of the first aspect, the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a V2V communication module in the form of a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) module, in particular with an IEEE802.11p based V2V communication module, and/or the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a V2V communication module in the form of a sidelink communication module, in particular with an LTE-V based V2V communication module.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the V2X communication parameters further include one or more of the following parameters of the vehicle-mounted user equipment: frequency and multi-channel operating parameters [ IEEE1609.4-2016], channel access time parameters, in particular, a transmission suppression period [ ARIB STD-T109], scheduling transmission parameters, V2X communication mode selection parameters, and/or message generation rate belonging to traffic class [ ETSI TS 103141 ] applications.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the global communication management entity is further configured to manage infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication parameters of a plurality of roadside units (RSUs) of the V2X communication network, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine one or more I2V communication parameters of an RSU of the plurality of RSUs based on the respective motion state information of the plurality of in-vehicle user equipments.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the one or more I2V communication parameters include one or more of the following parameters of the RSU: frequency and multi-channel operating parameters [ IEEE1609.4-2016], channel access time parameters, in particular, a transmission suppression period [ ARIB STD-T109], scheduling transmission parameters, I2V communication mode selection parameters, and message generation rate belonging to traffic class [ ETSI TS 103141 ] applications.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment operates in an active operation mode or an inactive operation mode, and the processing unit of the global communication management entity is configured to adjust the operation mode of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment.

In another possible implementation of the first aspect, the active operating mode is associated with a first set of V2X communication parameters, the inactive operating mode is associated with a second set of V2X communication parameters, and a state machine of the local V2V congestion control scheme is deactivated.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment is associated with a state machine defining a plurality of states, including a "relaxed" state, an "active" state, and/or a "restricted" state, wherein the processing unit of the in-vehicle user equipment is configured to adjust the state of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment when the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment is in the active operation mode.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment is associated with a state machine defining a plurality of states, including a "relaxed" state, an "active" state and/or a "restricted" state, wherein the processing unit of the global communication management entity is configured to adjust the state of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment when the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment is in the inactive operation mode.

In another possible implementation of the first aspect, each state of the state machine is associated with a different set of V2X communication parameters.

In another possible implementation of the first aspect, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment is a local DCC scheme, and the one or more V2X communication parameters include Transmit Power Control (TPC), Transmit Rate Control (TRC), transmit data rate control (TDC), DCC Sensitivity Control (DSC), and/or Transmit Access Control (TAC).

In another possible implementation of the first aspect, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the vehicle user equipment is a local DCC scheme, and the local DCC scheme is a passive local DCC scheme or an adaptive local DCC scheme according to ETSI TR 101612.

In another possible implementation form of the first aspect, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment is local side link communication, in particular, an LTE-V congestion control scheme, wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters include a maximum transmission power, a range of retransmission times per transport block, a range of number of physical side link shared channel (psch) Resource Blocks (RBs), a Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) range, and/or a maximum limit of channel occupancy.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the one or more V2X communication parameters include a global Channel Busy Ratio (CBR) and/or a global Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) associated with the V2V communication module, wherein the communication module is configured to provide the global CBR and/or the global RSSI to the vehicle user equipment.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the in-vehicle user equipment is configured to determine a local CBR and/or a local RSSI associated with the V2V communication module, and adjust the one or more V2X communication parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment based on the local CBR and/or the local RSSI.

In another possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the communication module is configured to receive, from the plurality of vehicle-mounted user devices, respective local CBRs and/or respective local RSSIs associated with the V2V communication modules of the respective vehicle-mounted user devices, and the processing unit is configured to determine the one or more V2X communication parameters of one of the plurality of vehicle-mounted user devices according to the respective local RSSIs associated with the V2V communication modules of the plurality of vehicle-mounted user devices.

According to a second aspect, the present invention relates to a V2X communication network comprising a plurality of in-vehicle user devices and a global communication management entity according to the first aspect of the present invention for managing V2X communication parameters of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices.

In another possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the V2X communication network further includes a plurality of RSUs, wherein the global communication management entity is configured to manage I2V communication parameters of the plurality of RSUs.

In another possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the global communication management entity is implemented on one or more servers of the V2X communication network.

According to a third aspect, the present invention relates to a vehicle user equipment of a V2X communication network, wherein the vehicle user equipment comprises: a processing unit to implement a local V2V congestion control scheme; a V2V communication module for communicating with other in-vehicle user devices of the V2X communication network; the communication module is used for communicating with the global communication management entity; the vehicle-mounted user equipment is used for receiving one or more V2X communication parameters from the global management entity; wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user device and/or on the V2V communication module of the in-vehicle user device for communicating with the other in-vehicle user devices.

In another possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the one or more V2X communication parameters are based on respective motion states of the vehicle user equipment and the other vehicle user equipment.

According to a fourth aspect, the present invention relates to a method for managing V2X communication parameters of a plurality of vehicle user equipments of a V2X communication network, wherein the method comprises the steps of: determining one or more V2X communication parameters of an in-vehicle user device of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices, wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user device and/or on a V2V communication module of the in-vehicle user device for communicating with the other in-vehicle user devices; and providing the one or more V2X communication parameters to the in-vehicle user device.

Accordingly, an improved method for managing V2X communication parameters of vehicle user devices in a V2X communication network is provided.

The method according to the fourth aspect of the present invention may be performed by the global communication management entity according to the first aspect of the present invention. Further features of the method according to the fourth aspect of the invention arise directly from the functionality of the management entity according to the first aspect of the invention and its different embodiments described above and below.

According to a fifth aspect, the invention relates to a computer program product comprising program code for implementing the method of the fourth aspect when said program code is executed on a computer or processor.

The present invention may be implemented in hardware and/or software.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will be described in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a V2X communication network in an embodiment, the V2X communication network including a global communication management entity in accordance with an embodiment and a plurality of in-vehicle user devices in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating steps in a method for managing V2X communication parameters for a plurality of in-vehicle user devices of a V2X communication network, in accordance with an embodiment;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a state machine of a local congestion control scheme implemented in an in-vehicle user equipment in an embodiment;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a local congestion control scheme implemented in an in-vehicle user equipment in an embodiment;

FIG. 5a is a schematic diagram of further details of the local congestion control scheme of FIG. 4 based on DSRC communications;

fig. 5b is a schematic diagram of another example of a local congestion control scheme based on sidelink communications;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a parameter estimation engine implemented in a processing unit of a global communication management entity, under an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a parameter estimation engine implemented in a processing unit of a global communication management entity, under an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a parameter estimation engine implemented in a processing unit of a global communication management entity in one embodiment;

figure 9 is a schematic illustration of a V2X communication network in an embodiment, the V2X communication network including a global communication management entity according to an embodiment and a plurality of vehicular user equipment according to an embodiment, the global communication management entity and the plurality of vehicular user equipment for communicating with each other via DSRC techniques;

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a V2X communication network in an embodiment, the V2X communication network including a global communication management entity according to an embodiment and a plurality of in-vehicle user devices according to an embodiment, the global communication management entity and the plurality of in-vehicle user devices for communicating with each other via a sidelink communication technique;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating shadowing effects taken into account by a global communication management entity in one embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram of an example of multi-channel access;

FIG. 13 is a diagram of an algorithm implemented in the global communication management entity in one embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating sensing ranges of corresponding carriers of a vehicle UE in an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram of different groups of in-vehicle user devices, according to an embodiment.

In the following figures, the same reference numerals are used to illustrate the same or at least functionally equivalent features.

Detailed Description

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific aspects in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other aspects may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

It will be appreciated that the same applies to apparatus or systems corresponding to the method for performing the method, and vice versa, in connection with the method described. For example, if a specific method step is described, the corresponding apparatus may comprise means for performing the described method step, even if such means are not elaborated or illustrated in the figures. Further, it is to be understood that features of the various exemplary aspects described herein may be combined with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a V2X communication network 100 according to an embodiment.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the V2X communication network 100 includes a plurality of vehicle user devices 110 and a plurality of roadside units (RSUs) 140, such as intelligent traffic lights. As shown in fig. 1, the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110 are configured to communicate directly with each other. To this end, each in-vehicle user device includes a V2V communication module 113. As will be explained in further detail below, the V2V communication module 113 of each in-vehicle user device 110 may be based on a dedicated short range communication technology (DSRC), such as IEEE802.11p and/or V2X sidelink communication technologies, such as LTE-V, and the like.

Each in-vehicle user device 110 further comprises a processing unit 111, the processing unit 111 being adapted to implement a local V2V congestion control scheme for locally managing V2V communications with neighboring in-vehicle user devices.

Each in-vehicle user device 110 also includes a communication module 115 for communicating with a global communication management entity 130 (also referred to herein as a network node 130). In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the global communication management entity 130 is implemented on one or more servers located in the cloud 150. In an embodiment, the communication between the in-vehicle user equipment 110 and the global communication management entity 130 may utilize a radio access network defined by a plurality of base stations 120 of the mobile communication network.

As will be described in further detail below, the global communication management entity 130 is operable to manage V2X communication parameters of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110 of the V2X communication network 100.

The global communication management entity 130 comprises a processing unit 131 for determining one or more V2X communication parameters of one or more of the plurality of vehicle user devices 110; wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on a processing unit 111 of the in-vehicle user device 110 and/or on a V2V communication module 113 of the in-vehicle user device 110 for communicating with other in-vehicle user devices 110.

Furthermore, the global communication management entity 130 comprises a communication module 133 for providing the one or more V2X communication parameters to the one or more in-vehicle user devices 110.

Fig. 2 shows a flow chart of the steps of a corresponding method 200 for managing V2X communication parameters of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110 of the V2X communication network 100, according to an embodiment. The method 200 comprises the steps of: determining 201 one or more V2X communication parameters of one or more of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110, wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters are associated with a local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the processing unit 111 of the in-vehicle user device 110 and/or on the V2V communication module 113 of the in-vehicle user device 110 for communicating with the other in-vehicle user devices 110; and providing 203 said one or more V2X communication parameters to said in-vehicle user equipment 110.

In the following further embodiments of the global communication management entity 130, the V2X communication network 100, the vehicle user equipment 110 and the method 200 will be described.

In an embodiment, the processing unit 131 of the global communication management entity 130 is configured to: based on the respective motion state information of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110, one or more V2X communication parameters of one or more of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110 are determined. In an embodiment, the respective motion states of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110 comprise, for each in-vehicle user device 110, one or more of: a location of the in-vehicle user device 110, a speed of the in-vehicle user device 110, a direction of movement of the in-vehicle user device 110, a planned route of the in-vehicle user device 110.

As described above, in an embodiment, the one or more V2X communication parameters may be associated with a V2V communication module 113 in the form of a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) module, and/or the one or more V2X communication parameters may be associated with a V2V communication module 113 in the form of a sidelink communication module.

In an embodiment, the V2X communication parameters further include one or more of the following parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment 110: frequency and multi-channel operating parameters [ IEEE1609.4-2016], channel access time parameters, in particular, a transmission suppression period [ ARIB STD-T109], scheduling transmission parameters, V2X communication mode selection parameters, and/or message generation rate belonging to traffic class applications [ ETSI TS 103141 ].

In an embodiment, the global communication management entity 130 is further configured to manage infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication parameters of a plurality of roadside units (RSUs) 140 of the V2X communication network 100, wherein the processing unit 131 of the global communication management entity 130 is configured to determine one or more I2V communication parameters of an RSU140 of the plurality of RSUs 140 based on respective motion state information of the plurality of vehicle user equipments 110.

In an embodiment, the one or more I2V communication parameters include one or more of the following parameters of the RSU 140: frequency and multi-channel operating parameters [ IEEE1609.4-2016], channel access time parameters, in particular, a transmission suppression period [ ARIB STD-T109], scheduling transmission parameters, I2V communication mode selection parameters, and message generation rate [ ETSI TS 103141 ] belonging to traffic class applications.

In an embodiment, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 is operable in an active mode of operation or in an inactive mode of operation, and the processing unit 131 of the global communication management entity 130 is configured to adjust the mode of operation of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110.

In an embodiment, the active mode of operation may be associated with a first set of V2X communication parameters and the inactive mode of operation may be associated with a second, different set of V2X communication parameters, and the state machine of the local V2V congestion control scheme may be deactivated.

In an embodiment, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 is associated with a state machine defining a plurality of states including a "relaxed" state, an "active" state and/or a "restricted" state, wherein the processing unit 111 is configured to adjust the state of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 when the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 is in the active mode of operation. The state machine is shown in fig. 3.

In an embodiment, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 is associated with a state machine defining a plurality of states, including a "relaxed" state, an "active" state and/or a "restricted" state, wherein the processing unit 131 of the global communication management entity 130 is adapted to adjust the state of the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 when the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 is in the inactive mode of operation.

In an embodiment, each state of the state machine may be associated with a different set of V2X communication parameters.

In an embodiment, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 is a local DCC scheme, and the one or more V2X communication parameters include Transmit Power Control (TPC), Transmit Rate Control (TRC), transmit data rate control (TDC), DCC Sensitivity Control (DSC), and/or Transmit Access Control (TAC).

In an embodiment, the local DCC scheme may be a passive local DCC scheme or an adaptive local DCC scheme defined in standard ETSI TR 101612. Passive methods may work in different ways, for example they may adjust the transmission rate or adjust the DCC flow control filter to limit the impact of vehicle messages on the channel load. The adaptive method may use the binary control and linear control algorithms described in ETSITR 101612.

In an embodiment, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the in-vehicle user equipment 110 is a local sidelink communication, in particular, an LTE-V congestion control scheme, wherein the one or more V2X communication parameters include a maximum transmission power, a range of retransmission times per transport block, a range of RB numbers of PSSCHs, an MCS range, and/or a maximum limit of channel occupancy.

In an embodiment, the one or more V2X communication parameters include a global channel busy ratio CBR and/or a global received signal strength indication RSSI associated with the V2V communication module 113 of the in-vehicle user device 110, wherein the communication module 133 of the global communication management entity 130 is configured to provide the global CBR and/or the global RSSI to the in-vehicle user device 110.

In an embodiment, the in-vehicle user device 110 is operable to determine a local CBR and/or a local RSSI associated with the V2V communication module 113, and adjust the one or more V2X communication parameters of the in-vehicle user device 110 based on the local CBR and/or the local RSSI.

In an embodiment, the communication module 133 of the global communication management entity 130 is configured to: receiving, from the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110, respective local CBRs and/or respective local RSSIs associated with the V2V communication module 113 of the respective in-vehicle user devices 110. The processing unit 131 of the global communication management entity 130 is configured to: determining the one or more V2X communication parameters of an in-vehicle user device 110 of one or more in-vehicle user devices 110 based on respective motion state information of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110 and the respective local CBR and/or the respective local RSSI associated with the respective V2V communication module 113 of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110.

As described above, in one embodiment, the global communication management entity 130 is further configured to manage I2V communication parameters of the plurality of RSUs (140).

In an embodiment, the local V2V congestion control scheme implemented on the processing unit 111 of the in-vehicle user equipment is a Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) scheme introduced by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). In an embodiment, the DCC requires components at several layers of the protocol stack and these components work together to keep the channel load below a predefined threshold and provide a fair allocation of resources among all ITS stations.

Fig. 4 shows an exemplary DCC architecture implemented in the processing unit 111 of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 according to an embodiment, said components being connected through said DCC interfaces 1 to 4. It consists of the following DCC entities: DCC _ CROSS (also called DCC management entity) at the management layer; DCC _ ACC located at an access stratum; DCC _ NET located at networking and transport layers; DCC _ FAC located at the facility level.

Fig. 5a shows a functional view of a DCC _ ACC entity, the building blocks of which include: a transmit queue (Tx queue) that enhances standard 802.11 queues by DCC mechanism; channel sounding to collect statistics of the communication channel; sending statistical information to observe the behavior of the ITS site; and a control loop, which adapts the own ITS station behavior to the actual channel load.

One operational requirement of DCC is to keep the actual channel load below predefined limits that are part of the Network Design Limits (NDL). The NDL may be used to configure the DCC _ ACC and stored in an NDL database that contains all relevant information used by the DCC _ ACC (i.e., configuration parameters, input parameters, output parameters, DCC state information defined in ETSI ITS 102687). The NDL database is part of DCC _ CROSS (i.e., DCC _ mgmt), where the management layer is responsible for maintaining the configuration parameters.

As defined in ETSI ITS 102687, the NDL database may include: a range of controlled parameters (i.e., minimum and maximum), design constraints (i.e., default and target values for controlled parameters, regulatory and device-related parameters (e.g., maximum transmission power), model parameters (e.g., parameters for transmit models, channel models, receive models, etc.), inner control loop parameters (e.g., signal level thresholds and time constants).

The controlled parameters and measured parameters may be written into an NDL database, in particular: reference value (i.e., average target value used by DCC _ ACC transmit queue for each message control), channel loading measures.

DCC _ ACC depends on the measured value of the channel load (channel sounding) and the transmit packet statistics (transmit statistics). The transmission statistics of DCC _ ACC may include all transmission messages, including repeat messages, RTS, CTS, and ACK messages. The control loop may manage the reference parameters according to the TPC, TRC, TDC and DSC mechanisms of the DCC _ ACC. The reference parameters include: transmit Power Control (TPC), i.e., reference transmit power: NDL _ refTxPower; transmission Rate Control (TRC), i.e., reference message interval: NDL _ refpacketzval; transmit data rate control (TDC), i.e., reference data rate: NDL _ refDatarate; DCC Sensitivity Control (DSC), i.e., reference DCC clear channel assessment (D-CCA) sensitivity: NDL _ refCarrierSense; and Transmit Access Control (TAC), i.e., reference queue status: NDL _ refQueue.

In one embodiment, the packets are classified at the network layer, which provides an access priority (acpio) for each packet. In addition, each message arriving from the network layer may have preset transmit power and data rate values. The transmit queue in DCC _ ACC may assign the packet to a corresponding MAC transmit queue. The frequency of sending the message into the MAC sending queue should not exceed the frequency specified by the TRC. When a message is sent to its MAC send queue, the default value can be compared with the current reference values of TPC, TRC and TDC and modified if necessary. The parameter NDL _ refCarrierSense may be used to control a clear channel assessment CCA by DSC.

In an embodiment, Transmit Power Control (TPC) is based on the transmit power thresholds listed in the table below. The signal power threshold depends on the selected channel and the selected transmit queue from ITS-G5A or ITS-G5B. These thresholds are part of the NDL and should be maintained by DCC _ CROSS.

Threshold of transmission power	Definition of
		NDL_minTxPower	Minimum transmit power
NDL_maxTxPower	Maximum transmission power
		NDL_defTxPower(acPrio)	Default transmit power
NDL_refTxPower(acPrio)	Reference transmission power

When a message is received from the network layer, the message may be assigned to a corresponding transmit queue defined by a per MAC Service Data Unit (MSDU) priority (acpio). The preset value of each MSDU of effTxPower can be corrected according to the following relation:

effTxPower＝MIN(NDL_refTxPower(acPrio),effTxPower)。

in one embodiment, the Transmission Rate Control (TRC) is based on the message timing thresholds listed in the table below. The message timing threshold depends on the selected channel and the selected transmit queue from ITS-G5A or ITS-G5B. The timing threshold is divided into a message duration threshold and a message interval threshold.

Message timing threshold	Definition of
		Message duration threshold:
NDL_maxPacketDuration(acPrio)	maximum time of message (broadcast time)
		Message interval threshold:
NDL_minPacketInterval	minimum message interval
		NDL_maxPacketInterval	Maximum message interval
NDL_defPacketInterval(acPrio)	Default message interval
		NDL_refPacketInterval(acPrio)	Reference message interval

The guaranteed packet interval is a time interval between the start of transmission of the current packet (from the queue acpio) and the start of transmission of the previous packet, where at least NDL _ refpacketlnterval (acpio) should exist. Message (T)_AIR) The message broadcasting time can be calculated according to the message length. When a message is received from the network layer, the message may be assigned to a corresponding transmit queue defined by a per MSDU priority (acpio). If T is_AIRIf NDL _ maxPacketDuration is exceeded, the packet is discarded. If NDL _ refPacketInterval (acpio)>0, ensuring the configured message interval.

In an embodiment, the transmit data rate control (TDC) is based on the data rate thresholds listed in the table below. The data rate threshold depends on the selected channel and the selected priority from ITS-G5A or ITS-G5B.

Message rate threshold	Definition of
		NDL_minDatarate	Minimum data rate
NDL_maxDatarate	Maximum data rate
		NDL_defDatarate(acPrio)	Default data rate
NDL_refDatarate(acPrio)	Reference data rate

The transmit data rate (effTxDatarate) of the message may be set on a per MSDU basis. When a message is received from the network layer, the message may be assigned to a corresponding transmit queue defined by a per MSDU priority (acpio). The preset value effTxDatate per MSDU can be modified according to the following relationship:

effTxDatarate＝MAX(NDL_refDatarate(acPrio),effTxDatarate)。

in one embodiment, the DCC Sensitivity Control (DSC) is based on the sensitivity thresholds listed in the table below. The sensitivity threshold may be used to determine whether the transmitter explicitly allows transmission, depending on the channel selected from ITS-G5A or ITS-G5B. The DCC clear channel assessment (D-CCA) should indicate that a busy channel with a greater reception level than NDL _ refCarrierSense is received during message reception. If the preamble is lost, the D-CCA will keep the carrier sense signal busy for any signal above NDL _ refCarrierSense.

The effect of DSC on CCA is achieved by reference to the parameter NDL _ refCarrierSense, rather than the installed receive sensitivity and the-65 dBm carrier sense threshold. This modified version of CCA is referred to as D-CCA. The receive sensitivity is not modified, only the CCA threshold is modified. This provides the same channel access opportunity for ITS stations with high sensitivity receivers. The transmitter is allowed to transmit even though a distant transmitter may be active at the same time.

In an embodiment, Transmit Access Control (TAC) is the DCC _ ACC mechanism that supports the operational requirements of fair channel access. And under the condition of higher channel load, the TAC has more limitation on ITS sites transmitting more messages. This is done using the DCC _ ACC transmit queue.

Threshold of received signal	Definition of
		NDL_numQueue	DCC _ ACC transmit queue number
NDL_refQueueStatus(acPrio)	Send queue status

The transmit queues are sorted by priority such that the priority index q of the highest priority queue is 0. The actual transmission statistical information is compared with the DCC transmission model statistical information.

If too many packets are sent and the priority index is less than or equal to q, the corresponding queue is marked as closed, i.e.:

NDL _ refQueueStatus (q) ≧ NDL _ tmChannelUse (q), if txChannelUse (q) ≧ NDL _ tmChannelUse (q);

otherwise, the queue is open, i.e.:

NDL _ refqueuestatus (q) ═ OPEN if txchanneluse (q) < NDL _ tmchannelse (q).

In one embodiment, a Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) scheme of the access stratum is implemented on the basis of IEEE802.11p (i.e., Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC)) technology to adapt to different transmission parameters using a state machine that adjusts the transmission behavior of the vehicle with three states. The DCC has three states: relaxed, active (multiple active substates may be defined) and restricted. The state transition is based on comparing the actual channel load (i.e., Channel Busy Ratio (CBR)) measurement to predefined maximum and minimum channel loads. Based on the actual state of the DCC state machine, the in-vehicle user equipment 110 may apply different transmit (Tx) power levels, transmission rates, and receive (Rx) sensitivities.

In one embodiment, when entering the state, the state output parameter settings are as shown in the table below.

As described above, in an embodiment, different types of DCC mechanisms may run locally at the in-vehicle user equipment 110. These mechanisms may be passive or adaptive, as described in ETSI TR 101612. Passive methods may work in different ways, for example they may adjust the transmission rate or adjust the DCC flow control filter to limit the impact of vehicle messages on the channel load. The adaptive method may use the binary control and linear control algorithms described in ETSI TR 101612.

Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA), a formal name for a MAC algorithm in IEEE802.11, is used for IEEE802.11 p. Which is a Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) containing QoS, i.e., a carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) algorithm, can preferentially process data traffic. In EDCA, each node maintains a queue with different arbitration frame gap (AIFS) values and Contention Window (CW) sizes in order to have high priority data traffic access the channel before low priority data traffic. The AIFS calculation formula generated for different Access Categories (AC) is as follows:

AIFS[AC]＝AIFSN[N]×aSlotTime+aSIFSTime，

wherein AIFSN is the number of AIFS and is an integer, aSlotTime and aSIFSTime (short interframe space) are obtained from the PHY used.

The QoS facilities in IEEE802.11 define 8 different User Priorities (UP) that inherit to the ANSI/IEEE Std 802.1D that defines the MAC bridge. UP maps to four different Access Categories (ACs), namely: queue and is located within the QoS facility ETSI EN 302663.

AC	CWmin	CWmax	AIFSN
				AC_VO	(aCWmin+1)/4-1	(aCWmin+1)/2-1	2
AC_VI	(aCWmin+1)/2-1	aCWmin	3
				AC_BE	aCWmin	aCWmax	6
AC_BK	aCWmin	aCWmax	9

The following table lists the different parameter values [ IEEE802.11-2012] required to determine the MAC specific functionality of the PHY layer 10MHz channel of OFDM.

Parameter(s)	Value of
		aSlotTime	13μsec
aSIFSTime	32μsec
		aCWmin	15
aCWmac	1023

The scope of IEEE1609.4 is a specification for the Medium Access Control (MAC) sublayer functions and services that support multi-channel wireless connectivity between IEEE802.11 in-vehicle ambient Wireless Access (WAVE) devices. The MAC sublayer management entity (MLME) provides access to a particular wireless channel, as directed by the WAVE Management Entity (WME), allowing higher layers to exchange data over the specified channel. The channel access options include continuous channel access, two-channel alternate access, and immediate channel access, as follows:

continuous access without channel coordination;

alternate access, requiring channel coordination, WME may request alternate channel access by sending a pair MLMEX-CHSTART _ req, one indicating channels accessed during time slot 0, one indicating channels accessed during time slot 1;

immediate channel access, allowing immediate communication access over an extended period of time on a designated channel and without regard to slot boundaries, when MLME-start.

Fig. 5b shows a functional view of a congestion control entity of V2X sidelink communication of 3GPP, with its building blocks: a transmit queue (Tx Queuing); channel sounding to count communication channels; control logic that adapts transmission parameters of packets awaiting transmission in a send queue based on selected priority per packet prose (pppp), send Pool (Tx Pool) and measured CBR information.

As mentioned earlier, the V2X sidelink communication of 3GPP has also standardized a new congestion control mechanism. According to 3GPP TS 36.300, in-vehicle user equipment 110 (regardless of its RRC state) adapts transmission parameters according to the Channel Busy Ratio (CBR). The transmission parameter adaptation applies to all transmission pools, including the exception pool. Illustratively, adapting the transmission parameters may include: maximum transmission power (maxTxPower), retransmission times per transport block range (allowedretxnumberbssch), RB number range of pschs (minSubChannel-number psch, maxSubchannel-number psch), MCS range (minMCS-psch, maxsmcs-psch), and channel occupancy maximum Limit (cr-Limit).

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the global communication management entity 130 plays an important role in congestion control and interference control of vehicle communication through a centralized control mechanism. The centralized control can be represented by one centralized cloud server or a plurality of distributed cloud servers. In the case of multiple distributed network nodes, it is also reasonable to be able to exchange information between these distributed servers to achieve better levels of congestion and interference when communicating in vehicles.

By accurately estimating the vehicle density, in an embodiment, the global communication management entity 130 may predict a Channel Busy Ratio (CBR) and a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) for controlling the V2X communication parameters of the vehicle user equipment 110. Alternatively, these types of information (CBR, RSSI) may be measured by the respective in-vehicle user equipment 110 and directly transmitted to the global communication management entity 130. Once the global communication management entity 130 has CBR and/or RSSI information, decisions can be made on the transmission parameters of the vehicle.

In an embodiment, the global communication management entity 130 may receive different types of information from different sources before making decisions on the V2X communication parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment 110. In addition to the respective motion state of the in-vehicle user equipment 110, the information may include: global traffic information of streets and highways from a Traffic Management Center (TMC), road condition information (e.g., streets standing in high buildings, suburbs standing in low buildings, roads), route information of vehicle-mounted user devices.

Through these information sources, the global communication management entity 130 may make the following decisions at different control levels for the V2X communication parameters of each in-vehicle user device 110. In an embodiment, the global communication management entity 130 may provide different types of parameter settings to each in-vehicle user device 110 depending on the selected control level. The following list shows a possible set of V2X communication parameters that the global communication management entity 130 determines or adjusts:

1) local DCC algorithm settings (passive or adaptive);

2) setting global CBR and global RSSI;

3) DCC parameter configuration (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

a transmit power control parameter;

a transmission rate control parameter;

transmitting a data rate control parameter;

DCC sensitivity control parameters;

transmitting access control parameters;

4) network design restriction (NDL) default settings (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

5) IEEE802.11 p-2010 parameter set (governed by IEEE802.11 p-2010);

6) multi-channel operating parameter settings (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

7) new transmission parameters related to vehicular communications, including a new radio technology to be used for vehicular communications, and a new congestion control mechanism to operate on top of the new radio technology;

8) a transmission mode of vehicle communication (V2V or V2I);

9) scheduled transmission parameters (describing radio resource allocation information) specific to advanced V2X traffic for a single vehicle or a group of vehicles;

10) V2X sidelink communication congestion control parameter.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 6, when the global communication management entity 130 collects the required input parameters, the global communication management entity 130 estimates the global CBR value and/or global RSSI, NDL setting, IEEE802.11 p-2010 parameter setting, multi-channel operation parameter setting [ IEEE1609.4-2016] and transmission mode selection parameters of each vehicle user equipment 110 together. The global communication management entity 130 may also decide on the selected DCC algorithm. After the decision is completed, the global communication management entity 130 informs each of the in-vehicle user equipments 110 of any of the V2X communication parameters. The vehicle user equipment 110 uses the received global CBR value and/or global RSSI information as input to its local DCC mechanism, updates the NDL database through NDL settings, updates IEEE802.11 p-2010 modem settings through IEEE802.11 p-2010 parameter settings, and updates WME and MLME settings through multichannel operating parameter settings. Further, in the case of V2X sidelink communication of 3GPP, the network node updates the local congestion control parameter.

In another embodiment shown in fig. 7, the global communication management entity 130 performs the estimation of the global CBR and/or global RSSI values for each in-vehicle user equipment 110, calculates the optimal NDL reference values for each in-vehicle user equipment 110, and informs these NDL reference values. In this way, the global communication management entity 130 indirectly affects the results of the local DCC scheme implemented on the vehicle user interface 110, as the local DCC scheme changes its internal state based on the NDL reference value. Similar to the previous embodiment, additional estimation parameters may also be sent to the in-vehicle user equipment 110.

In another embodiment shown in fig. 8, the global communication management entity 130 is configured to estimate a global CBR and/or global RSSI value for each in-vehicle user device 110, and perform a global congestion control parameter evaluation on behalf of each in-vehicle user device 110, and notify each in-vehicle user device 110 of any V2X communication parameters related to DCC parameters, NDL settings, IEEE802.11 p-2010 parameter settings, multi-channel operation parameter settings IEEE1609.4-2016, and transmission mode selection parameters. In this embodiment, the local DCC scheme of each in-vehicle user equipment 110 may be deactivated and completely dependent on mode or state information (relaxed, active, restricted) provided by the global communication management entity 130. Furthermore, in the case of V2X sidelink communication of 3GPP, the global communication management entity 130 updates local congestion control parameters using a certain parameter list and lets the in-vehicle user equipment 110 use these certain parameters without checking the local CBR measurements.

The above embodiments are based on global CBR estimation, the in-vehicle user equipment 110 does not provide any local CBR measurements. In another embodiment, each in-vehicle user device 110 may be configured to transmit its own local CBR measurement to the global communication management entity 130. In this case, the local CBR measurements can also be used as additional input in the parameter estimation engine.

Fig. 9 shows an embodiment of a V2X communication network 100 based on IEEE802.11p communication. The global communication management entity 130 may collect different types of information from the in-vehicle user equipment 110 and other sources (e.g., RSU140 shown in fig. 1) and may control V2X communication parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 that supports IEEE802.11p communication.

Fig. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a V2X communication network 100 based on 3GPP V2X sidelink (PC5) communication. The global communication management entity 130 may collect different types of information from the in-vehicle user equipment 110 and other sources (e.g., RSU140 shown in fig. 1) and may control V2X communication parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 supporting 3GPP V2X sidelink (PC5) communication.

As described above, when the global communication management entity 130 performs the above-described functions, different information sources may be used.

In an embodiment, based on the channel estimation result (e.g., shadow detection result), the global communication management entity 130 may divide the road segments into several types of shadow attenuation regions according to the shadow effect. Fig. 11 shows an example illustrating this approach, where different roads may have different partitions. In the "non-shadow region", the communication between the in-vehicle user equipment 110 in the region and the in-vehicle user equipment 110 on the road is not affected by the shadow effect of the roadside building. In the "shadow zone," the communication between the on-board user equipment 110 and the on-board user equipment 110 on the road will be slightly affected by the dynamic shadow of large vehicles and the static shadow of roadside structures. In a "heavily shaded area," the communication between the in-vehicle user equipment 110 in that area and the in-vehicle user equipment 110 on the road will be heavily influenced by the static shading of the roadside structures. In an embodiment, such information may be used when the global communication management entity 130 evaluates the optimal communication mode (V2V or V2I), CBR and RSSI estimates for the in-vehicle user device 110.

Since vehicle safety messages are typically broadcast on the Control Channel (CCH), channel interference may occur outside of the vehicle carrier sensing range. In an embodiment, the global communication management entity 130 may be used to specify all or part of the in-vehicle user equipments 110 in different road segments to measure the channel interference situation and feed their measurements back to the global communication management entity 130. The global communication management entity 130 may further predict the degree of channel interference between the moving in-vehicle user equipments 110 after receiving the channel interference situation. According to the following equation:

wherein:

is a channel interference indicator;

p_ris the average received power of the vehicle y in the sensing area;

k is the number of interference areas of the vehicle y;

p_kfor vehicles x in the interference area k_kAverage transmit power of;

d(x_Ky) is a vehicle x_kDistance from vehicle y;

alpha is a channel attenuation factor;

x_kand y is the center vehicle of each zone.

In an embodiment, such information may be used when the global communication management entity 130 evaluates the optimal communication mode (V2V or V2I), CBR and RSSI estimates for the in-vehicle user device 110.

In an embodiment, the global communication management entity 130 collects status information (i.e., location, speed, direction) of each in-vehicle user device 110 and its application information. The application information may be: (1) the number of applications currently active and their characteristics (i.e., size and transmission frequency of Protocol Data Units (PDUs)); and (2) other planning applications and their features that the in-vehicle user equipment 110 wishes to activate in the near future. Global communication management entity 130 may use this information to predict current and recent global data traffic usage of V2X communication network 100 and vehicle density for a geographic region. Such information may then be used, as an example, when the global communication management entity 130 predicts network load (i.e., CBR) and/or RSSI performance in a certain geographic area.

The direction and density of in-vehicle user devices 110 traveling on different lanes may vary. Traffic congestion and accidents may increase the traffic density on different sections of the road. In an embodiment, when the global communication management entity 130 predicts network load (i.e., CBR) and/or RSSI performance in a particular geographic area, the global communication management entity 130 (with the help of TMC) may perform a comprehensive analysis and utilize such information.

In an embodiment, as an example, knowing the route information of the in-vehicle user device 110 may help the global communication management entity 130 to better predict the network load (i.e., CBR) and/or RSSI performance based on the future location of the in-vehicle user device 110. The following table lists input parameters that may be considered by the global communication management entity 130 according to an embodiment for determining V2X communication parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment 110.

As described above, by analyzing the input parameters, the global communication management entity 130 may predict different types of output parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 (used as V2X communication parameter settings of the in-vehicle user equipment 110). As mentioned above, these parameters may include:

1) local DCC algorithm settings (passive or adaptive);

2) setting global CBR and global RSSI;

3) DCC parameter configuration (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

a transmit power control parameter;

a transmission rate control parameter;

transmitting a data rate control parameter;

DCC sensitivity control parameters;

transmitting access control parameters;

4) network design restriction (NDL) default settings (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

5) IEEE802.11 p-2010 parameter set (governed by IEEE802.11 p-2010);

6) multi-channel operating parameter settings (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

7) new transmission parameters related to vehicular communications, including a new radio technology to be used for vehicular communications, and a new congestion control mechanism to operate on top of the new radio technology;

8) a transmission mode of vehicle communication (V2V or V2I);

9) scheduled transmission parameters (describing radio resource allocation information) specific to advanced V2X traffic for a single vehicle or a group of vehicles;

10) V2X sidelink communication congestion control parameter.

In an embodiment, the V2X communication parameters may include one or more of the DCC parameters listed in the following two tables.

In an embodiment, the V2X communication parameters may include one or more of the IEEE802.11p parameters listed in the following table.

In an embodiment, the V2X communication parameters may include one or more of the multi-channel operating parameters [ IEEE1609.4-2016] listed in the following table.

The multi-channel operation advantages of the global communication management entity 130 can be summarized as follows: the allocation times of the synchronization traffic channel (SCH) and the Control Channel (CCH) (i.e., slot 0, slot 1 in fig. 12) are scheduled between the in-vehicle user equipments 110. When alternate channels are enabled, a channel allocation time in the network 100 is decided; coordinates/assists with immediate channel access requirements of in-vehicle user equipment 110.

In the following, an exemplary use case of the global communication management entity 130 is described. In this example, the network node 130 controls the DCC, multi-channel operation, and transmission modes of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 by applying a Centralized Control (CC) algorithm shown in fig. 13 (V2V, V2I). The algorithm takes the different numbers of input parameters described above and provides output parameters related to CBR and/or RSSI estimates, DCC parameters, multi-channel operating parameters, and transmission mode (V2V, V2I) selection. The centralized control algorithm shown in fig. 13 is divided into three parts.

Part 1: by using traffic and road information (e.g., vehicle density, number of lanes, and location of the in-vehicle user equipment 110), the network node 130 may divide the vehicles into different groups according to the degree of density ρ and the carrier sense range shown in fig. 14 and 15. When the grouping is completed, the network node 130 provides the estimated transmission parameters to each in-vehicle user equipment 110 in the group to avoid excessive interference within the group transmission (i.e., intra-group coordination).Further, network node 130 may allocate different radio resources to different groups to limit interference between neighboring groups (i.e., inter-group coordination). When all the vehicular user equipments 110 of a group use the same transmission power p_tAnd a carrier sense threshold T_csThen, the carrier sensing range L of each group can be described by the following equation:

wherein

L_groupiA carrier sensing range L of the ith group;

T_csa carrier sense threshold for the ith group;

p_tis the transmit power of the ith group;

n is the path attenuation factor (2-5).

Using the carrier sense range L, the network node 130 may predict the surrounding vehicle density ρ of the jth in-vehicle user equipment 110 based on the following equation:

wherein:

l is the carrier sensing range L of the vehicle j;

m is the number of surrounding vehicles of the vehicle j within its carrier sense range L.

Section 2: the network node 130 evaluates the CBR and radio channel status of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 in each group. Regarding the estimation of CBR, the following equation is to estimate CBR for the jth in-vehicle user device 110_jThe classical equation of (a):

CBR_j＝C.ρ_j.p_tr. τ/n, wherein:

c is a constant, a value is determined depending on the scene;

ρ_jis the surrounding vehicle density of the vehicle j;

p_tis the transmit power of the vehicle;

r is the transmission rate, which is determined by the number of messages sent in unit time;

n is the path attenuation factor (2-5).

The network node 130 may use different input parameters to determine the CBR_jThe value of (c). The network node 130 may average the CBRs of the plurality of in-vehicle user devices 110 in each group to obtain a reference CBR for each group_ref：

Wherein:

CBR_refiis a reference CBR of group i;

k is the number of ith group of vehicles;

CBR_jthe CBR for vehicle j.

The physical interference model is defined as the successful reception of a message by node y if and only if a message is received with a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) greater than a SINR threshold.

If (t) is ≧ SINR threshold, then network node 130 need not perform interference control;

if (t) < SINR threshold, the network node 130 needs interference control, which needs adjustment of TPC, TDC, DSC parameters.

As already described in the context of fig. 11, the network node 130 may divide the road segments into several types of shadow attenuation regions according to the shadow effect.

In the non-shadow area, the network node 130 does not need to use shadow control; in the shaded area, the network node 130 should use shading control that requires adjustment of TRC parameters. In a heavily shaded area, the network node 130 should inform the in-vehicle user equipment 110 about the heavily shaded area, so that the in-vehicle user equipment 110 needs to select the V2I communication mode to avoid a heavy shadowing effect.

And a third part: estimation-based CBR_refNetwork node 130 adjusts DCC control parameters and multi-channel operation of in-vehicle user equipment 110 within the corresponding spatial group. The following table is an example of first step (i.e., default) output parameters, including DCC parameters and multi-channel operation.

Centralized control parameter	Relax the body	Activating	Limiting
				TPCdefault	33dBm	23dBm	-10dBm
TRCdefault	0.04s	0.5s	1s
				TDCdefault	3Mbit/s	6Mbit/s	12Mbit/s
DSCdefault	-95dBm	-85dBm	-65dBm
				Multiple channel operation	Deactivation	Deactivation	Deactivation

In the CBR according to the current evaluation_refAfter determining the default output parameters, the network node 130 checks whether a second step of adaptation is required based on the radio channel state information (interference and shadowing effects) of the in-vehicle user equipment 110. The network node 130 may perform the following check to consider the second step adaptation:

if the estimated interference is below a certain threshold (i.e. < SINR threshold), the network node 130 should use interference control, which requires adjustment of TPC, TDC, DSC parameters. In-vehicle user equipment 110 performs backoff by lowering the carrier sense threshold to avoid further worsening interference with surrounding transmissions. Lower data rate transmissions may tolerate greater interference. Meanwhile, by reducing the transmitting power, the inter-group interference is reduced;

when the group is located in a shadow area, then the network node 130 should use shadow control that requires adjustment of TRC parameters. By increasing the transmission rate (reducing the message interval), the reliability of the communication can be improved.

Accordingly, in an embodiment, the following adaptation is performed in the default values of the first step.

TPC_ref＝TPC_default+Δp

(Δpisthefluctuatedvaluethatisdeterminedbytheinterferencecontrol)；

TDC_ref＝TDC_default+Δd；

Δdisthefluctuatedvaluethatisdeterminedbytheinterferencecontrol；

DSC_ref＝DSC_default+ΔD；

ΔDisthefluctuatedvaluethatisdeterminedbytheinterferencecontrol；

TRC_ref＝TRC_default+Δr；

Δristhefluctuatedvaluethatisdeterminedbytheinterferencecontrol。

Through channel coordination, a vehicle environment Wireless Access (WAVE) device may utilize multiple wireless channels. Channel coordination allows a single PHY device to access high priority data and management traffic on the CCH during time slot 0 and general higher layer traffic on the SCH during time slot 1. The ITS G5A band (5,875GHz to 5,905GHz) contains channels CCH, SCH1 and SCH2, and is dedicated to road safety-related services [ ETSI 102724 ]. ITSG5 employs a multi-channel mode, where each device can switch between a control channel and a traffic channel, but cannot use two different channels simultaneously. The evaluation of the multi-channel operation in the proposed algorithm may be as follows:

the network node 130 evaluates the CBR of SCH1 and SCH2, selecting the smallest CBR channel;

when CBR is present_CCHNot less than 40% and CBR_sCH≦ 50%, the network node 130 may activate multi-channel operation in the corresponding area.

Channel congestion may be exacerbated at higher densities due to different vehicle densities among groups. The network node 130 may control a Contention Window (CW) to adapt to the current channel state. Since the network node 130 may use the input parameters and the output parameters to determine the CBR of group i as shown in the equation above_refThe values, and thus different groups, may have different CBRs. CW when CBR of a group increases relative to the last time_minAnd CW_maxMay be adjusted by the network node 130. The following equation illustrates this scheme.

In addition to coordinating the transmission parameters of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 in a shared time/frequency plane (i.e. radio resource blocks in the time and frequency domain) by the above-described method, the network node 110 may also allocate dedicated time/frequency scheduled transmission opportunities for advanced V2X traffic of the in-vehicle user equipment 110. The assigned dedicated time/frequency assignment value may be orthogonal to the shared time/frequency assignment value. Furthermore, the network node 130 is capable of allocating dedicated time/frequencies not only to a single vehicle user device 110, but also to a group of vehicle user devices 110. When the radio resource blocks are allocated to a group of in-vehicle user equipments 110, the group of in-vehicle user equipments coordinates individual use of the allocated radio resource blocks.

New wireless technologies to be used for future on-board communications may also have new transmission parameters, which are typically configured locally at the on-board user equipment 110. Such new radio parameters used by the new radio technology may be controlled by the network node 130 according to embodiments of the present invention.

As described above, in an embodiment, the network node 130 is further configured to determine and update local congestion control parameters of a V2X sidelink (PC5) communication interface of 3GPP of the in-vehicle user equipment 110 for V2X sidelink communication. In this case, the IEs SL-CBR-CommonTxConfigList indicate a list of PSSCH transmission parameters (e.g., MCS, number of sub-channels, number of retransmissions, CR limit) in SL-CBR-PSSCH-TxConfigList, and a list of CBR ranges in CBR-RangeCommonConfigList to configure the UE for V2X sidelink communications as specified in [3GPP TS 36.331 ]. The network node 130 may be updated by the network node 130.

The SL-CBR-PSSCH-TxConfigList contains a list of SL-CBR-PSSCH-TxConfig, which includes cr-Limit and tx-Parameters, which include the following Parameters:

–minMCS-PSSCH；

–maxMCS-PSSCH；

–minSubChannel-NumberPSSCH；

–maxSubchannel-NumberPSSCH；

–allowedRetxNumberPSSCH；

–maxTxPower。

in an embodiment of the present invention, the global communication management entity 130 uses a Centralized Control (CC) algorithm: for selecting a local DCC algorithm (passive or adaptive) for use as the in-vehicle user equipment 110; for estimating CBR and/or RSSI of a single vehicle user device 110 or a group of vehicle user devices 110 from vehicle density on the road; for adjusting vehicle-specific V2X transmission parameters to reduce network congestion (this operation may include DCC parameter settings, NDL default value settings, IEEE802.11 p-2010 parameter settings, multichannel operation settings); for selecting a transmission mode (V2V, V2I) for vehicle communication; any new transmission parameters for selecting a new wireless technology for vehicle communication; for selecting radio resource allocation values dedicated to a single or a group of in-vehicle user equipment 110 for determining and/or updating V2X sidelink communication congestion control parameters.

In an embodiment, the network node 130 provides a centralized control function based on different input parameters, wherein the input parameters may be:

CBR and/or RSSI measurements received from the on-board user equipment 110; and/or

Vehicle status information received from the on-board user device 110; and/or

Transmit/receive antenna characteristics received from the in-vehicle user equipment 110; and/or

A transmitted signal characteristic received from the in-vehicle user device 110; and/or

An application currently running on the vehicle received from the in-vehicle user device 110; and/or

Vehicle route information received from the in-vehicle user device 110; and/or

Road condition information received from TMC.

The network node 130 may provide different output parameters (i.e. which are used by said in-vehicle user device 110 as V2X communication parameter settings) to be communicated to the respective in-vehicle user device 110, wherein the output parameters may include:

1) local DCC algorithm settings (passive or adaptive);

2) setting global CBR and global RSSI;

3) DCC parameter configuration (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

a transmit power control parameter;

a transmission rate control parameter;

transmitting a data rate control parameter;

DCC sensitivity control parameters;

transmitting access control parameters;

4) network design restriction (NDL) default settings (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

5) IEEE802.11 p-2010 parameter set (governed by IEEE802.11 p-2010);

6) multi-channel operating parameter settings (managed by DCC _ CROSS entity);

7) new transmission parameters related to vehicular communications, including a new radio technology to be used for vehicular communications, and a new congestion control mechanism to operate on top of the new radio technology;

8) a transmission mode of vehicle communication (V2V or V2I);

9) scheduled transmission parameters (describing radio resource allocation information) specific to advanced V2X traffic for a single vehicle or a group of vehicles;

10) V2X sidelink communication congestion control parameter.

While a particular feature or aspect of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations or embodiments, such feature or aspect may be combined with one or more other features or aspects of the other implementations or embodiments as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "includes," "has," "having," or any other variation thereof, are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted. Also, the terms "exemplary," "e.g.," are merely meant as examples, and not the best or optimal. The terms "coupled" and "connected," along with their derivatives, may be used. It will be understood that these terms may be used to indicate that two elements co-operate or interact with each other, whether or not they are in direct physical or electrical contact, or they are not in direct contact with each other.

Although specific aspects have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific aspects shown and described without departing from the scope of the present invention. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific aspects discussed herein.

Although the elements in the above claims below are recited in a particular sequence with corresponding labeling, unless the recitation of the claims otherwise implies a particular sequence for implementing some or all of the elements, the elements are not necessarily limited to being implemented in the particular sequence described.

Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing teachings. Of course, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that there are numerous other applications of the present invention beyond those described herein. While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.