5G Communications for Intelligent Transportation
System (ITS)
Nilima Islam Bristy
Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE)
East West University
Dhaka, Bangladesh
2018-2-55-010@std.ewubd.edu
Abstract—The technology, 5G, encounters the current setup
in communications by disabling the defects of currently working
4G. This 5G offers to intelligent transportation systems (ITS) a
new way to become fully cohesive by allowing massive
simultaneous connections of network, even under high agility
situations or dense occupied areas. This discussion is designed
to provide, how 5G technology will effect on intelligent
transportation systems –including autonomous or semi-
autonomous vehicles– and vehicular communications, its
technical, economic and legal challenges in the following years
and small-cell concept in Ultra Dense Heterogeneous network.
The 5G network requirements, 5G network architectures
proposals dedicated to the ITS systems, ITS implementation is
analyzed. The goal of the paper is presentation of major
outlooks for international ITS development in the 5G networks.
Keywords— Intelligent transportation systems (ITS),5G,
vehicular communications, mobility, network architecture
I. INTRODUCTION
The term "intelligent transportation system" refers to
information and communication technology that is used to
transportation infrastructure and vehicles in order to
improve transportation outcomes such as Transport safety,
Transport productivity, Travel reliability, Informed travel
choices, social equity.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have evolved as
a fundamental paradigm for effective and dependable traffic
monitoring, control, and management in order to reduce
traffic congestion and avert accidents. ITS systems are built
on a foundation of multiple and interconnected sensors.
Vehicles, roadside units (RSU), and roadside signs are
examples of diverse entities. Signs, traffic signals, network
nodes, and servers are just a few examples. Nowadays,
Vehicles are outfitted with multiple networking and
communication systems, digital cameras, wireless sensors,
and communication technologies gadgets that are aware of
their surroundings and can interact with them entities in the
immediate vicinity, such as adjacent vehicles, pedestrians,
The environment, network infrastructure, network nodes and
so on.
connected vehicles and high-precision real-time location
services are at the center of ITS research. The automobile
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network is intended to create a secure, interoperable vehicle-
to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and
vehicle-to-human (V2H) wireless communication network.
Vehicle location and navigation technology are inextricably
linked as a result of the development and research of
intelligent transportation systems. Only by correctly
positioning the vehicle in real time can it be sent in a way that
ensures safe driving and improves transportation efficiency.
As a result, vehicle location and navigation technology are
also one of the intelligent transportation system's key core
contents in certain ways.
II. CHALLENGES IN NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
The deployment of a new model of 5G access network
architecture, in which the small-cell idea is offered, is the
biggest hurdle. The network will be constructed as a
heterogeneous network (HetNet) with hierarchical cell
structure of high density of small cells distributed at areas of
large cells, dubbed macro-cells, in this case. Ultra-Dense
Network is the name given to this form of HetNet.
Due to issues with its reliability, stability of transmission rate
at overall cell area, signalization traffic, resource
management and enhanced interference coordination,
handover allowing for high mobility, and other issues, global
radio access in the future 5G network requires improvement.
III. NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AND INTELLIGENT
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM BASED ON 5G
The number of automobiles on the road has been steadily
increasing. The latter symbolizes severe issues that must be
addressed, such as the rising number of traffic accident
fatalities and the deterioration of the natural environment
around the world. As a result, the notion of Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS) is essential for solving
transportation challenges using ICT and prioritizing
applications that have the potential to increase safety, fuel
economy, traffic efficiency, and ride comfort.
A. Small Cells Concept
The 5G network will be built as a global heterogeneous
Ultra-Dense Network (UDN) with a hierarchical cell structure
as the primary structure. Enormous-cells, also known as
macro-cells, will cover large portions of a network in this sort
of network. Small-cells will also cover small areas within
macro-cells.
Advanced resource management technologies and a large
number of small cells with high density will be used in the
UDNs. Depending on the application, we can employ micro-
cells, pico-cells, and femto-cells under the small cell category.
The utilization of small-cells can be vital in terms of overall
network performance since we can improve cell throughput
and signal transmission latency. It also enables for more
resource distribution across a network's full region and
virtualization. It means that dividing cells into small cells
ensures shorter cell ranges, lower signal power, and, as a
result, lower inter-cell interference power (ICI).
Small ICI power ensures improved transmission rate
stability across the entire cell area, particularly at the cell edge,
as well as increased spectral efficiency and cell capacity.
The control-plane and user-plane are separated in this
scenario. As a result, while the control-plane is maintained by
macro-cell eNodeB with high power and range, transmission
of physical, usable signals from users or devices is only
accomplished in small-cells (so-called user-plane) over short
distances and utilizing low-power signals. The available
resources in small cells are partially virtual, and these cells are
referred to as phantom-cells.
B. Massive MIMO Implementation in ITS
Massive MIMO is built on the idea of using eNodeBs with
a high number of dispersed antenna units to provide
substantial spatial multiplexing gains and beamforming. For
higher transmission quality and spectrum efficiency, tens or
hundreds of distributed antennas can be used in this approach.
Massive-MIMO results in much greater data rates for
customers spread across a cell's region. Massive MIMO
ensures improved throughput and capacity in cells and for
each user/machine connected to the network in ITS systems.
If an advanced sensor network in ITS is deployed, Massive
MIMO deployment will be considerably easier than with
other systems. As a result, this technique could be extremely
useful in M2M and V2V communication systems that use
diverse network architecture.
B. Vehicular Communication
A modern car is essentially a sensor platform that absorbs
data from the environment, which is then analyzed by an on-
board computer and used for purposes such as navigation,
pollution control, and traffic management. However, quick
data processing necessitates the use of a very powerful on-
board computer.
To eliminate the usage of expensive equipment, it should
be feasible to upload data to the cloud through the Internet to
execute large processing tasks. As a result, IoT can help
collect more data for traffic management centers, in addition
to the data already collected by automobiles. The Vehicular
Cloud Computing paradigm is a difficult situation to evaluate
future 5G capabilities based on this premise. Cars can
communicate with other vehicles (known as V2V
communication), roadside infrastructure, the Internet,
pedestrians, and any other element inside a smart city in the
same way. All of these methods of vehicular communication
are referred to as V2X (Vehicle to Everything).
C. Autonomous Driving
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has
established six stages of driving automation, ranging from no
automation to complete automation. Briefly,
• No automation (Level 0): The driver maintains control at all
times.
• Driver Assistance (Level 1): System performs minor driving
tasks.
• Partial Automation (Level 2): The driver must keep an eye
on the road while performing dynamic driving
responsibilities.
• Conditional Automation (Level 3): The driver does not need
to oversee driving tasks, but he or she must be able to regain
control if necessary.
• High Automation (Level 4): During the indicated use case,
no driver is required.
• Full Automation (Level 5): This is the highest level, which
refers to a system that is completely self-contained and does
not require a driver.
For levels 1 and 2, when a human driver monitors the
driving environment, autonomous driving is theoretically
conceivable without V2X communication. According to,
level 5 without the use of wireless communication networks,
i.e., relying solely on on-board processing and sensor
systems, is not feasible. Uncertainty must be considered in
the absence of vehicular communication because it is
impossible to predict what another vehicle or pedestrian will
do in the following few seconds. If cars communicate their
available data, other vehicles may be able to use it to lessen
uncertainty. As a result of V2V local communication,
autonomous driving can react faster to movements and avoid
crashes.
 D. Tele-Operated Driving • In the internet cloud, the implementation of virtual cells and
the realization of a huge number of services.
In addition to autonomous and assisted driving modes, B. Transmission Quality Requirements
autonomous cars are projected to have the capacity to be
The creation of high-speed connections between thousands
directed by an external operator in a tele-operated mode. This
of devices necessitates the fulfillment of the following
is useful when the autonomous mode fails or when human aid
requirements:
is needed in a complex and time-consuming situation.
• Very high transmission rate for connections and ubiquitous
radio access with high transmission rate stability over the
A dangerous situation in hazardous areas such as mining or
whole cell region, reducing the frequency of low-rate
underwater robots, the driver's safety improves because the
transmissions at cell margins.
driving work is conducted remotely.
• Extremely low latency for sent signals across the entire
network and inside individual cells.
The primary prerequisite for tele-operation of cars is a live
• Reliable radio access and high-speed connectivity
video feed from the vehicle's on-board camera to a distant
• Transmission parameters should be tuned for both machine-
human operator so that the potential threat of the vehicle may
and user-type communications, as well as for a large number
be easily understood. The operator will then provide motion
of users/machines in a high-density environment.
commands to the vehicle based on the live footage.
• A bigger role in network design and quality assessment of
Communication networks play an important function.
subjective user experience and satisfaction.
Wireless communication technologies such as dedicated
• Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure
short-range communications and visible light communication
communication with acceptable quality, dependability, and
are currently in use, however they are not appropriate for
latency, optimized as a new class of services with different
long-distance communication. The 5G mobile network is
quality requirements.
ideal for vehicle teleoperation because it allows for longer
• Terminal mobility and speed should not degrade connection
distances to be covered while maintaining high throughput
quality significantly.
and low latency for uninterrupted video transmission.

IV. THE 5G NETWORK REQUIRMENTS
ITU has outlined the requirements for the 5G network, and
we know that the evolution of the 4G network will continue
regardless of new network features. Major requirements for
next-generation network design, service quality, and other
elements may therefore be found, which can be categorized
as follows:
• Requirements for new network functions and services in
terms of network design.
• In terms of worldwide radio access, transmission quality
and available throughput are important considerations.
• Service-type requirements, such as evolution and growth
elements of connection-type and communication-type
services.
A. Architecture Requirements
We can find the following important requirements:
• Global UDN development, particularly in cities, including
small-cells and phantom-cells concepts.
• Constant, ubiquitous communication between things.
• Infrastructure and network architecture that is scalable and
agile.
• Physical radio resources are accessed using distributed
network devices and distributed radio access.
• In a distributed architecture, cloud communication and
resource virtualization are important.
• A centralized RAN (Radio Access Network) and distributed
radio units, such as access points, radio resource elements,
relays, and so on, that are managed by eNodeB and connected
to it by an optical link, for example.
• The creation of massive MIMO communication devices.
• Advanced resource management in a heterogeneous
distributed network.
V. CONCLUSION
For global M2M communications networks, the next
generation wireless communication network has the potential
to revolutionize the world. The 5G network will be optimized
for ubiquitous machine-type communication, as shown in the
article. It ushers in a new era in the evolution of ITS. The 5G
network, which will be dedicated to M2M communications,
will be an excellent option for worldwide transportation
telematics system development. The architecture of 5G, as
proposed in the study, is particularly favorable for the
development of ITS services.
Furthermore, the 5G specifications proposed are quite
promising in terms of ITS service implementation on a global
scale.
Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are becoming
increasingly popular and well-known. This is especially true
in the context of governments' initiatives to create smart cities
and improve traffic. 5G, or fifth-generation mobile
communications, may be useful in this area.
To assist drivers and cities in making informed decisions, ITS
uses data provided by sensors in both vehicles and road
infrastructure. Existing wireless transmission systems have
proven increasingly insufficient to assure smooth
transmission of the massive volumes of data. This is where
5G, which successors 4G (LTE, WiMAX) and 3G (UMTS)
and promises data rates of up to 20 Gbps, might help.
DISCLOSURES
There is no potential for a conflict of interest among the
authors.
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