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As more connected cars hit the road, the battle for wireless spectrum increases

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DSRC services have been around for many years, using the 5.9 GHz unlicensed band. Now the wireless communications stakeholders want to launch more services, using the same spectrum, in this competitive market.

Over the past 20 years, countries leading technological innovation, such as the US, European Union, China, and Japan, have agreed to reserve a part of the 5.9 GHz frequency band for the use of intelligent transport services (ITS). The technologies using that spectrum are known as Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) systems.

In October 1999, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated 75 MHz of spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band to be used by ITS. And, in August 2008, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) allocated 30 MHz of spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band for ITS.

The US V2V standard, commonly known as Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE), builds upon the IEEE 802.11p specification using 5.9 GHz, as early as 2004. The European standard, ETSI ITS-G5, uses the same protocol.

DSRC services on the 5.9 GHz band, especially using the IEEE 802.11p standard are in operation in many cities and regions for traffic signals, emergency vehicle signal priority, intersection collision avoidance, electronic parking payments, toll collection, and other transit services.

This year, with the launch of the fifth generation cellular standard (5G), there is a renewed interest in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.

The cellular industry wants to control the 5.9 GHz band

Two key features make the 5.9 GHz band appealing to wireless communication suppliers: First, its unlicensed spectrum, which is free to use without a license fee; and second, its low-latency, which is critical for applications such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and industrial IoT.

As the automobile industry continues to integrate more intelligence and connectivity in its vehicles, the market for car electronics and communications is growing faster than other traditional applications. As a result, the cellular industry has been lobbying for exclusive use of the DSRC spectrum for the past few years.

Additionally, the cable industry wants to access the reserved frequencies for home WiFi use, enabling Gigabit speeds by using 160-MHz-wide channels.

Auto companies already using 5.9 GHz for vehicle-to-vehicle communications are concerned about expanding that use, and the potential for interference with vehicle control systems and communications.

In a 2016 letter[1] the Auto Alliance sent to US President Barack Obama, the organization argued that “the transportation sector has been actively engaged with the [cellular and WiFi] industry to determine the best method for robustly sharing the band while maintaining the integrity and reliability of previously permitted Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) systems and ensuring that the vast amount of resources already invested are not wasted.”

The letter concludes: “Those asking for delay seek to reconfigure the 5.9 GHz DSRC band in a way that would impair safety-critical applications and jeopardize their public benefits. This would sweep away more than a decade of research and development, as well as delay for perhaps another decade DSRC’s life saving benefits.”

To the cellular industry, controlling the 5.9 GHz band is not only critical to enable cellular V2X (C-V2X) services, but also eliminate competition in the connected vehicles market. The industry estimates that by 2024, 70% of IoT connections on 5G networks will be for connected vehicles and ITS.

Recently, the cellular industry won a significant battle in the European Union when the Council of Ministers reversed the previous EU Commission decision to support the ETSI ITS-G5 standard for V2X in the EU. Now, the newly elected European Commission will have to draft a new proposal to the European Parliament and Council with a “neutral” approach, letting car manufacturers and operators decide what standard to use for connected vehicles. While the 5G industry won this battle, the war is not yet over.

Securing the 5.9 GHz band for DRSC, cellular and WiFi, is important to continue developing life-saving applications for transportation, including ADAS and the future of autonomous vehicles. Allowing other uses, such as home WiFi and other cellular services, could create service disruptions and interference, making some critical systems unsafe to use.

[1] The letter was removed from the Alliance website, but can be accessed on the Web Archive


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