Millimeter wave communication in vehicular networks: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

The next generations of vehicles are expected to support advanced services, such as object detection and recognition, risk identification and avoidance, car platooning, and others, which will require data transmission rates of the order of gigabits per driving hour. This unprecedented amount of data to be exchanged goes beyond the capabilities of existing communication technologies and calls for new solutions. In this regard, the millimeter wave (mmWave) band is very appealing due to the potentially huge bitrates that can be achieved through mmWave links. This potential, however, is hindered by the harsh nature of the mmWave transmission channel, even more so in an automotive environment. This paper investigates the challenges that need to be addressed in order to enable mmWave automotive scenarios. Furthermore, we provide a preliminary analysis of coverage and connectivity in an automotive communication scenario based on mmWave links.