CVIS partners Efkon, Volvo Technology and Q-Free held a meeting with metropolitan wireless system vendors Cisco Systems, LastMile Communications and Skypilot, while Traffic Wales attended as a potential wireless network operator. DaimlerChrysler represented the Car-to-Car Communication Consortium.
CVIS is developing an integrated platform for installation in the vehicle and roadside equipment to allow vehicles to interact with each other and with equipped roadside systems. This platform will be based on interoperable wireless communication standards such as Wi-Fi (wireless LAN), DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication), GSM/UMTS (2nd and 3rd generation cellular telephony), and infrared.
However the current Wi-Fi standard does not support mobile use, CVIS technologies will thus adopt the new ISO standard (“CALM”, or “continuous air interface for long and medium range communications”), suitable for moving vehicles.
The objective of the 24 May meeting was to encourage the suppliers and operators of metropolitan networks to adapt future infrastructure deployment to enable use by vehicles. If this is not done, there is a risk that tomorrow’s vehicles, equipped with a CVIS-compliant network platform, will not be interoperable with the existing metropolitan wireless networks. CVIS Partners presented the requirements to enable such interoperability and thereby allow vehicle-based users to take advantage of city-wide broadband connectivity.
Indeed, today metropolitan wireless networks are being deployed in a rapidly growing number of cities throughout the world. The technologies used are a mix of “mesh networks” of many Wi-Fi hot-spots, each covering a few hundred metres, and a new standard called “Wi-MAX” that can provide wireless broadband connectivity over an area of several kilometres. Both these systems are much less expensive to deploy than a cellular network such as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), and user terminals should also be available at reasonable cost.
Topics of discussion included frequency allocation, the co-existence of different network media, mobile Internet access, authentication issues, data security and support for geo addressing (addressing vehicles by their location rather than their network address). Participants agreed that increased cooperation would be beneficial for all involved. A decision was therefore taken to start a contact group that will meet at regular intervals in order to maintain a dialogue between the players active in the area of city-wide wireless communication, and work towards the mutual adoption of fully interoperable technologies.
For more information, please contact Zeljko Jeftic, leader of the CVIS CAG Subproject.
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