New research has found that everyday traffic, including cars and trucks, can seriously disrupt the 5G signals needed to run future intelligent transportation systems.
University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh conducted a study for TransiT, a national UK research hub using digital twins to identify the fastest, lowest-cost pathways to transportation decarbonization in the UK.
The work highlights major challenges to the operation of driverless vehicles and digital twins – digital replicas of objects, processes or systems in the physical world that are increasingly being used to improve the efficiency and sustainability of transportation through functions including predictive maintenance and route optimization.
The fifth-generation wireless technology 5G offers faster speeds and greater data capacity, enabling applications like intelligent transport systems, where vehicles communicate with each other and infrastructure to enhance transport safety, efficiency, and sustainability.
Dr Mohammad Al-Quraan, a research associate in autonomous systems and connectivity at the University of Glasgow, explained, “Driverless vehicles and digital twins both rely on ultra-reliable, uninterrupted communication systems that can transmit data at high speed and in real time – like ‘5G and beyond’ technologies.
“These are needed to ensure that driverless vehicles are continuously connected to the operations centers controlling them, and that digital twins can exchange decisions instantly – or in near to real time – with their physical counterparts in the real world.
“But our research shows that even next-generation communication technologies like 5G are vulnerable to blockages from obstacles like vehicles and pedestrians – which highlights the need for new innovations in this area.”
To understand how traffic affects 5G performance, the team built a detailed simulation of a 160m stretch of urban road representing a typical two-lane dual carriageway.
This included driverless connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), which use sensors including cameras and radar to monitor their surroundings and send a continuous flow of high-resolution data to their control centers, using high-speed two-directional communication links.
The researchers also modeled conventional cars, vans, trucks and buses traveling at realistic speeds of 10mph to 70mph. They then evaluated 5G signal performance under three scenarios: varying levels of traffic congestion (low, medium, high), and changes in both the number and height of roadside units along the road.
The results show that heavier traffic leads to more frequent blockages and weaker signals. Under high congestion, the main 5G link dropped in signal strength by about 20% compared to light traffic. The researchers say this could cause delays in sending sensor data or even force vehicles to fall back to slower 4G networks.
The team also found that raising the height of roadside 5G units can reduce blockages. At around 1m, all blockages disappeared in their tests. But placing antennas too high can weaken the signal due to distance, so planners must balance height with performance.
In very busy traffic, extra units sometimes increase the chance of both main and backup links being blocked at the same time. This suggests that simply installing more 5G equipment is not enough; smarter planning and coordination are needed.
Dr Al-Quraan said, “These 5G signals are very sensitive and even a car passing in front of them can cause a huge loss. Our research highlights the need for resilient communication systems that can predict and avoid blockages like these, so autonomous vehicles and digital twins have the connectivity they need to operate in our future decarbonized transport networks.”
The researchers suggested that using artificial intelligence could help predict signal disruptions, enabling 5G and future networks to maintain seamless, uninterrupted communication.
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