Integrating Connected Vehicles into IoT Ecosystems: A Comparative Study of Low-Power, Long-Range Communication...

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Science
• Transportation Engineering

Background:

• The integration of road vehicles into the Internet of Things (IoT) is crucial for advancing connected and smart transportation systems.
• Existing communication technologies require evaluation for their suitability in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-IoT (V2IoT) applications, balancing performance with cost.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of low-power, long-range (LPLR) communication technologies for V2I and V2IoT ecosystem interactions.
• To compare the performance of Bluetooth Classic BR-EDR, Bluetooth LE, ZigBee, nRF24, and LoRa in real-world transportation environments.

Main Methods:

• Conducted field tests using point-to-point communication between roadside units (RSUs) and onboard units (OBUs) in vehicles.
• Evaluated communication range, messaging rate, error rate, and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) geographical data.
• Tested modules across diverse environments: open-field inter-urban, forest inter-urban, and urban roads.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the practical usability of selected LPLR technologies for vehicle integration into IoT ecosystems.
• Quantified performance metrics across different communication modules and environmental conditions.
• Confirmed the potential for cost-effective and scalable deployment of these technologies.

Conclusions:

• The evaluated LPLR communication technologies are suitable for integrating vehicles into smart transportation systems.
• These technologies facilitate seamless V2I services and private IoT system interactions.
• The findings support the development of scalable and economically viable connected vehicle solutions.