Optimal IRS Allocation and Relay Selection for mmWave Multi-Hop Communications for Vehicular Sensor Data Sharing

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Science
• Transportation Engineering

Background:

• Connected and automated vehicles generate high-rate sensor data requiring high-capacity, low-latency vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication.
• Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology offers high-rate transmission but suffers from non-line-of-sight (NLOS) blockages.
• Relay forwarding and Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) can improve V2V communication reliability and mitigate NLOS issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance mmWave multi-hop V2V communication for vehicular sensor data sharing in urban environments.
• To address challenges in relay selection and directional transmission coordination with IRS deployment.
• To propose an effective scheme for IRS allocation and relay selection in V2V networks.

Main Methods:

• Integrating IRS-assisted link selection into multi-hop relay forwarding strategies.
• Developing an IRS allocation and relay selection (IARS) scheme.
• Utilizing a transmission evaluation function considering inter-vehicle distance, link quality, and concurrent transmissions.

Main Results:

• The proposed IARS scheme significantly improves communication reliability in mmWave V2V networks.
• The IARS scheme effectively reduces multi-hop communication delay.
• Enhanced performance supports reliable and timely vehicular sensor data sharing.

Conclusions:

• IRS deployment is a viable strategy to improve mmWave V2V communication reliability and performance.
• The proposed IARS scheme offers an effective solution for managing IRS-assisted multi-hop V2V networks.
• This research contributes to enabling robust sensor data sharing for future urban vehicular systems.