An Introduction to 5G

20Release 16 and Beyond

In this final chapter, we will address the enhancements that are being made to the 5G system as part of Releases 16 and 17. The main topics include vehicle communications, location services, integrated access and backhaul, non‐terrestrial networks and massive machine‐type communications. We will also address a number of other enhancements towards the end of the chapter, and proposals for the longer term.

20.1 Vehicle‐to‐everything (V2X) Communications

20.1.1 Introduction

Vehicle‐to‐everything (V2X) communication refers to the exchange of information to and from a road vehicle. Such communication is part of an intelligent transport system (ITS), in other words a system in which information and communication technologies are applied in the field of road transport; it is often used to support the operation of driverless cars and other autonomous vehicles. The term everything covers communications with other vehicles (V2V), pedestrians (V2P), servers based in the network (V2N) and infrastructure elements (V2I) that are known as roadside units (RSUs).

LTE was enhanced to offer basic support for vehicle communication as part of 3GPP Release 14 [1,2]. However, that was limited by LTE's capabilities for data rate, latency and reliability, and simply allows vehicles to exchange information such as their position, speed and direction of travel, and to disseminate urgent messages such as a warning of a possible collision.

5G is enhanced to support vehicle communications ...