IoT experts explain China Unicom's Internet of Vehicles strategy

The Internet of Vehicles is the most important component of the Internet of Things. It is estimated that by 2020, the scale of my country's Internet of Vehicles market will exceed 50 billion yuan, with huge room for growth.

1

A brief introduction to the Internet of Vehicles

The Internet of Vehicles, also known as V2X, is the interconnection of vehicles and everything else. It is the use of new generation information and communication technologies to achieve all-round network connections within the car, between cars, between cars and roads, between cars and people, and between cars and the Internet, thereby improving the level of vehicle intelligence and autonomous driving capabilities. It is also a necessary prerequisite for the realization of autonomous driving vehicles. (For details, see: Clearing the fog, one article to understand the "routine" of the autonomous driving industry )

Autonomous driving = single vehicle intelligence + vehicle networking

Source: Guojin Securities

The Internet of Vehicles industry chain is very long, covering automobile manufacturers, automobile information service operators, content service providers, terminal equipment manufacturers, communication operators, etc. The mobile communication network is the central nervous system of the entire Internet of Vehicles industry, and communication operators undoubtedly play a pivotal role in the Internet of Vehicles ecosystem.

In addition, the growth of human-to-human connections is weak, and the Internet of Vehicles is a new breakthrough for communication operators to increase profits. For this reason, both foreign and domestic operators have made layouts in the vehicle network market.

International Operators and Internet of Vehicles

Source: Dedian Consulting

Domestically, China Unicom attaches great importance to the development of the Internet of Vehicles. In 2015, it established a subsidiary for the Internet of Vehicles, China Unicom Zhiwang Technology Co., Ltd., which has a first-mover advantage. It has implemented automotive information projects with 36 domestic and foreign vehicle manufacturers, including SAIC, FAW, BMW, Audi, Volvo, and Tesla. According to data at the end of 2016, it has an 80% market share in the Internet of Vehicles pre-installed communication service market.

The business is mainly based on 2/3G. With the commercialization of 4G LTE, China Unicom's advantage in the network has weakened. When the Internet of Vehicles transitions to the 4G network in the future, industry competition will be more intense.

However, Kang Zhao, editor-in-chief of Operator World Network, believes that as one of the three major operators, China Unicom has its own advantages in car networking. Unlike other companies engaged in car networking, China Unicom has the ability to integrate systems and can connect various devices together to make an overall plan instead of just providing a module. Because car networking will use the network and traffic, China Unicom has the advantage of tariffs, and at the same time, it also has the brand advantage accumulated over the years.

In October this year, China Unicom Network Research Institute and its partners jointly released the "China Unicom Internet of Vehicles White Paper", which elaborated on China Unicom's 5G-oriented network evolution, Internet of Vehicles research layout, and research practices of key technologies.

Next, combined with the interpretation of the Internet of Vehicles by Dr. Qiu Jiahui, Researcher Chen Yi, Researcher Liu Shan, and Dr. Liu Qi from China Unicom’s Network Research Institute, we will provide an overall introduction to Unicom’s Internet of Vehicles development strategy.

2

Development route

V2X Network Evolution

The current Internet of Vehicles is mainly based on LTE-V2X, and the goal of LTE-eV2X is to further enhance its capabilities while maintaining compatibility with LTE-V2X. In the future, the Internet of Vehicles will be a state where 5G-V2X and LTE-eV2X coexist, mainly realizing 25 application scenarios related to autonomous driving, including platooning, advanced driving, sensor information interaction, and remote driving.

China Unicom's Internet of Vehicles will build a multi-dimensional three-dimensional network to provide support and services for the diversification of Internet of Vehicles business, focus on deployment in key areas, accelerate the maturity of LTE-V technology, and explore the development path of smooth docking with 5G-V2X.

Timetable for the construction of Internet of Vehicles

The preliminary deployment plan and schedule are shown in the figure, which can be divided into four stages:

The first phase (2017-2018) will focus on building open laboratories, carrying out extensive industry exchanges and cooperation, building a vehicle networking test base and conducting typical scenario business demonstrations;

The second phase (2019) will verify the LTE-V2X network and conduct pre-commercial deployment of LTE-V2X-based assisted driving services, including active safety, traffic efficiency and infotainment services.

The third phase (2020-2021) will achieve large-scale promotion of assisted driving services and carry out pilot deployments based on 5G-V2X vehicle networking services to lay the foundation for autonomous driving.

The fourth phase (2022-) will carry out 5G-V2X autonomous driving tests and pilot promotions.

3

Overall architecture

China Unicom adopts a unified architecture of "terminal-network-platform-application" to achieve the smooth evolution of the Internet of Vehicles, create an open network platform, and attract automobile companies and third-party companies to establish long-term cooperative relationships.

Cloud-network collaborative integrated network architecture

In terms of terminals , V2V, V2I, V2P and V2N communications are realized, and roadside units and vehicle-mounted units are established. Roadside facility information is transmitted and managed through the network, and RSU is deployed quickly, flexibly and at low cost. In addition, car companies mainly rely on ADAS systems to achieve assisted driving. In order to penetrate cellular network-based V2X into car companies, operators need to consider the combination of vehicle-mounted ADAS systems and V2X, realize the enhancement of ADAS systems, and complete information interaction and transmission.

In terms of network , China Unicom is building a three-dimensional communication network, which realizes multi-mode access, direct vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity, and vehicle-to-vehicle communication that supports a variety of low-latency and high-reliability services both horizontally and vertically.

Horizontally, 3/4/5G networks can coexist, and different networks and technologies can be selected according to different business needs to achieve multi-mode communication. Vertically, seamless connectivity between vehicles can be achieved. When there is network coverage, vehicle-to-vehicle communication can be achieved through base stations, and when there is no network coverage, direct communication between vehicles can be achieved through V2V.

In order to enhance the low-latency and high-reliability services based on base station communications, it is considered to deploy optical fiber transmission pipelines along the highway and introduce mobile multi-access edge computing (EMC) to achieve business sinking and reduce network transmission latency.

Realizing Internet of Vehicles Applications Based on MEC Platform

The main features of driving safety services in the Internet of Vehicles are low latency and high reliability. In terms of latency requirements, assisted driving requires 20-100ms, while autonomous driving requires a latency as low as 3ms. Edge cloud is one of the enabling technologies for realizing low-latency services in existing mobile networks.

In terms of platform , we will build an integrated Internet of Vehicles platform to achieve vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-cloud collaboration.

Core features of the Internet of Vehicles collaborative cloud platform

In terms of business applications , China Unicom will develop in an integrated and diversified direction with "Telematics—Intelligent Networking—Intelligent Transportation" as its basic route.

The existing Telematics business will be retained, while V2X business will be added. This phase will realize active safety, traffic management, information services, etc.

Active safety: intersection collision avoidance, forward braking reminder, overtaking reminder, etc.

Traffic management: traffic light speed guidance, traffic information and route planning, etc.

Information services: car-sharing, points of interest reminders, charging station guidance, etc.

In the 5G stage, the Internet of Vehicles will realize autonomous driving functions , including platoon driving, information sharing, offline driving, etc. , while focusing on the integration and complementarity of Telematics and V2X services.

China Unicom's Internet of Vehicles overall architecture

4

Industry Role

In the traditional Internet of Vehicles industry chain, users are served not only by car manufacturers and 4S stores, but also by Internet application providers, software and hardware providers, automotive teleservice providers and telecom operators. Among them, 4S stores, automotive aftermarket equipment providers and telecom operators directly serve users, while other industries serve users indirectly. In the future, the industry chain will present a staggered model of various industries, and the flow of funds will also be multi-directional and rapid.

Schematic diagram of the Internet of Vehicles industry chain

For telecom operators, the IoV industry is in a period of transformation, and the roles of operators are also changing. Traditional operators mainly provide communication channels, maintain network stability and security, and rely on traffic operations as their main revenue source. As the IoV industry changes, operators are also exploring new service roles and are beginning to transform towards building IoV platforms and operating IoV businesses, creating new revenue opportunities.

Currently, China Unicom is exploring transformation in the following three ways:

1) Build a telematics business operation platform. For example, China Unicom provides a telematics service support platform that provides a wealth of in-vehicle information services;

2) Providing Internet of Vehicles network solutions to automakers based on network experience. For example, Verizon uses 4G networks and cloud computing platforms to provide a full set of network connection solutions to automakers, etc.

3) Carry out bundled sales of IoV-related software and hardware based on traffic advantages. For example, AT&T focuses on IoV traffic management and IoV software and hardware bundled sales.

5

Key technology exploration

High-precision positioning

Position information provides an important reference for the realization of Internet of Vehicles services. The more accurate the position information is, the higher the reliability of Internet of Vehicles services will be. Therefore, high-precision positioning research is one of the key technologies for realizing Internet of Vehicles services. The wireless positioning system mainly consists of two parts, including information extraction and position calculation.

Schematic diagram of wireless positioning system

Information extraction : Objects that can be used for positioning include wireless signals, sensors, and map information, and different objects extract different positioning information parameters. These parameters are the premise for the next step of location estimation.

Position calculation : The positioning algorithm is a key factor affecting the performance of the entire positioning system. On the one hand, the positioning algorithm is required to have good accuracy, and on the other hand, the positioning system is required to have low complexity and latency. The balance between accuracy and complexity is an important factor to consider in the development of positioning systems. Depending on the extracted parameters, the positioning algorithms used are also different. In addition, in high-precision positioning systems, a hybrid positioning algorithm that fuses multi-source information is usually used.

Internet of Vehicles Information Security

As an important application of low-latency, high-reliability communications, the information security of the Internet of Vehicles is also taken seriously. As the application scope of the Internet of Vehicles continues to expand, security attacks will also increase accordingly. Under the basic network architecture of the Internet of Vehicles "end-pipe-cloud", every link is the focus of information security protection.

Internet of Vehicles The industry chain is relatively long , involving terminal equipment, communication equipment, and cloud management and service platforms. The manufacturers involved include component suppliers, equipment manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers, software and hardware technology providers, communication service providers, information service providers, etc., including control security, data security, functional safety and other aspects.

There are many aspects of Internet of Vehicles security protection and complex network security issues. The parts that are vulnerable to attacks mainly include:

Terminals : infotainment system, T-box, CAN network, key; Apps on mobile phones and watches; OBD devices connected to the CAN network, etc.;

Management : including communication from the car machine, T-box to the backend, and communication from the App to the backend, etc.; V2X is the key technology for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and there is a lack of corresponding mechanisms for the detection, isolation and punishment of untrusted nodes;

Cloud : The cloud server where the TSP backend is located, etc.

In solving the network security strategy of the Internet of Vehicles, different security protection measures are taken for different parts of the connection.

Information security protection measures for Internet of Vehicles

Conclusion

There are many participants in the Internet of Vehicles, and the industry's focus is generally on car manufacturers and terminal vendors, often ignoring operators. Stepping out of the framework and looking at the entire industry from the perspective of operators may bring some new insights to the market.

Exclusive compilation of Global Internet of Things Observation

Please indicate the source

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