NR V2X Communications at Millimeter Waves: An End-to-End Performance Evaluation

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the end-to-end performance of millimeter wave vehicle-to-vehicle communications based on the latest 3GPP NR V2X standard, using a new ns-3 module called MilliCar to analyze various propagation and system parameters.

Contribution

It introduces MilliCar, a new ns-3 module for NR V2X mmWave simulations, and provides comprehensive performance evaluation and deployment guidelines.

Findings

Propagation scenario significantly affects V2V performance

System parameters like inter-vehicle distance impact communication quality

Optimal configuration depends on specific deployment conditions

Abstract

3GPP NR V2X represents the new 3GPP standard for next-generation vehicular systems which, among other innovations, supports vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) operations in the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum to address the communication requirements of future intelligent automotive networks. While mmWaves will enable massive data rates and low latency, the propagation characteristics at very high frequencies become very challenging, thereby calling for accurate performance evaluations as a means to properly assess the performance of such systems. Along these lines, in this paper MilliCar, the new ns-3 module based on the latest NR V2X specifications, is used to provide an end-to-end performance evaluation of mmWave V2V networks. We investigate the impact of different propagation scenarios and system parameters, including the inter-vehicle distance, the adopted frame numerology, and the modulation and coding scheme, and provide guidelines towards the most promising V2V deployment configurations.