Location-based communication

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a communication environment involving a plurality of remote transmitters communicating via respective sub-channels. As may be implemented according to one or more embodiments, for each of such sub-channels, an energy characteristic of a wireless transmission received from one of the remote transmitters and a location of the remote transmitter are respectively determined. Based on the determined energy characteristic and the location of the remote transmitter, one of the sub-channels is selected, and data to be transmitted via the selected one of the sub-channels is generated.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Aspects of various embodiments relate to apparatuses and methods that relate to communication over a medium utilized by a plurality of transmitters. Background Art

[0002] Various communication environments utilize a common medium for communication that is transmitted and / or received at various communication nodes. For example, in a vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) environment, a plurality of vehicles may communicate with each other and / or with other communication nodes such as traffic lights, devices carried by pedestrians, etc. In such a case, communication nodes may inadvertently select the same subchannel, for example when a rescheduling is needed. For example, when two or more nearby vehicles select the same subchannel, a collision and adverse co-channel interference may occur.

[0003] These problems and others pose challenges to the communication efficiency and quality of various applications. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Various example embodiments relate to various problems such as those presented above, and / or other problems that may become apparent from the following disclosures regarding shared communication media and efficiently / accurately ensuring communication.

[0005] In certain example embodiments, aspects of the present disclosure relate to utilizing location-based information to determine and select a channel / subchannel for a local communication environment. Various communication energies may also be utilized in combination with the location-based information. Generally, these methods may be used to facilitate the selection of a subchannel or other communication medium in a manner that mitigates potential problems such as those mentioned in the background art above.

[0006] In a more specific example embodiment, a method is used in a communication environment involving a plurality of remote transmitters that communicate over respective subchannels. For each of the subchannels, the energy characteristics of a wireless transmission received from one of the plurality of remote transmitters over the subchannel, and the location of the remote transmitter communicating over the subchannel are determined separately. Based on the determined energy characteristics and the location of the remote transmitter, one of the subchannels is selected, and data is generated for transmission over the selected one of the subchannels.

[0007] Another embodiment relates to an apparatus used in a communication environment involving a plurality of remote transmitters communicating via respective sub-channels. The apparatus includes respective circuitry, which may be combined in a single processor circuit, as follows. A first circuitry is configured to determine, for each of the sub-channels, an energy characteristic of a wireless transmission received via the sub-channel from one of the plurality of remote transmitters, and a location of the remote transmitter communicating via the sub-channel. A second circuitry is configured to select, based on the determined energy characteristic and the location of the remote transmitter, one of the sub-channels, and a third circuitry is configured to generate data to be transmitted via the selected one of the sub-channels.

[0008] Another embodiment relates to a method in which a plurality of wireless communications from different transmitters are performed via a cellular vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication network. Energy characteristics of each of the wireless transmissions and location data in the wireless transmissions are collected, the location data indicating a location of a transmitter that sends the wireless transmission. Based on the determined energy characteristics and location data of the respective wireless communications, a sub-channel in the V2X communication network is selected. Then, data is transmitted in the V2X communication network using the selected sub-channel.

[0009] The foregoing discussion / overview is not intended to describe every embodiment or every implementation of the present disclosure. The following drawings and detailed description also illustrate various embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Various example embodiments can be more fully understood in view of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0011] Figure 1 An apparatus and a system that can be implemented according to one or more embodiments are shown.

[0012] Figure 2 A communication device that can be implemented according to one or more embodiments is shown.

[0013] Figure 3 A method of channel selection that can be implemented according to one or more embodiments is shown; and

[0014] Figure 4 A method of using transmitter location and energy information to select a sub-channel that can be implemented according to one or more embodiments is shown.

[0015] While the various embodiments discussed herein are susceptible to modifications and alternative forms, aspects of the various embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not intended to limit the present disclosure to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the present invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present disclosure including the aspects defined in the claims. Additionally, as used throughout this application, the term "example" is merely illustrative and not limiting. Detailed Description

[0016] Aspects of the present disclosure are believed to be applicable to a variety of different types of devices, systems, and methods involving communication between corresponding circuits or vehicles located at different distances. In certain embodiments, aspects of the present disclosure have been shown to be beneficial when used in a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication environment, in which multiple vehicles in communication are in motion and share the V2X communication environment. In some embodiments, the energy associated with the communication and the location of the communication source are determined and used for the shared communication environment. For example, based on the determined energy and transmitter location, a subchannel or resource block in the V2X communication environment can be selected and used for communication in a manner that promotes sharing of communication resources and addresses problems such as those mentioned in the background art above. While not necessarily so limited, the various aspects can be understood by reference to the following non-limiting examples of exemplary contexts.

[0017] Accordingly, in the following description, various specific details are set forth in order to describe the specific examples presented herein. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that one or more other examples and / or variations of these examples may be practiced without all of the specific details given below. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the description of the examples herein. For ease of illustration, the same reference numerals may be used in different figures to refer to the same element or other instances of the same element. Likewise, although aspects and features may be described in different figures in some instances, it should be understood that features of one figure or embodiment may be combined with features of another figure or embodiment, even if the combination is not explicitly shown or explicitly described as a combination.

[0018] Aspects of the present invention relate to the use of potential information related to the location of a transmitter, which can be used to improve communication performance of, for example, a V2X link used in a centralized and / or distributed mode. More specifically, a subchannel can be selected based on a current subchannel used by other transmitters operating in a local environment and using location information associated with the other transmitters. For example, the weight of subchannel communication performed by a transmitter located at a relatively long distance (e.g., near the outer range of communication) can be reduced or otherwise determined in a manner that emphasizes or preferentially avoids subchannels used by closer transmitters. When used in conjunction with V2X communication, this will facilitate communication in a manner that reduces conflicts or other problems related to communication between vehicles in close proximity to each other.

[0019] As defined in Release 14 of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), various embodiments relate to C-V2X (Cellular-V2X) Mode 4 communication, which explicitly supports vehicle communication in the absence of network coverage. The energy and source location of communication using C-V2X are used to reduce the problem of two vehicles inadvertently selecting the same subchannel, such as when rescheduling is required. This can reduce conflicts and co-channel interference. For example, by reusing subchannels utilized by vehicles at geographically distant locations, conflicts in communication with nearby vehicles can be reduced. Thus, in combination with some embodiments, the distributed subchannel scheduling scheme is based on unsupervised learning, whereby vehicles can minimize the occurrence and impact of conflicts by leveraging both geographical location and received power. By effectively utilizing sidelink subchannels, the reliability of short-range vehicle-to-vehicle links can be improved.

[0020] According to one or more embodiments herein, one or more transmitters can use each subchannel. For example, each transmitter can use a resource block of a relevant communication medium as a time-frequency block in a subchannel.

[0021] Various embodiments relate to implementation in a communication environment in which each transmitter autonomously selects its own subchannel for communication. For example, in the absence of network coverage, such an approach can involve V2X communication, such as C-V2X Mode 4. The subchannel scheduling scheme is implemented in three phases: (1) a power monitoring phase, (2) a sorting phase, and (3) a selection phase. This scheduling can be performed at each transmitter and can be done autonomously. In the monitoring phase, the received power intensity on the subchannels that can be monitored is evaluated. In the sorting phase, a list is created that sorts the subchannels in ascending order of power intensity. In the selection phase, a subchannel is selected based on the sorting and location information associated with the transmitter utilizing the subchannel.

[0022] In the selection phase, randomization or pseudo-randomization can be used to select one sub-channel from among the multiple identified sub-channels, which can reduce the selection of the same sub-channel by different transmitters. For example, when vehicles in close geographical proximity encounter similar sub-channel conditions, similar candidate sub-channels can be identified, such that randomization or pseudo-randomization can facilitate the selection of different sub-channels by vehicles in close geographical proximity.

[0023] When using a common sub-channel, vehicles located at a relatively large geographical distance are less susceptible to excessive co-channel interference. Accordingly, the locations of the relevant transmissions can be processed. More specifically, although conflicts cannot be prevented due to the scarcity of sidelink sub-channels, if the sub-channel is reused at a relatively large geographical distance, the impact of co-channel interference can be reduced. In this case, it has been recognized / discovered that using location information and sub-channel energy can facilitate the selection and use of sub-channels in a manner that reduces conflicts. Accordingly, the reliability of vehicle-to-vehicle links can be utilized, especially over short distances.

[0024] Some embodiments are implemented by centralized communication, in which a particular node performs clustering based on information obtained from multiple transmitters (e.g., vehicles). This clustering can be used to select a sub-channel for each of the transmitters in the local environment.

[0025] In a more specific exemplary embodiment, as described below, a method is performed in a communication environment involving multiple remote transmitters communicating via respective sub-channels. For each of the sub-channels, the energy characteristics of a wireless transmission received from one of the remote transmitters via the sub-channel, and the location of the remote transmitter communicating via the sub-channel, are respectively determined (e.g., in a receiver). For example, the location information (e.g., data indicating GPS coordinates) in the collected transmissions can be used to determine the location. Based on the determined energy characteristics and the location of the remote transmitter, one of the sub-channels is selected, and data to be transmitted via the selected one of the sub-channels is generated. For example, based on the time period starting from initialization and / or the time period after selecting one of the sub-channels, these determination and selection steps can be repeated.

[0026] The sub-channel selection can be performed in various ways to suit a particular embodiment. In some embodiments, a sub-channel is selected such that the energy value of the sub-channel is lower than the energy values of other sub-channels in the sub-channel, and the sub-channel is collected from one of the remote transmitters, where the one remote transmitter is located at a greater distance than the other remote transmitters in the remote transmitters. In certain embodiments, data points are created for the sub-channels, where each data point indicates the energy of the wireless transmission collected on the sub-channel and the distance value of the remote transmitter from which the wireless transmission is collected (e.g., a two-dimensional data point). A sub-channel is pseudo-randomly selected from the sub-channels in a cluster that depicts a low energy value and a high distance value relative to the sub-channels in other clusters in the cluster.

[0027] The data points are grouped into clusters based on the energy value and the distance value of the corresponding data points. A cluster is selected that depicts a low energy value and a high distance value relative to other clusters in the cluster. For example, by pseudo-randomly selecting a data point, a sub-channel corresponding to one of the data points in the selected cluster is selected from the sub-channels in the cluster.

[0028] Another embodiment relates to an apparatus used in a communication environment involving remote transmitters communicating via respective sub-channels. As described below, the apparatus includes respective circuitry / circuitry systems that can be combined in a single processor circuit. A first circuitry system (e.g., including a receiver circuitry system) determines, for each of the sub-channels, the energy characteristics of the wireless transmission received from one of the remote transmitters via the sub-channel, and also determines the location of the remote transmitter communicating via the sub-channel. For example, the physical location of each transmitter can be identified using the location data arranged in the collected transmissions made by the remote transmitters. A second circuitry system selects one of the sub-channels based on the determined energy characteristics and the location of the remote transmitter, and a third circuitry system generates data to be transmitted via the selected one of the sub-channels. The first and second circuitry systems can repeat the steps of determining and selecting for a certain period of time, which can start after selecting one of the sub-channels and / or from initialization. The first, second, and third circuitry systems can be part of or constitute a common processor circuit that performs the respective functions of the first, second, and third circuitry systems.

[0029] The second circuit system selects one sub-channel among the sub-channels in one or more of various ways. In some embodiments, a sub-channel is selected such that the energy value of the sub-channel is lower than the energy values of other sub-channels in the sub-channel, and the sub-channel is collected from one of the remote transmitters, and the one remote transmitter is located at a farther distance than the other remote transmitters among the remote transmitters. For example, such a method may involve forming clusters depicting sub-channels with similar distance and energy characteristics, and selecting a sub-channel from the clusters, where the sub-channel exhibits lower energy and is located at a farther distance compared to all other clusters.

[0030] In some embodiments, the second circuit system creates data points for the sub-channels, where each data point indicates both the energy of the wireless transmission collected on the sub-channel and the distance value of the remote transmitter from which the wireless transmission is collected. The data points are grouped into clusters based on the energy value and distance value of the corresponding data points, and one cluster depicting a low energy value and a high distance value is selected relative to other clusters in the cluster. One sub-channel corresponding to one of the data points in the selected cluster is selected (e.g., pseudo-randomly) for use from the selected cluster.

[0031] Another embodiment relates to a method in which multiple wireless communications from different transmitters are performed via a cellular V2X communication network. For example, the wireless communications may be distributed communications where each of the transmitters autonomously selects its own sub-channel. The energy characteristics of each of the wireless transmissions and the location data indicating the location of the transmitter through which the wireless transmission is sent are collected. Based on the determined energy characteristics and location data of the corresponding wireless communications, a sub-channel in the V2X communication network is selected. Then, the selected sub-channel is used to transmit data in the V2X communication network. In various embodiments, the transmitters share the V2X communication network through a time-frequency resource block pool, and the energy characteristics and location data are determined for each communication received from different transmitters in the corresponding time-frequency resource block.

[0032] In some embodiments, a sub-channel in the V2X communication network is selected by creating data points for the sub-channels, where each data point indicates the energy of the wireless transmission collected on the sub-channel and the distance value of the transmitter from which the wireless transmission is collected. The data points are grouped into clusters based on the energy value and distance value of the corresponding data points, and one cluster depicting a low energy value and a high distance value is selected (relative to other clusters in the cluster). One sub-channel corresponding to one of the data points in the selected cluster is selected from the selected cluster.

[0033] Now referring to the drawings, Figure 1Device 110 and system 100 are shown that may be implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. By way of example, a number of vehicles 101-105 participating in a wireless communication environment are shown, as well as additional non-vehicle communication nodes 106 (e.g., devices carried by traffic infrastructure or pedestrians). In various applications, there may be more or fewer communication nodes. Device 110 is shown implemented in conjunction with vehicle 101 and includes block 111 and block 112 for determining the distance and energy, respectively, of a signal received from a remote transmitter, as in other vehicles 102-105 and node 106. Sub-channel selection block 113 utilizes the distance and energy information at blocks 111 and 112 to select a sub-channel for communication.

[0034] Device 110 and the corresponding blocks therein may be implemented in a number of ways, such as the selection method. For example, distance determination block 111, energy determination block 112, and sub-channel selection block 113 may be implemented in a common processor circuit that receives signals from a remote transmitter and generates an output indicating the selected sub-channel. Additionally, for example, sub-channel selection at block 113 may use one or more methods as discussed above and / or as shown and described in conjunction with Figure 3 and 4 as shown and described.

[0035] In a particular implementation, device 110 operates as follows, where various remote transmitters operate in the environment of system 100 over a number of sub-channels. For each of the sub-channels over which communication is obtained, distance block 111 determines the distance (e.g., location) of a transmitter in one of the other vehicles 102-105 or node 106 transmitting over the sub-channel relative to vehicle 101. Energy block 112 determines the energy characteristics of the transmission received from one of the transmitters over the sub-channel. Sub-channel selection block 113 selects one of the sub-channels based on the determined energy characteristics and the location of the remote transmitter. Data may then be generated from vehicle 101 for transmission over the selected one of the sub-channels.

[0036] Figure 2FIG. 200 illustrates a device 200 that may be implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. The device 200 is configured to communicate with a plurality of remote transmitters, including the remote transmitter device 260 depicted by way of example. The device 200 includes a transmitter circuit 211 and a receiver circuit 212, as well as an antenna 213 through which signals are received and transmitted and processed by a receiver processor 250 and a transmitter processor 220, respectively. The device 200 also includes a controller / processor circuit 230 that includes a distance evaluation block 231, an energy evaluation block 232, and a sub-channel selection block 233. The distance evaluation block 231 and the energy evaluation block 232 are used to evaluate the distance and energy of received communications conducted on respective sub-channels, and the sub-channel selection block 233 utilizes this information to select a sub-channel through which to send a transmission. A memory 240 may be used to store information (e.g., algorithms) for sub-channel selection and other information to facilitate the operation of the device 200. Data indicating the selected sub-channel is used in generating a transmission to be sent via the transmitter processor 220, the transmitter 211, and the antenna 213. Each of the components within the device 200 may be implemented in a common circuit, as represented by the dashed lines shown.

[0037] The remote transmitter device 260 may be implemented in a variety of ways. By way of example, the remote transmitter device 260 includes a receiver circuit 261, a transmitter circuit 262, an antenna 263, a transmitter processor circuit 264, and a receiver processor circuit 267. A controller / processor circuit 265 operates with a memory 266 to control the sending and receiving of signals and associated processing. In some cases, the controller / processor circuit 265 also includes a distance evaluation block, an energy evaluation block, and a sub-channel selection block, as shown for the controller / processor circuit 230.

[0038] Various embodiments may further relate to a system that includes a combination of the device 200 and the transmitter device 260, and / or a plurality of additional transmitter devices, such as the device depicted for the device 260. For example, the device 200 may be implemented as a device 110 in a Figure 1 vehicle 101, where the controller / processor circuit 230 employs the distance evaluation block 231 as block 111, the energy evaluation block 232 as block 112, and the sub-channel selection block 233 as block 113.

[0039] Referring to Figure 3, which shows a method of channel selection that can be implemented according to one or more embodiments. At block 310, the energy in the respective subchannels through which communication is received is sensed, and the location where each subchannel is being used is decoded from the received communication. This decoding can include, for example, determining data from the communication that indicates the geographical location included in the remote transmitter that sent the communication. A set of 2D data points is generated at block 330, where the data points include the energy and location information of the subchannels, and the data points are classified into clusters at block 340. At block 350, the cluster of data points with low energy and the farthest location (relative to the transmitter performing channel selection) is identified, and a subchannel is randomly / pseudo-randomly selected from the selected cluster at block 360. Then, the selected subchannel is utilized at block 370, and this can be done within a predetermined amount of time, after which the process can be repeated (e.g., starting from block 310) to select a new subchannel. For example, this method can be used in combination with subchannel selection at block 113 or block 233.

[0040] Thus, when available, the geographical location of the transmission source using a particular subchannel can be utilized, and the severity of subchannel conflicts can be mitigated. For example, subchannel reuse can be limited to those subchannels utilized by vehicles (or other transmitter sources) that are farther apart. In a particular embodiment, a 2D (two-dimensional) set of points can be normalized to the range [0 1] (with respect to each dimension). The data points with the normalized values are partitioned into a number of disjoint groups using the k-means clustering technique, where each group is called a cluster. For example, k-means clustering can be utilized by partitioning a number (n) of observations (distance and energy points) into a number (k) of clusters, where each observation belongs to the cluster with the closest mean, which serves as the prototype of the cluster. The subchannels can be grouped based on the mutual similarity of the characteristics of the subchannels: power and location. In this case, the clusters where the subchannels have low energy and the corresponding locations are far can be targeted to allocate and select subchannels from those clusters. As will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art, various specific clustering methods can be implemented in combination with the aspects characterized herein. See, for example, MacKay David's "Chapter 20. An Example Inference Task: Clustering", Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms, Cambridge University Press, pp. 284 - 292 (2003).

[0041] In a more specific embodiment, Figure 4 shows a method of selecting subchannels using transmitter location and energy information that can be implemented according to one or more embodiments. At block 400, the subchannel evaluation and selection process is initialized at time t = 0, starting with the evaluation process as long as time t does not exceed the set time T SPS(As described at block 410), the evaluation process continues for communications received over the respective subchannels. Evaluation of the energy of the received communication begins at block 411, where for each monitorable subchannel s k , the energy ε received for the communication is recorded and stored at block 412 k . At block 413, the SINR (signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio) is calculated for each subchannel s k . If this SINR is high enough at block 420 (e.g., γ k > γ T ), then the received signal (packet) is decoded at block 421 and the location information of the transmitter (e.g., vehicle) using the subchannel is obtained. If the SINR is not high enough at block 420, then it may be assumed that the location of vehicle pk is as far as indicated at block 422, in which case the subchannel is considered to be at an infinite distance from the receiver. Alternatively, if the SINR is not high enough at block 420, then the subchannel may simply not be used. The location data pk is stored at block 423

[0042] The process continues at block 410 until the sensing phase ends (when t = T SPS ), after which the values ε k and p k are normalized to the range [0 1]. At this point, subchannels for which an infinite value has been assigned to their location may update the location of the subchannel to be equal to the furthest decoded distance among the subchannels from which location information was decoded. The normalized values are indicated by . At block 431, 2D data points including energy and location are created and the 2D data points are classified into clusters using the k-means algorithm at block 432. At block 433, the cluster with subchannels having relatively low energy and far locations is selected, and at block 434, one subchannel from the selected cluster is randomly / pseudo-randomly selected for transmission (e.g., semi-persistent transmission).

[0043] Those skilled in the art will recognize that, unless otherwise indicated, the various terms used in the specification (including the claims) denote simple meanings in the art. By way of example, the specification describes and / or illustrates useful aspects of implementing the claimed disclosure through various circuits or circuit systems, which may be described as or used as terms such as blocks, modules, devices, systems, units, controllers, transmitters, subchannel selectors / collectors, and / or descriptions of other circuit types (e.g., Figure 1 reference numerals 120 to 122 and Figure 2The reference numerals 230 and 265 (which may describe the blocks / modules described herein) of the accompanying drawings. Such circuits or circuit systems are used in conjunction with other elements to illustrate, by way of example, how certain embodiments may be implemented in terms of form or structure, steps, functions, operations, activities, etc. For example, in some of the above embodiments, one or more modules are discrete logic circuits or programmable logic circuits configured and arranged to implement these operations / activities, as may be performed in the method shown in Figures 3 to 4 As shown. In some embodiments, such programmable circuits are one or more computer circuits, including memory circuits for storing and accessing programs that are executed as one (or more) instruction sets (and / or used as configuration data defining the manner in which the programmable circuits execute), and the programmable circuits use the algorithms or processes shown and described in conjunction with Figure 3 and / or 4 to perform the relevant steps, functions, operations, activities, etc. Depending on the application, the instructions (and / or configuration data) may be configured to be implemented in a logic circuit, where the instructions (regardless of whether they are represented in the form of object code, firmware, or software) are stored in and accessible from the memory (circuit). As another example, in a specification where reference may be made to "a first [structural type]", "a second [structural type]", etc., where [structural type] may be replaced with terms such as ["circuit", "circuit system", and others], the adjectives "first" and "second" are not used to indicate any description of the structure or provide any substantial meaning; rather, such adjectives are only used in the English language for antecedents to distinguish one similarly named structure from another similarly named structure (e.g., "the first circuit configured to convert..." is interpreted as "the circuit configured to convert...").

[0044] Based on the above discussion and description, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that various modifications and changes may be made to the various embodiments without strictly following the exemplary embodiments and applications shown and described herein. For example, the methods illustrated in the drawings may include steps performed in various orders, where one or more aspects of the embodiments herein are retained, or may include fewer or more steps. For example, the components 121 and 122 for determining the distance and energy of communication and the sub-channel selection component 120 may be implanted in a common circuit. As another example, determining the location and energy of the sub-channel may be performed simultaneously or in any order. Such modifications do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the various aspects of the present disclosure, including the aspects set forth in the claims.

Claims

1. A method for use in a communication environment involving a plurality of remote transmitters communicating over respective sub-channels, characterized in that, the method comprises: for each of the sub-channels, determining, the energy characteristics of a wireless transmission received from one of the plurality of remote transmitters over the sub-channel, and the location of the remote transmitter communicating over the sub-channel; selecting one of the sub-channels based on the determined energy characteristics and the location of the remote transmitter; and generating data for transmission over the selected one of the sub-channels; wherein selecting the one of the sub-channels comprises: creating data points for the sub-channel, each data point indicating the energy of the wireless transmission collected on the sub-channel and a distance value of the remote transmitter from which the wireless transmission was collected; grouping the data points into clusters based on the energy value and the distance value of the respective data points; selecting, relative to other clusters in the cluster, one cluster in the cluster depicting a low energy value and a high distance value; and selecting one of the sub-channels corresponding to one of the data points in the selected cluster.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, selecting the one of the sub-channels comprises selecting one of the sub-channels having the following characteristics: an energy value lower than the energy values of the other sub-channels, and being collected from one of the remote transmitters, the one remote transmitter being located at a greater distance than the other remote transmitters.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, selecting one of the sub-channels corresponding to one of the data points in the selected cluster comprises: pseudo-randomly selecting one of the data points in the selected cluster.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, determining the location of each remote transmitter comprises using location information in the collected transmissions from the remote transmitters.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the step of making the determination is performed in a receiver.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, further comprising repeating the determination and the selection steps based on a time period occurring after selecting the one of the sub-channels.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, selecting the one of the sub-channels comprises: for each wireless transmission, grouping data indicating the energy value and the distance value of the remote transmitter from which the wireless transmission was collected into a cluster, the cluster including data from other wireless transmissions in the wireless transmission, the grouping being based on the energy value and the distance value of the data; and pseudo-randomly selecting one of the sub-channels in one cluster in the cluster depicting a low energy value and a high distance value relative to other clusters in the cluster.

8. An apparatus for use in a communication environment involving a plurality of remote transmitters communicating over respective sub-channels, wherein, the apparatus comprises: a first circuitry configured to determine, for each of the sub-channels, an energy characteristic of a wireless transmission received from one of the plurality of remote transmitters over the sub-channel, and a location of the remote transmitter communicating over the sub-channel; a second circuitry configured to select one of the sub-channels based on the determined energy characteristic and the location of the remote transmitter, wherein the second circuitry selecting one of the sub-channels comprises: creating data points for the sub-channel, each data point indicating the energy of the wireless transmission collected on the sub-channel and a distance value of the remote transmitter from which the wireless transmission was collected; grouping the data points into clusters based on the energy value and the distance value of the respective data points; selecting, relative to other clusters in the cluster, one cluster in the cluster that depicts a low energy value and a high distance value; and selecting one of the sub-channels corresponding to one of the data points in the selected cluster; and a third circuitry configured to generate data to be transmitted over the selected one of the sub-channels.

9. A method, wherein, comprises: determining, for each of a plurality of wireless communications by different transmitters over a cellular vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication network, an energy characteristic of the wireless transmission and location data in the wireless transmission, the location data indicating a location of the transmitter that sent the wireless transmission; selecting a sub-channel in the V2X communication network based on the determined energy characteristic and location data of the respective wireless communication, selecting the sub-channel comprising: creating data points for the sub-channel, each data point indicating the energy of the wireless transmission collected on the sub-channel and a distance value of the remote transmitter from which the wireless transmission was collected; grouping the data points into clusters based on the energy value and the distance value of the respective data points; selecting, relative to other clusters in the cluster, one cluster in the cluster that depicts a low energy value and a high distance value; and selecting one of the sub-channels corresponding to one of the data points in the selected cluster; and transmitting data in the V2X communication network using the selected sub-channel.

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