Teleoperation Route Planning for Cellular Coverage Gaps
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Solution Overview
Problem
The availability and coverage of cellular networks are not spatially homogeneous over road networks and can be constant over time, leading to temporary lack of sufficient wireless connections, which hinders or adversely affects the remote operation of vehicle fleets.
Innovation Solution
A method where a network node in the cellular network receives a route request from a teleoperation server, determines an optimal teleoperation route ensuring safe remote operation, and transmits a route suggestion when the cellular network does not allow for safe remote operation along the requested route, using techniques such as Monte Carlo algorithms and weighted shortest path algorithms to ensure reliable wireless connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a teleoperation server remotely operates a vehicle fleet via wireless connections provided by a cellular network, then operational costs are reduced and fleet efficiency is increased, but the non-homogeneous and non-constant availability of cellular network coverage creates safety risks and operational interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by determining an optimal teleoperation route that guarantees sufficient wireless connection availability before the vehicle departs. The network node pre-calculates routes considering historical and real-time network availability data, ensuring that the vehicle will maintain reliable connectivity throughout its journey, thus preventing safety risks before they occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The network node acts as an intermediary between the teleoperation server and the vehicle. It receives route requests, evaluates network availability along potential paths, and provides optimized route suggestions that ensure sufficient wireless coverage. This intermediary function resolves the contradiction by filtering out unsafe routes before the vehicle operates them.
2Ease of operation
If the cellular network provides wireless connections for remote vehicle operation, then physical drivers can be replaced by central operators, but the non-constant network availability hinders reliable remote operation
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary route optimization considering network availability before the vehicle starts its journey. The network node analyzes historical network data and real-time conditions to pre-determine routes with guaranteed connectivity, ensuring that remote operation can proceed reliably without interruptions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adapts route suggestions based on real-time network availability conditions. As network conditions change, the network node recalculates and provides updated optimal routes, ensuring that the vehicle maintains reliable wireless connection throughout its operation, thus preserving ease of remote operation.
3Reliability
If the system determines optimal teleoperation routes based on network availability, then remote operation safety is improved, but additional route determination and suggestion processes increase system complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The network node performs self-service by automatically determining optimal routes based on its internal knowledge of network availability. It autonomously evaluates routes, calculates optimal paths, and provides suggestions without requiring complex external systems, thus improving safety while keeping the added complexity manageable and localized to a single network element.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes: remotely operating, by a teleoperation server, a vehicle fleet on a road network via wireless connections provided by a cellular network; receiving, by a network node of the cellular network, a route request from the teleoperation server, wherein the received route request comprises a starting position of a vehicle of the vehicle fleet, a target location to be reached by the vehicle, a teleoperation route connecting the target location to the starting position and a travel time of the vehicle; determining, by the network node, a teleoperation route for the vehicle from the requested starting position to the requested target location; and based on the cellular network not allowing for safe remote operation of the vehicle along the requested teleoperation route during the requested travel time, transmitting, by the network node, a route suggestion to the teleoperation server, the transmitted route suggestion comprising the determined teleoperation route.