The deployment of more sustainable land transportation is a non-debatable global issue. It is generally agreed that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will play the role of the main enabler to achieve the ambitious objective of improving transportation efficiency, thus reducing pollution, time and resource wastage, and accidents. In this paper we first discuss the general architecture of the ICT infrastructure for the new generation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs). Then, we focus on the data network for transferring information between the devices that are installed road-side and in the vehicles, and the data center where the actual storage and logic resides. Specifically, the state-of-theart on wireless technologies that can be used to this purpose is reviewed, and one solution is investigated in details by also providing results from preliminary laboratory trials showing its effectiveness in practical scenarios.
The IEEE 802.21 is a recent standard for enabling handover in heterogeneous wireless networks, which defines protocols and messages for mobile-to-node and node-to-node communication in a technology-neutral and flexible manner.<p>The need arises because of the widespread diffusion of different technologies for wireless communications (e.g., WiFi, WiMAX, LTE), which are often coexisting in the same geographical area and supported by the same mobile device, but seldom interoperable.</p><p>In this paper we propose the architecture of a Media Independent Information Service (MIIS) and the procedures for a network-assisted handover, which are left unspecified by the standard, aimed at reducing the energy consumption of mobile nodes due to scanning.</p><p>A detailed description of the software modules involved and their interactions is included.</p><p>Testbed results are reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed solution with COTS devices.</p>
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