Intelligent Transportation Systems – Vehicular Communications Options

As mainstream society rapidly enters the Information Age, network connectivity becomes a necessity for both business and personal activities. Mobile users also increasingly require network connectivity, particularly within vehicles. Wireless networks have the capabilities to provide network connectivity to mobile users, but there are a large number of existing and planned wireless networks. Each technology, and each individual network implementation of the underlying technology, have specific strengths and weaknesses. This paper identifies existing and planned wireless technologies, and analyzes their capabilities to support the requirements of the anticipated applications. The conclusions are presented in terms of the dynamic changes being experienced in applications development and wireless communications deployment. Since a single wireless communications technology cannot presently support all the desired vehicular applications, flexible, hybrid communications systems are viewed as the preferred approach for the near-term future.