DSRC What It Is, What It Will Do For Us.
The US Department of Transportation has embraced DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Communications) as its favored technology for “the future of safe driving”.
What is DSRC?
It is a short to mid-range 2-way wireless communications capability, permitting high-speed data transmission for active safety applications. The goal is to enable secure interoperable connectivity from and to vehicles as well as to prevent vehicular crashes and enhance mobility benefits across all transportation system modes. It is designed to support V2V (vehicle to vehicle) and V2I (vehicle to infrastructure/control center) communication.
What is its future?
DSRC is dependent on public infrastructure investment, in addition, it also requires private developers to develop applications and software which would make use of it. DSRC can enable a wide range of applications, a few examples would be safety alerts for drivers to imminent hazards ahead or mobility applications such as e-parking and electronic toll payments.
Is it being used?
Early and initial tests and research is currently being run.
Will DSRC be an ‘exclusive’ technology?
No. What we will see is a combination of 5G technology, replacing LTE, for cell phones, along with DSRC technology much like the combination of 4G and Wi-Fi connectivity we have for our cell phones today. As DSRC has its advantages over 5G, it will also require an investment in infrastructure to allow the (V2I) communication which would be funded from the municipal budgets or from state and Federal grants.
Unlike DSRC, 5G is a certainty as it will serve not only vehicles but also cellular consumers, it is a very fast high capacity protocol which can serve both short and long distances.
As we look into the near future the mobility communication network planners would need to roll out a network which would integrate the two technologies while taking into consideration the advantages of each. Such a network, if planned accordingly, can create a system more powerful and more effective in controlling traffic than either 5G or DSRC.
Posted By: Shai Suzan CIO at Waycare