Context-aware Communication in C-ITS for Road Safety: Survey and Open Research Directions

Extending the perception of cars and other users to prevent potential accidents is one of the main functions of the Cooperative Intelligent Transportation System (C-ITS). Critical message exchanges, which are frequently resource-intensive, between vehicular nodes constitute the foundation of such an extended perspective. Therefore, it is necessary to distribute this information effectively so that road safety application criteria are met and resource usage is maximized. To do this, the communication must be context-aware and capable of dynamically adjusting communication parameters to shifting traffic conditions while taking application requirements, the accessibility of radio resources and communication technologies, and external circumstances (such as road layout, traffic density, and the presence of roadside units) into account. Our goal in this research is to examine the current level of context-aware communication for applications related to road safety. First, we go over current research on context awareness in the context of the C-ITS domain. Subsequently, we suggest grouping contexts into three categories: application requirements, resource availability, and environmental considerations. Finally, we address several open research directions to be taken into consideration in future work and shed light on context-aware architecture that should be used to alter communication parameters.