Heterogeneous Network Localization with a Distributed Phased Array Composed of Cooperative Vehicles

Abstract

The emerging 5G technology provides direct data transmission, precise synchronization and localization for future autonomous vehicles. These vehicles are coupled in certain groups and drive simultaneously to enhance the road capacity and energy efficiency. The estimation of formation, i.e. the position of each individual vehicle w.r.t. the group, from the 5G signal is precise enough, so that the antennas deployed on multiple vehicles can be collectively considered as a distributed virtual antenna array. Non-cooperative entities, e.g. 5G incompatible vehicles, pedestrians or other road users, with radio transmissions according to a previous standard, can be precisely localized relative to the formation by distributed near-field array processing. By jointly locating the targets, the formation estimate of the 5G enabled vehicles is further improved.