EP-4736330-A1 - RESILIENT CONNECTIVITY FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Abstract

A communications module for a vehicle is provided, the vehicle comprising: one or more transceivers configured to provide one or more communication channels for communicating with an external network; a communication interface for communicatively coupling the communications module to one or more onboard systems of the vehicle; a router configured to route network traffic between the one or more onboard systems and the external network via the one or more transceivers; a traffic analyser configured to: split the network traffic into a plurality of streams based on a type of data being conveyed by the network traffic; and classify each of the plurality of streams with a respective classification that indicates the respective type of data being conveyed by the network traffic belonging to that stream. The router is configured to route the network traffic associated with each stream based, at least in part, on the respective classification for each stream. A remote system for use with the said vehicle communications module is also provided, the remote system comprising an input for receiving an intended journey plan for the vehicle; one or more inputs for receiving network status information for one or more networks through which the intended journey passes; a policy determination unit configured to determine a policy that specifies one or more network parameters to which the vehicle communications module must conform to ensure that a stream, transmitted by the vehicle communications module and having a predetermined classification, meets a predetermined quality of service level; one or more transceivers configured to provide one or more communication channels for communicating the policy to the communications module.

Inventors

• CRISTINA, Claudia
• BAYAKLY, Fadi
• WALLWORK, Matthew
• BEDDUS, Simon
• WILKS, David

Assignees

• British Telecommunications Public Limited Company

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240607

Claims (15)

1. 1. A communications module for a vehicle comprising: one or more transceivers configured to provide one or more communication channels for communicating with an external network; a communication interface for communicatively coupling the communications module to one or more onboard systems of the vehicle; a router configured to route network traffic between the one or more onboard systems and the external network via the one or more transceivers; and a traffic analyser configured to: split the network traffic into a plurality of streams based on a type of data being conveyed by the network traffic; and classify each of the plurality of streams with a respective classification that indicates the respective type of data being conveyed by the network traffic belonging to that stream, wherein the router is configured to route the network traffic associated with each stream based, at least in part, on the respective classification for each stream.
2. 2. The communications module of claim 1, wherein: the respective classification of each stream indicates a relative priority of that stream compared to the other streams; and the router is configured to route the network traffic associated with each stream based, at least in part, on the relative priority of each stream.
3. 3. The communications module of claim 1 or 2, wherein: the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, such as an autonomous aerial vehicle; the types of data comprise one or more of: command and control data; telemetry data; loT data; and video data; and the router is configured to route the network traffic associated with one or more of the streams for which the respective classification indicates the respective type of data being conveyed by the network traffic belonging to those streams is command and control data with a greater degree of preference than the traffic associated with other streams for which the respective classifications indicate the respective type of data being conveyed by the network traffic belonging to those streams is not command and control data.
4. 4. The communications module of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a network monitor to determine a respective quality of service provided by each communication channel, wherein the router is configured to route the traffic associated with each stream based, at least in part, on the respective quality of service provided by each communication channel.
5. 5. The communications module of claim 4, wherein the network monitor is configured to determine the respective quality of service provided by each communication channel, at least in part, by monitoring the one or more communications channels.
6. 6. The communications module of claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the network monitor is configured to determine the respective quality of service provided by each communication channel based, at least in part, on a predicted quality of service for the one or more communications channels.
7. 7. The communications module of any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the router is configured to drop some or all of the network traffic associated with at least one of the streams based on the respective classification of that stream and the respective quality of service determined to be provided by each of the communication channels.
8. 8. The communications module of any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the communications module further comprises a traffic filter configured to reduce an amount of network traffic within one or more of the network streams in accordance with one or more filtering rules, the one or more filtering rules instructing the traffic filter to drop substantially redundant network traffic from a stream based on the respective classification of that stream.
9. 9. The communications module of any one of the preceding claims comprising a plurality of transceivers configured to provide a plurality of communication channels, each of the communications channels being provided by a respective transceiver, wherein the router is configured to select which of the communication channels the network traffic associated with each stream is to be transmitted based, at least in part on the respective classification for each stream.
10. 10. The communications module of claim 9 when dependent on any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein the router is configured to select a communication channel for at least one of the streams based, at least in part, on a respective QoS requirement for that stream and the respective quality of service determined for each of the communication channels.
11. 11. The communications module of claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the router is configured to redundantly communicate the network traffic associated with at least one of the streams via a plurality of the communication channels.
12. 12. The communications module according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising a quality of service negotiation module configured to communicate with a network management system for the external network to guarantee a quality of service for communicating with the external network via at least one of the communication channels.
13. 13. The communications module according to any preceding claim further comprising a policy store for storing a policy that configures the router to route the network traffic.
14. 14. A remote system for use with a vehicle communications module, the system comprising: an input for receiving an intended journey plan for the vehicle; one or more inputs for receiving network status information for one or more networks through which the intended journey passes; a policy determination unit configured to determine a policy that specifies one or more network parameters to which the vehicle communications module must conform to ensure that a stream, transmitted by the vehicle communications module and having a predetermined classification, meets a predetermined quality of service level; one or more transceivers configured to provide one or more communication channels for communicating the policy to the communications module according to any of claims 1 to 13.
15. 15. The system of claim 14 wherein the network parameters comprise one or more of: one or more network channels to use for corresponding stream classifications; a permitted cost associated with sending data over a corresponding network channel; a permitted latency associated with a corresponding network channel; one or more permitted data types that can be transmitted over a given network channel; one or more permitted network providers; a permitted network channel connection time; and a permitted capability for a given network channel.

Description

RESILIENT CONNECTIVITY FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a communications module for a vehicle and a remote system for use with the communications module. In particular, the present invention relates to a communications module for a autonomous vehicle and a remote system for use with the communications module. BACKGROUND [0002] In view of ever-increasing use of autonomous vehicles, the importance of reliable connection to and from autonomous vehicles is also increasing. In particular, ensuring resilient connections for communicating command and control data (C2C) is important as inability to communicate C2C data may result in not only damage or loss of the vehicles, but also can potentially cause secondary damages or losses. [0003] However, due to the mobile nature of autonomous vehicles, autonomous vehicles typically require connections to mobile or cellular networks whose coverage and bandwidth may be susceptible to factors that cannot be controlled by pilots or owners of autonomous vehicles. This presents difficulties in maintaining robust network paths with sufficient bandwidth for autonomous vehicles. [0004] Accordingly, a system for providing resilient communication with autonomous vehicle is desired. SUMMARY OF INVENTION [0005] The invention is defined in the independent claims. Optional features are set out in the dependent claims. [0006] Embodiments of the present invention provide a communications module for a vehicle and a remote system for use with the communications module. [0007] According to a first aspect, a communications module for a vehicle is provided. The communication module comprises: one or more transceivers configured to provide one or more communication channels (e.g. 4G, 5G, Satellite, voice channel, data channel) for communicating with an external network; a communication interface for communicatively coupling the communications module to one or more onboard systems of the vehicle; a router configured to route network traffic between the one or more onboard systems and the external network via the one or more transceivers; a traffic analyser configured to: split the network traffic into a plurality of streams based on a type of data being conveyed by the network traffic; and classify each of the plurality of streams with a respective classification that indicates the respective type of data being conveyed by the network traffic belonging to that stream. The router is configured to route the network traffic associated with each stream based, at least in part, on the respective classification for each stream. [0008] Optionally, the respective classification of each stream may indicate a relative priority of that stream compared to the other streams. [0009] Optionally, the router may be configured to route the network traffic associated with each stream based, at least in part, on the relative priority of each stream. [0010] Optionally, the vehicle may be an autonomous vehicle, such as an autonomous aerial vehicle. [0011] Optionally, the types of data may comprise one or more of: command and control data; telemetry data; loT data; and video data. [0012] Optionally, the router may be configured to route the network traffic associated with one or more of the streams for which the respective classification indicates the respective type of data being conveyed by the network traffic belonging to those streams is command and control data with a greater degree of preference than the traffic associated with other streams for which the respective classifications indicate the respective type of data being conveyed by the network traffic belonging to those streams is not command and control data. [0013] Optionally, the communications module may further comprise a network monitor to determine a respective quality of service provided by each communication channel. [0014] Optionally, the router may be configured to route the traffic associated with each stream based, at least in part, on the respective quality of service provided by each communication channel. [0015] Optionally, the network monitor may be configured to determine the respective quality of service provided by each communication channel, at least in part, by monitoring the one or more communications channels. [0016] Optionally, the network monitor may be configured to determine the respective quality of service provided by each communication channel based, at least in part, on a predicted quality of service for the one or more communications channels. [0017] Optionally, the router may be configured to drop some or all of the network traffic associated with at least one of the streams based on the respective classification of that stream and the respective quality of service determined to be provided by each of the communication channels. [0018] Optionally, the communications module further may comprise a traffic filter configured to reduce an amount of network traffic within one or