Cultivating Safer and Smarter Roads: Resource Sharing for Enhanced Transportation in Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Vehicular Networks

Vehicular networks, smart transportation, federated learning, V2X, 5G, cyber physical systems

Research Mentor: Marcos M. Vasconcelos,
Department, College, Affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: m.vasconcelos@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 10 hours/week, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Not participating in the Roundtable

Project Description

One of the promises of autonomous or AI-aided vehicular networks is that transportation tasks will become more efficient and safer. The enabling technologies for autonomous driving are a combination of sophisticated sensors for perception, powerful classification algorithms, and model-based predictive control systems. Despite their increasing popularity, autonomous vehicles remain a niche accessible to only a few, and widespread adoption of this technology is still many years away. The coexistence of autonomous driving and human operations creates a complex socio-technical system, presenting challenges related to both technical safety concerns and potential ethical and regulatory issues.

While a full autonomy control loop may not be available to most drivers, a significant portion of vehicles in the American market today are equipped with various levels of sensors to perceive their surroundings and possess some computing capabilities. Given that mobile phones are widely adopted, it is reasonable to assume that a communication module is present in the majority of vehicles. By targeting autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles through the assessment of computation capability, this project addresses the challenges of safety and efficient transportation by facilitating resource sharing at micro and macro cloud infrastructure levels. In this project, the students will work on the development of a zero-touch vehicular network infrastructure to share sensorial data available in conventional vehicles.

Research Tasks: Literature review
Learn V2X protocols
5G and 6G communication networks
Machine type communications
Federated learning and distributed AI


Skills that research assistant(s) may need: 5G communication networks (recommended)
Feel passionate about cars (strongly recommended)