Project: #322 Spectrum for Connected Vehicles Progress Report - Reporting Period Ending: Sept. 30, 2020 Principal Investigator: Jon Peha Status: Active Start Date: July 1, 2020 End Date: June 30, 2021 Research Type: Advanced Grant Type: Research Grant Program: FAST Act - Mobility National (2016 - 2022) Grant Cycle: 2020 Mobility21 UTC Progress Report (Last Updated: Oct. 5, 2020, 7:15 a.m.) % Project Completed to Date: 20 % Grant Award Expended: 0 % Match Expended & Document: 20 USDOT Requirements Accomplishments One goal of this research is to explore spectrum policy decisions for intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and fundamentally advance our knowledge of how spectrum decisions can influence safety outcomes. For example, spectrum decisions can affect how effectively information can be sent from one vehicle to another on a highway in support of applications that warn drivers about dangers, and thereby affect the probability that the trailing vehicle will crash into the leading vehicle. We advanced this work by developing and debugging software that simulates the operation of an increasingly important technology for connected vehicles that is known as C-V2X (AKA cellular vehicle to everything). Another goal was to transfer research results to policymakers. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, this includes many face-to--face meetings in Washington DC. Since the pandemic, it has included a series of important written documents and public presentations, including two formal submissions to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in an ongoing proceeding, and a published paper. This project has provided training opportunities for two students at Carnegie Mellon University. One is an MS student in Electrical & Computer Engineering, and the other recently joined CMU as a Ph.D. student in Engineering & Public Policy. In the next six months, we plan to continue work on the simulation to assess spectrum decisions, such as how much spectrum to allocate and the relative allocation for C-V2X technology versus DSRC technology. We will also continue outreach to policymakers in this critical period. Impacts This project has had impact on transportation policy in the United States by directly influencing a current proceeding at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that will make new decisions regarding the spectrum allocation for Intelligent Transportation Systems. The PI filed two formal comments in the proceeding addressing a number of issues, including the choice of technical standards, and the level of rigor (or lack thereof) in the existing studies that have been promulgated on this issue. These comments gained the attention of participants in the proceeding, and of the press; Communications Daily interviewed the PI about them, and reported the results. The project also had impact on transportation policy through a new publication, which proposes what the federal government should do to advance connected vehicles in the next few years. This paper was published by the non-partisan Federation of American Scientists as part of its "Day One" project, which seeks to publish the 100 best policy ideas related to science and technology that should be enacted during the next Administration (2021-2025), regardless of which candidate wins in November. The paper will be conveyed to both the Trump and Biden campaign staffs. This project has had impact on the nation's research agenda, through an invited presentation by the PI at a National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop that is intended to help the NSF plan future programs. The PI spoke about how wireless technology and spectrum policy decisions, including decisions about how the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) spectrum band is managed and the role of commercial operators in that band, can influence competition among wireless equipment vendors and service providers. Other None Outcomes New Partners None Issues At the beginning of this grant, this project had no PhD student, which slowed both research progress and spending rate. That has changed. Jeremy Pesner, a new student in the CMU EPP Ph.D. program, has joined this project.