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Vehicular Communications in 5G and 6G: Technologies, Architectures, and Challenges for Future Mobility

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2026 | Viewed by 308

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
iTEAM Research Institute, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: 5G; vehicular communications; mobile and wireless communications; simulation and modelling; radio resource management; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Computer Science Department, Universitat de València, Av. de la Universidad s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Spain
Interests: V2X communications (5G‑NR to 6G) and roadside/edge deployments, autonomous and connected vehicles; radio‑access and physical‑layer optimization; system‑level cost and capacity trade‑offs; big‑data/API services for QoS; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleages,

Vehicular communications are evolving rapidly as 5G networks mature and 6G technologies emerge, enabling increasingly intelligent, automated, and sustainable transportation systems. These developments are central to a wide range of advanced mobility services—from connected traffic management and cooperative safety to high-precision navigation and automated driving.

While 5G is already laying the groundwork for large-scale deployment of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, many technical challenges remain. Among the most demanding use cases are those associated with high levels of vehicle autonomy (Level 4 and Level 5), which will require ultra-reliable, low-latency, and context-aware communication architectures. However, the exact communication requirements, system architectures, and integration pathways for such autonomous systems are still under active investigation. The interplay between perception, communication, and computation will be critical to safely and efficiently enabling full autonomy.

Looking ahead, 6G is expected to bring transformative capabilities to vehicular communications, including extremely low latency, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), high-capacity links at sub-THz bands, and pervasive AI across the network. These technologies may unlock new modes of interaction between vehicles, infrastructure, and the cloud—especially for cooperative perception, distributed decision-making, and large-scale environmental awareness.

Moreover, advances in mobile edge computing (MEC) and digital‑twin frameworks are vital for supporting the ultra‑low latency and context‑awareness required by Level 4/5 autonomy, while cutting‑edge RAN designs—including resource‑block allocation, antenna placement and selection, and channel estimation—ensure reliable V2X links. System‑level studies on capacity planning, computational and deployment costs, break‑even analyses, and business models will help bridge theory and large‑scale roll‑out. Finally, big‑data‑driven API services and green communication strategies play a key role in maintaining service quality and minimizing carbon footprints in future ITS deployments.

This Special Issue invites high-quality original research addressing the challenges and opportunities of vehicular communications in 5G and 6G systems. Both theoretical studies and practical implementations are welcome. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • 5G and 6G architectures for vehicular communications;
  • Communication requirements and models for level 4/5 autonomous vehicles;
  • Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) for vehicular systems;
  • Communication for cooperative perception and vehicle coordination;
  • AI/ML for mobility-aware network management and optimization;
  • Edge/fog/cloud computing integration in vehicular networking;
  • Ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) techniques;
  • Cross-border, cross-operator, and heterogeneous V2X environments;
  • Green and sustainable vehicular communication strategies;
  • Security, privacy, and trust in vehicular communications;
  • Testbeds, simulations, and field trials for V2X in 5G/6G context.

Dr. David Martín-Sacristán
Dr. David Garcia-Roger
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • vehicular communications
  • V2X
  • 5G/6G
  • sensing and communication
  • autonomous vehicles
  • artificial intelligence/machine learning
  • mobile edge computing (MEC)
  • digital twin
  • big data/API driven services
  • sustainability/green communications
  • modelling and simulation
  • field trials

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 2174 KiB  
Article
TwinFedPot: Honeypot Intelligence Distillation into Digital Twin for Persistent Smart Traffic Security
by Yesin Sahraoui, Abdessalam Mohammed Hadjkouider, Chaker Abdelaziz Kerrache and Carlos T. Calafate
Sensors 2025, 25(15), 4725; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154725 (registering DOI) - 31 Jul 2025
Viewed by 62
Abstract
The integration of digital twins (DTs) with intelligent traffic systems (ITSs) holds strong potential for improving real-time management in smart cities. However, securing digital twins remains a significant challenge due to the dynamic and adversarial nature of cyber–physical environments. In this work, we [...] Read more.
The integration of digital twins (DTs) with intelligent traffic systems (ITSs) holds strong potential for improving real-time management in smart cities. However, securing digital twins remains a significant challenge due to the dynamic and adversarial nature of cyber–physical environments. In this work, we propose TwinFedPot, an innovative digital twin-based security architecture that combines honeypot-driven data collection with Zero-Shot Learning (ZSL) for robust and adaptive cyber threat detection without requiring prior sampling. The framework leverages Inverse Federated Distillation (IFD) to train the DT server, where edge-deployed honeypots generate semantic predictions of anomalous behavior and upload soft logits instead of raw data. Unlike conventional federated approaches, TwinFedPot reverses the typical knowledge flow by distilling collective intelligence from the honeypots into a central teacher model hosted on the DT. This inversion allows the system to learn generalized attack patterns using only limited data, while preserving privacy and enhancing robustness. Experimental results demonstrate significant improvements in accuracy and F1-score, establishing TwinFedPot as a scalable and effective defense solution for smart traffic infrastructures. Full article
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