It is envisaged that 5G can enable many vehicular use cases that require high capacity, ultra-low latency and high reliability. To support this, 5G proposes the use of dense small cells technology as well as and highly directional mmWave systems deployment, among many other new advanced communication technologies, to boost the network capacity, reduce latency and provide high reliability. In such systems, enabling vehicular communication, where the nodes are highly mobile, requires robust mobility management techniques to minimise signalling cost and interruptions during frequent handovers. This presents a major challenge that communication system engineers need to address to realise the promise of 5G systems for V2X and similar applications. In this paper, we provide an overview of recent progresses in the development of handover and beam management techniques in 5G communication systems. We conduct a critical appraisal of current research on beam level and cell level mobility management in 5G mmWave networks considering the ultra-reliable and low-latency communication requirements within the context of V2X applications. We also provide an insight into the open challenges and the emerging trends as well as the possible evolution beyond the horizon of 5G.

The evolution of network technologies has witnessed a paradigm shift toward open and intelligent networks, with the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture emerging as a promising solution. O-RAN introduces disaggregation and virtualization, enabling network operators to deploy multi-vendor and interoperable solutions. However, managing and automating the complex O-RAN ecosystem presents numerous challenges. To address this, machine learning (ML) techniques have gained considerable attention in recent years, offering promising avenues for network automation in O-RAN. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the current research efforts on network automation usingML in O-RAN.We begin by providing an overview of the O-RAN architecture and its key components, highlighting the need for automation. Subsequently, we delve into O-RAN support forML techniques. The survey then explores challenges in network automation usingML within the O-RAN environment, followed by the existing research studies discussing application of ML algorithms and frameworks for network automation in O-RAN. The survey further discusses the research opportunities by identifying important aspects whereML techniques can benefit.

Millimeter wave (mmWave) has been recognized as one of key technologies for 5G and beyond networks due to its potential to enhance channel bandwidth and network capacity. The use of mmWave for various applications including vehicular communications has been extensively discussed. However, applying mmWave to vehicular communications faces challenges of high mobility nodes and narrow coverage along the mmWave beams. Due to high mobility in dense networks, overlapping beams can cause strong interference which leads to performance degradation. As a remedy, beam switching capability in mmWave can be utilized. Then, frequent beam switching and cell change become inevitable to manage interference, which increase computational and signalling complexity. In order to deal with the complexity in interference control, we develop a new strategy called Multi-Agent Context Learning (MACOL), which utilizes Contextual Bandit to manage interference while allocating mmWave beams to serve vehicles in the network. Our approach demonstrates that by leveraging knowledge of neighbouring beam status, the machine learning agent can identify and avoid potential interfering transmissions to other ongoing transmissions. Furthermore, we show that even under heavy traffic loads, our proposed MACOL strategy is able to maintain low interference levels at around 10%.

In this paper, we study the target tracking problem in a wireless sensor network. A sensor receives a measurement from an energy emitting target and employs binary quantization to the received measurement to generate its decision. A sinusoidal waveform with a certain duration is then used to transmit the sensor decision to the fusion center (FC). All sensor decisions are transmitted to the FC over erroneous wireless channels based on a time division multiple access scheme. We introduce the proportional time allocation (PTA) algorithm where at each time step of tracking, PTA jointly determines the sensors binary quantization thresholds and their time allocations devoted for the transmissions of binary sensor decisions. Simulation results show that, PTA optimally and dynamically distributes the available transmission time among the sensors near the target so that the decisions of such sensors become less subject to channel errors, and turns off the non-informative sensors located far away from the target. Hence, PTA both saves from the number of sensors transmitting to the FC and provides better estimation performance as compared to ad hoc equal time allocation approaches.

One of the cutting edge requirements envisioned for next-generation mobile networks is to support ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC), as well as to meet massive traffic demand in the next few years. Although network densification has been considered as one of the promising solutions to boost capacity and high throughput, the impact of mobility on latency and reliability in dense networks has not been well investigated. Moreover, handovers, especially in dense networks, can cause extra delay to the communication and degrade reliability performance. In this paper, we aim to analyse the impact of different handover hysteresis parameters on the performance metrics, such as end-to-end delay and packet loss ratio (PLR). In this regard, we compare latency and PLR performance around cell borders including the handover process with the overall period of simulation. Simulation results show that the impact of mobility becomes more significant in dense networks due to frequent exposure to cell borders and handovers.

Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology, with its ultra-high bandwidth and low latency, holds significant promise for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. However, it faces challenges such as high propagation losses and limited coverage in dense urban vehicular environments. Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) help address these issues by enhancing mmWave signal paths around obstacles, thereby maintaining reliable communication. This paper introduces a novel Contextual Multi-Armed Bandit (C-MAB) algorithm designed to dynamically adapt beam and IRS selections based on real-time environmental context. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed C-MAB approach significantly improves link stability, doubling average beam sojourn times compared to traditional SNR-based strategies and standard MAB methods, and achieving gains of up to four times the performance in scenarios with IRS assistance. This approach enables optimized resource allocation and significantly improves coverage, data rate, and resource utilization compared to conventional methods.