Use cases for vehicle-to-vehicle communications for unmanned aircraft systems 2023 PDF

Full title and description

Use cases for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications for unmanned aircraft systems — IEEE white paper (2023). This document examines operational scenarios, message needs, and high-level protocol considerations for direct vehicle-to-vehicle communications between unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), with the intent of informing standards development (IEEE P1920.2) and related UAS safety efforts.

Abstract

This 2023 white paper surveys and defines primary V2V use cases for UAS — including detect-and-avoid/collision avoidance, cooperative traffic awareness, formation/mission coordination, contingency/emergency exchange, and spectrum coexistence scenarios. It describes expected message content and timing requirements, summarizes security and authentication considerations at a high level, and maps the use cases to ongoing standards and regulatory topics (e.g., Remote ID, ACAS Xu). The paper intentionally leaves detailed protocol, spectrum allocation and cryptographic specifications to follow-on working groups.

General information

• Status: Published white paper (informational / standards scoping document).
• Publication date: 2023 (published March 24, 2023 / listed in IEEE materials 2023).
• Publisher: IEEE Standards / IEEE Standards Association (IEEE P1920.2 working-group context).
• ICS / categories: Unmanned aircraft systems, aerial communications and networking, vehicular/transport communications (UAS V2V / V2X).
• Edition / version: White paper (2023 edition; used as IEEE P1920.2 scoping input).
• Number of pages: 24 pages (white paper/technical note length as published).

Scope

Defines and explains representative operational use cases for direct vehicle-to-vehicle communications between UAS and the resulting message, latency, reliability and security expectations. The scope covers cooperative detect-and-avoid and collision-avoidance scenarios, routine situational-awareness and coordination for dense UAS operations, emergency/contingency exchanges, and considerations for coexistence with terrestrial V2X and cellular links. The paper aims to guide protocol-message design and further standards work rather than to mandate implementation details.

Key topics and requirements

• Primary V2V use cases for UAS: detect-and-avoid/collision avoidance, cooperative traffic awareness, formation and mission coordination, emergency/contingency exchanges, and traffic-management handoff.
• Message content and priorities: cooperative position/kinematic reports, intent declarations, maneuver advisories, capabilities and status fields, and short emergency broadcast messages.
• Performance requirements: low-latency periodic and event-driven messaging, reliability and redundancy for safety-critical exchanges, range/line-of-sight vs. non-line-of-sight considerations.
• Security and trust models: authentication, certificate/key management, privacy-preserving identifiers, and overall architecture considerations (high-level — detailed crypto left to working groups).
• Spectrum and coexistence: high-level spectrum usage considerations and coexistence with terrestrial V2X (DSRC/C-V2X), cellular UAS support and Remote ID broadcasts.
• Interoperability: alignment with Remote ID, UAS Traffic Management (UTM) concepts, and collision-avoidance standards such as ACAS Xu / RTCA outputs.

Typical use and users

Primary users include UAS OEMs and integrators, avionics and comms-system designers, UTM providers, telecom operators working on cellular-UAS integration, airport/airspace regulators and authorities, standards bodies and working groups (IEEE, RTCA, ASTM, 3GPP), and academic/research teams prototyping cooperative UAS operations. The white paper is intended as a scoping and requirements input for standards development and for early adopters designing interoperable V2V capabilities.

Related standards

Key related documents and standards efforts include IEEE P1920.2 (Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications for Unmanned Aircraft Systems), RTCA DO-386 / ACAS Xu (airborne collision-avoidance guidance relevant to UAS), ASTM F3411 (Remote ID and tracking / Open Drone ID), and cellular / 3GPP UAV-related work on UAS support. The white paper positions V2V use cases relative to these activities to enable compatibility and avoid duplication of effort.

Keywords

V2V, V2X, UAS, UAV, vehicle-to-vehicle communications, detect-and-avoid, collision avoidance, Remote ID, ACAS Xu, P1920.2, spectrum coexistence, UTM, security, authentication.

FAQ

Q: What is this standard?

A: This is an IEEE white paper (2023) describing use cases and high-level requirements for vehicle-to-vehicle communications for unmanned aircraft systems; it is an informational/scoping document supporting standards work rather than a prescriptive certified standard.

Q: What does it cover?

A: It covers representative V2V operational scenarios for UAS, suggested message types and priorities, performance expectations (latency, reliability), high-level security considerations, and how the use cases map to related standards and regulatory topics such as Remote ID and collision-avoidance (ACAS Xu). Detailed protocol, spectrum and cryptographic specifications were left to follow-on working groups.

Q: Who typically uses it?

A: Standards developers, UAS and avionics OEMs, system integrators, UTM and telecom stakeholders, regulators, and researchers use the paper as input when designing interoperable V2V capabilities and when defining subsequent technical standards or implementations.

Q: Is it current or superseded?

A: The white paper was published in 2023 and remains an informational scoping document; it is not a formal prescriptive standard and should be used alongside newer normative documents (e.g., outputs from IEEE P1920.2, RTCA DO-386/ACAS Xu, ASTM Remote ID updates). Users should check the status of related normative standards for the most recent requirements.

Q: Is it part of a series?

A: The paper is associated with IEEE’s broader P1920.x activity set (aerial communications/networking and V2V for UAS). It was produced to inform the P1920.2 work and sits alongside other IEEE white papers and working-group outputs on spectrum considerations and security for aerial communications.

Q: What are the key keywords?

A: V2V, UAS, UAV, detect-and-avoid, collision avoidance, Remote ID, security, P1920.2, ACAS Xu, spectrum, interoperability, UTM.