Improving the Latency of 5G V2N2V Communications in Multi-MNO Scenarios using MEC Federation

5G and multi-access edge computing (MEC) are being considered to support V2X services demanding low latency and highly reliable communications using V2N2V (Vehicle-to-Network-to-Vehicles) communications instead of direct or sidelink V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle). Guaranteeing V2X service continuity using V2N2V is a challenging task in multi-Mobile Network Operator (MNO) deployments where vehicles are supported by different MNOs. MEC federations have been proposed to address some of these challenges. A MEC federation is a federated model of MEC systems enabling shared usage of MEC services and applications. Through MEC federations, vehicles can seamlessly access V2X applications independently of whether they are hosted on their MNO's MEC, or on the MEC of a different (but federated) MNO. This paper presents the first study that analyses the impact of MEC federation on the end-to-end (E2E) latency when supporting V2X services using 5G V2N2V in multi-MNO scenarios. The paper also evaluates the feasibility to support the latency requirements of advanced V2X services in these scenarios, and the benefits introduced by MEC federation. This study considers the V2X-based cooperative lane merge service as a case study.