## 1 Introduction  
Modern communication systems are transforming vehicles into increasingly connected devices, with projections indicating that by 2030, there will be over 645 million connected cars worldwide [1]. These connections support the deployment of various services, including infotainment, cooperative traffic control, navigation, and safety features [2], all aimed at enhancing the experience of drivers and passengers. Looking ahead, vehicles are envisioned as fully autonomous systems capable of transporting people or goods by simply receiving instructions at the start of a journey. In this paradigm, the task of driving will be entirely eliminated, removing the need for human drivers to control the vehicle's behavior. Autonomous vehicles are expected to enhance road safety for pedestrians, optimize the utilization of smart roadside infrastructure, and significantly improve the accessibility to transportation options for individuals such as the elderly, children, or those with injuries [3]. Vehicles will achieve autonomy by maintaining constant communication with surrounding vehicles (V2V, vehicle-to-vehicle communications) and the supporting infrastructure. These secure, real-time communications must be highly reliable, synchronized, and characterized by low latency. Collectively, these interactions are encompassed within the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) framework. Autonomous vehicles will also require secure, efficient, and reliable internal communication systems to facilitate data exchange among sensors, cameras, and controllers. Traditional in-vehicle communication systems rely on proprietary solutions, which are heavily manufacturer-dependent, suffer from interoperability challenges, and fail to meet the bandwidth demands of modern devices [4]. These limitations have prompted vehicle manufacturers and researchers to explore the feasibility of transitioning to solutions based on open standards [5]. One such proposed standard for implementing real-time systems is time-sensitive networking (TSN), a suite of IEEE standards designed to enable ultra-reliable, real-time, and cost-effective communications over Ethernet [6]. Ethernet is widely recognized for its flexibility and extensive adoption, making it an ideal foundation for TSN-based systems. Future autonomous vehicles are anticipated to connect to traffic infrastructure--and by extension, the Internet--via components known as roadside units (RSUs) [7]. These RSUs are directly linked to roadside cabinet electronics (RSCE) systems housed within transportation field cabinets (TFCs). Equipped with computing capabilities, TFCs are responsible for collecting and analyzing traffic data transmitted by both vehicles and infrastructure devices [8]. Additionally, they can also be configured to manage local traffic by using traffic management systems (TMSs). In the IoV framework, the communication between vehicles and RSUs is referred to as vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication. Many researchers advocate for implementing V2I communications using 5G technology due to its advanced capabilities [9]. RSCEs must be interconnected to enable the seamless exchange of traffic information, forming the basis of infrastructure-to-infrastructure communications (I2I). These communications must ensure reliability, synchronization, and the capability to transmit vehicle data to other vehicles, traffic management centers (TMCs), and the Internet. [10]. The network topology connecting TFCs can vary significantly depending on the distribution and density of roads. Consequently, the communication technology used between infrastructure devices must be both scalable and flexible to accommodate these variations [11]. Unlike in in-vehicle communications, where network topologies are relatively simple (e.g., rings or buses) and involve a limited number of devices [12], I2I communications present a much more complex optimization challenge.