Construction of a real vehicular delay-tolerant network testbed

Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) appear as innovative network architecture, able to outline communication challenges caused by issues like variable delays, disruption and intermittent connectivity once that it utilizes the store-carry-and-forward method to allow that in-transit messages (called bundles) can be delivered to the destination by hopping over the mobile vehicles even that an end-to-end path does not exist. Since messages are stored persistently in a buffer and forward to the next hop, a new communication infrastructure is created allowing low-cost asynchronous opportunistic communication under the most critical situations like variable delays and bandwidth constraints. VDTN introduces a layered architecture, acting as an overlay network over the link layer, aggregating incoming IP packets in data bundles (large IP packets), using out-of-band signaling, based on the separation of the control plane and planes. This dissertation presents and evaluates the performance of a real VDTN testbed, demonstrating the real applicability of this new vehicular communication approach. It includes an embedded VDTN testbed created to evaluate safety systems in a real-world scenario. It was used cars with laptops to realize terminal and relay nodes. A real testbed is very important because some complex issues presented in vehicular communication systems can be treated with more realism in real-world environments than in a laboratory environment. The experiments were performed on the internal streets of Brazilian Fiat Automobile manufacturing plant. Performance measurements and analysis were also conduct to verify the efficiency of the system. The results obtained show that safety applications and services can be executed with the actual proposal VDTN architecture in several environments, although notable interference as fading and characteristics of the radio channel, require the use of more modern, appropriate and robust technologies. Thus, the real deployment of VDTNs confirms that VDTNs can be seen as a very promising technology for vehicular communications.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Creation of a vehicular delay-tolerant network prototype

Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Network (VDTN) is a new disruptive network architecture where vehicles act as the communication infrastructure. VDTN follows a layered architecture based on control and data planes separation, and positioning the bundle layer under the network layer. VDTN furnishes low-cost asynchronous communications coping with intermittent and sparse connectivity, variable delays and even no end-to-end connection. This paper presents a VDTN prototype (testbed) proposal, which implements and validates the VDTN layered architecture considering the proposed out-of-band signaling. The main goals of the prototype are emulation, demonstration, performance evaluation, and diagnose of protocol stacks and services, proving the applicability of VDTNs over a wide range of environments.Part of this work has been supported by the Instituto de Telecomunicações, Next Generation Networks and Applications Group (NetGNA), Covilhã Delegation, Portugal in the framework of the VDTN@Lab Project, and by the Euro-NF Network of Excellence from the Seventh Framework Programme of EU

Performance Assessment of Aggregation and Deaggregation Algorithms in Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks

Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) are a new approach for vehicular communications where vehicles cooperate with each other, acting as the communication infrastructure, to provide low-cost asynchronous opportunistic communications. These communication technologies assume variable delays and bandwidth constraints characterized by a non-transmission control protocol/ internet protocol architecture but interacting with it at the edge of the network. VDTNs are based on the principle of asynchronous communications, bundleoriented communication from the DTN architecture, employing a store-carryand- forward routing paradigm. In this sense, VDTNs should use the tight network resources optimizing each opportunistic contact among nodes. At the ingress edge nodes, incoming IP Packets (datagrams) are assembled into large data packets, called bundles. The bundle aggregation process plays an important role on the performance of VDTN applications. Then, this paper presents three aggregation algorithms based on time, bundle size, and a hybrid solution with combination of both. Furthermore, the following four aggregation schemes with quality of service (QoS) support are proposed: 1) single-class bundle with N = M, 2) composite-class bundle with N = M, 3) single-class bundle with N > M, and 4) composite-class bundle with N > M, where N is the number of classes of incoming packets and M is the number of priorities supported by the VDTN core network. The proposed mechanisms were evaluated through a laboratory testbed, called VDTN@Lab. The adaptive hybrid approach and the composite-class schemes present the best performance for different types of traffic load and best priorities distribution, respectively

Towards a network management solution for vehicular delay-tolerant networks

Vehicular networks appeared as a new communication solution where vehicles act as a communication infrastructure, providing data communications through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) are a new disruptive network architecture assuming delay tolerant networking paradigm where there are no end-to-end connectivity. In this case the incial node transmits the data to a closed node, the data will be carried by vehicles, hop to hop until the destination. This dissertation focuses on a proposal of a network management solution, based standard protocol Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to VDTN networks. The developed solution allows control a VDTN netowork through a Network Management System (NMS) with the objective to detect and, if it’s possible, anticipate, possible errors on network. The research methodology used was the prototyping. So, it was built a network management module to the laboratorial prototype, called VDTN@Lab. The system built include a MIB (Management Information Base) placed in all vehicular network nodes. The solution was built, demonstrated, validated and evaluated their performance, being ready for use.As redes veiculares foram desenhadas para permitir que os veículos possam transportar dados criando assim um novo tipo de redes, caracterizando-se por dois tipos de comunicação: comunicações veículo-para-veículo (V2V) ou comunicações veículo-parainfra-estrutura (V2I). Redes veiculares intermitentes (do Inglês Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks - VDTNs) surgiram como uma nova arquitectura de rede de dados onde os veículos são utilizados como infra-estruturas de comunicação. As VDTNs caracterizam-se por serem redes veiculares baseadas no paradigma de comunicações intermitentes. Nas redes VDTN não existe uma ligação permanente extremo a extremo entre o emissor e o receptor. Neste caso, o nó inicial transmite os dados para um nó que esteja junto dele e assim sucessivamente, os dados vão sendo transportados pelos veículos, salto a salto até ao destinatário final. Esta dissertação centra-se na proposta de uma solução de gestão de rede, baseada no protocolo estandardizado Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) para redes VDTN. A solução construída permite controlar uma rede VDTN através de um sistema de gestão de rede (do Inglês Network Management System - NMS) com o objectivo de detectar e, se possível antecipar, possíveis erros na rede. A metodologia de investigação utilizada foi a prototipagem. Assim, foi construído um módulo de gestão de redes para o protótipo laboratorial, chamado VDTN@Lab. O sistema construído inclui uma MIB (Management Information Base) que é colocada em todos os nós de uma rede veicular, tanto fixos como móveis. A solução foi construída, demonstrada, validade e avaliado o seu desempenho, estando assim pronta para ser utilizada

Delay Tolerant Networks for Efficient Information Harvesting and Distribution in Intelligent Transportation Systems

[EN] Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can make transportation safer, more efficient, and more sustainable by applying various information and communication technologies. One of these technologies are \acfp{VN}. \acp{VN} combine different communication solutions such as cellular networks, \acfp{VANET}, or IEEE 802.11 technologies to provide connectivity among vehicles, and between vehicles and road infrastructure. This thesis focuses on VNs, and considers that the high speed of the nodes and the presence of obstacles like buildings, produces a highly variable network topology, as well as more frequent partitions in the network. Therefore, classical \ac{MANET} protocols do not adapt well to VANETs. Under these conditions, \ac{DTN} have been proposed as an alternative able to cope with these adverse characteristics. In DTN, when a message cannot be routed to its destination, it is not immediately dropped but it is instead stored and carried until a new route becomes available. The combination of VN and DTN is called \acp{VDTN}. In this thesis, we propose a new VDTN protocol designed to collect information from vehicular sensors. Our proposal, called \ac{MSDP}, combines information about the localization obtained from a GNSS system with the actual street/road layout obtained from a Navigation System (NS) to define a new routing metric. Both analytical and simulation results prove that MSDP outperforms previous proposals. Concerning the deployment of VNs and VANET technologies, technology already left behind the innovation and the standardization phases, and it is about time it reach the first early adopters in the market. However, most car manufacturers have decided to implement VN devices in the form of On Board Units (OBUs), which are expensive, heavily manufacturer dependent, and difficult to upgrade. These facts are delaying the deployment of VN. To boost this process, we have developed the GRCBox architecture. This architecture is based on low-cost devices and enables the establishment of V2X, \emph{i.e.} V2I and V2V, communications while integrating users by easing the use of general purpose devices like smartphones, tablets or laptops. To demonstrate the viability of the GRCBox architecture, we combined it with a DTN platform called Scampi to obtain actual results over a real VDTN scenario. We also present several GRCBox-aware applications that illustrate how developers can create applications that bring the potential of VN to user devices.[ES] Los sistemas de transporte inteligente (ITS) son el soporte para el establecimiento de un transporte más seguro, más eficiente y más sostenible mediante el uso de tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones. Una de estas tecnologías son las redes vehiculares (VNs). Las VNs combinan diferentes tecnologías de comunicación como las redes celulares, las redes ad-hoc vehiculares (VANETs) o las redes 802.11p para proporcionar conectividad entre vehículos, y entre vehículos y la infraestructura de carreteras. Esta tesis se centra en las VNs, en las cuales la alta velocidad de los nodos y la presencia de obstáculos como edificios producen una topología de red altamente variable, así como frecuentes particiones en la red. Debido a estas características, los protocolos para redes móviles ad-hoc (MANETs) no se adaptan bien a las VANETs. En estas condiciones, las redes tolerantes a retardos (DTNs) se han propuesto como una alternativa capaz de hacer frente a estos problemas. En DTN, cuando un mensaje no puede ser encaminado hacia su destino, no es inmediatamente descartado sino es almacenado hasta que una nueva ruta esta disponible. Cuando las VNs y las DTNs se combinan surgen las redes vehiculares tolerantes a retardos (VDTN). En esta tesis proponemos un nuevo protocolo para VDTNs diseñado para recolectar la información generada por sensores vehiculares. Nuestra propuesta, llamada MSDP, combina la información obtenida del servicio de información geográfica (GIS) con el mapa real de las calles obtenido del sistema de navegación (NS) para definir una nueva métrica de encaminamiento. Resultados analíticos y mediante simulaciones prueban que MSDP mejora el rendimiento de propuestas anteriores. En relación con el despliegue de las VNs y las tecnologías VANET, la tecnología ha dejado atrás las fases de innovación y estandarización, ahora es el momento de alcanzar a los primeros usuarios del mercado. Sin embargo, la mayoría de fabricantes han decidido implementar los dispositivos para VN como unidades de a bordo (OBU), las cuales son caras y difíciles de actualizar. Además, las OBUs son muy dependientes del fabricante original. Todo esto esta retrasando el despliegue de las VNs. Para acelerar la adopción de las VNs, hemos desarrollado la arquitectura GRCBox. La arquitectura GRCBox esta basada en un dispositivo de bajo coste que permite a los usuarios usar comunicaciones V2X (V2V y V2I) mientras utilizan dispositivos de propósito general como teléfonos inteligentes, tabletas o portátiles. Las pruebas incluidas en esta tesis demuestran la viabilidad de la arquitectura GRCBox. Mediante la combinación de nuestra GRCBox y una plataforma de DTN llamada Scampi hemos diseñado y probado un escenario VDTN real. También presentamos como los desarrolladores pueden crear nuevas aplicaciones GRCBox para llevar el potencial de las VN a los dispositivos de usuario.[CA] Els sistemes de transport intel·ligent (ITS) poden crear un transport més segur, més eficient i més sostenible mitjançant l'ús de tecnologies de la informació i les comunicacions aplicades al transport. Una d'aquestes tecnologies són les xarxes vehiculars (VN). Les VN combinen diferents tecnologies de comunicació, com ara les xarxes cel·lulars, les xarxes ad-hoc vehiculars (VANET) o les xarxes 802.11p, per a proporcionar comunicació entre vehicles, i entre vehicles i la infraestructura de carreteres. Aquesta tesi se centra en les VANET, en les quals l'alta velocitat dels nodes i la presència d'obstacles, com els edificis, produeixen una topologia de xarxa altament variable, i també freqüents particions en la xarxa. Per aquest motiu, els protocols per a xarxes mòbils ad-hoc (MANET) no s'adapten bé. En aquestes condicions, les xarxes tolerants a retards (DTN) s'han proposat com una alternativa capaç de fer front a aquests problemes. En DTN, quan un missatge no pot ser encaminat cap a la seua destinació, no és immediatament descartat sinó que és emmagatzemat fins que apareix una ruta nova. Quan les VN i les DTN es combinen sorgeixen les xarxes vehicular tolerants a retards (VDTN). En aquesta tesi proposem un nou protocol per a VDTN dissenyat per a recol·lectar la informació generada per sensors vehiculars. La nostra proposta, anomenada MSDP, combina la informació obtinguda del servei d'informació geogràfica (GIS) amb el mapa real dels carrers obtingut del sistema de navegació (NS) per a definir una nova mètrica d'encaminament. Resultats analítics i mitjançant simulacions proven que MSDP millora el rendiment de propostes prèvies. En relació amb el desplegament de les VN i les tecnologies VANET, la tecnologia ha deixat arrere les fases d'innovació i estandardització, ara és temps d'aconseguir als primers usuaris del mercat. No obstant això, la majoria de fabricants han decidit implementar els dispositius per a VN com a unitats de bord (OBU), les quals són cares i difícils d'actualitzar. A més, les OBU són molt dependents del fabricant original. Tot això està retardant el desplegament de les VN. Per a accelerar l'adopció de les VN, hem desenvolupat l'arquitectura GRCBox. L'arquitectura GRCBox està basada en un dispositiu de baix cost que permet als usuaris usar comunicacions V2V mentre usen dispositius de propòsit general, com ara telèfons intel·ligents, tauletes o portàtils. Les proves incloses en aquesta tesi demostren la viabilitat de l'arquitectura GRCBox. Mitjançant la combinació de la nostra GRCBox i la plataforma de DTN Scampi, hem dissenyat i provat un escenari VDTN pràctic. També presentem com els desenvolupadors poden crear noves aplicacions GRCBox per a portar el potencial de les VN als dispositius d'usuari.Martínez Tornell, S. (2016). Delay Tolerant Networks for Efficient Information Harvesting and Distribution in Intelligent Transportation Systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/68486TESI

Performance of management solutions and cooperation approaches for vehicular delay-tolerant networks

A wide range of daily-life applications supported by vehicular networks attracted the interest, not only from the research community, but also from governments and the automotive industry. For example, they can be used to enable services that assist drivers on the roads (e.g., road safety, traffic monitoring), to spread commercial and entertainment contents (e.g., publicity), or to enable communications on remote or rural regions where it is not possible to have a common network infrastructure. Nonetheless, the unique properties of vehicular networks raise several challenges that greatly impact the deployment of these networks. Most of the challenges faced by vehicular networks arise from the highly dynamic network topology, which leads to short and sporadic contact opportunities, disruption, variable node density, and intermittent connectivity. This situation makes data dissemination an interesting research topic within the vehicular networking area, which is addressed by this study. The work described along this thesis is motivated by the need to propose new solutions to deal with data dissemination problems in vehicular networking focusing on vehicular delay-tolerant networks (VDTNs). To guarantee the success of data dissemination in vehicular networks scenarios it is important to ensure that network nodes cooperate with each other. However, it is not possible to ensure a fully cooperative scenario. This situation makes vehicular networks suitable to the presence of selfish and misbehavior nodes, which may result in a significant decrease of the overall network performance. Thus, cooperative nodes may suffer from the overwhelming load of services from other nodes, which comprises their performance. Trying to solve some of these problems, this thesis presents several proposals and studies on the impact of cooperation, monitoring, and management strategies on the network performance of the VDTN architecture. The main goal of these proposals is to enhance the network performance. In particular, cooperation and management approaches are exploited to improve and optimize the use of network resources. It is demonstrated the performance gains attainable in a VDTN through both types of approaches, not only in terms of bundle delivery probability, but also in terms of wasted resources. The results and achievements observed on this research work are intended to contribute to the advance of the state-of-the-art on methods and strategies for overcome the challenges that arise from the unique characteristics and conceptual design of vehicular networks.O vasto número de aplicações e cenários suportados pelas redes veiculares faz com que estas atraiam o interesse não só da comunidade científica, mas também dos governos e da indústria automóvel. A título de exemplo, estas podem ser usadas para a implementação de serviços e aplicações que podem ajudar os condutores dos veículos a tomar decisões nas estradas, para a disseminação de conteúdos publicitários, ou ainda, para permitir que existam comunicações em zonas rurais ou remotas onde não é possível ter uma infraestrutura de rede convencional. Contudo, as propriedades únicas das redes veiculares fazem com que seja necessário ultrapassar um conjunto de desafios que têm grande impacto na sua aplicabilidade. A maioria dos desafios que as redes veiculares enfrentam advêm da grande mobilidade dos veículos e da topologia de rede que está em constante mutação. Esta situação faz com que este tipo de rede seja suscetível de disrupção, que as oportunidades de contacto sejam escassas e de curta duração, e que a ligação seja intermitente. Fruto destas adversidades, a disseminação dos dados torna-se um tópico de investigação bastante promissor na área das redes veiculares e por esta mesma razão é abordada neste trabalho de investigação. O trabalho descrito nesta tese é motivado pela necessidade de propor novas abordagens para lidar com os problemas inerentes à disseminação dos dados em ambientes veiculares. Para garantir o sucesso da disseminação dos dados em ambientes veiculares é importante que este tipo de redes garanta a cooperação entre os nós da rede. Contudo, neste tipo de ambientes não é possível garantir um cenário totalmente cooperativo. Este cenário faz com que as redes veiculares sejam suscetíveis à presença de nós não cooperativos que comprometem seriamente o desempenho global da rede. Por outro lado, os nós cooperativos podem ver o seu desempenho comprometido por causa da sobrecarga de serviços que poderão suportar. Para tentar resolver alguns destes problemas, esta tese apresenta várias propostas e estudos sobre o impacto de estratégias de cooperação, monitorização e gestão de rede no desempenho das redes veiculares com ligações intermitentes (Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks - VDTNs). O objetivo das propostas apresentadas nesta tese é melhorar o desempenho global da rede. Em particular, as estratégias de cooperação e gestão de rede são exploradas para melhorar e optimizar o uso dos recursos da rede. Ficou demonstrado que o uso deste tipo de estratégias e metodologias contribui para um aumento significativo do desempenho da rede, não só em termos de agregados de pacotes (“bundles”) entregues, mas também na diminuição do volume de recursos desperdiçados. Os resultados observados neste trabalho procuram contribuir para o avanço do estado da arte em métodos e estratégias que visam ultrapassar alguns dos desafios que advêm das propriedades e desenho conceptual das redes veiculares

GRCBox: Extending Smartphone Connectivity in Vehicular Networks

The low penetration of connectivity-enabled OBUs is delaying the deployment of Vehicular Networks (VNs), and therefore the development of Vehicular Delay Tolerant Network (VDTN) applications, among others. In this paper we present GRCBox, an architecture based on RaspberryPi that allows integrating smartphones in VNs. GRCBox is based on a low-cost device that combines several pieces of software to provide ad-hoc and multi-interface connectivity to smartphones. Using GRCBox each application can choose the interface for its data flows, which increases flexibility and will allow developers to easily implement applications based on ad-hoc connectivity, such as VDTN applications.This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain, under Grants TIN2011-27543-C03-01 and BES-2012-052673, and by the European Commission under Svagata.eu, the Erasmus Mundus Programme, Action 2 (EMA2).Martínez Tornell, S.; Patra, S.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Manzoni, P. (2015). GRCBox: Extending Smartphone Connectivity in Vehicular Networks. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks. 2015:1-13. doi:10.1155/2015/478064S1132015Hartenstein, H., & Laberteaux, K. P. (2008). A tutorial survey on vehicular ad hoc networks. IEEE Communications Magazine, 46(6), 164-171. doi:10.1109/mcom.2008.4539481Wu, H., Palekar, M., Fujimoto, R., Guensler, R., Hunter, M., Lee, J., & Ko, J. (2005). An empirical study of short range communications for vehicles. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM international workshop on Vehicular ad hoc networks - VANET ’05. doi:10.1145/1080754.1080769Jerbi, M., Senouci, S.-M., & Haj, M. A. (2007). Extensive Experimental Characterization of Communications in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks within Different Environments. 2007 IEEE 65th Vehicular Technology Conference - VTC2007-Spring. doi:10.1109/vetecs.2007.533Lee, K. C., Lee, S., Cheung, R., Lee, U., & Gerla, M. (2007). First Experience with CarTorrent in a Real Vehicular Ad Hoc Network Testbed. 2007 Mobile Networking for Vehicular Environments. doi:10.1109/move.2007.4300814Giordano, E., Tomatis, A., Ghosh, A., Pau, G., & Gerla, M. (2008). C-VeT An Open Research Platform for VANETs: Evaluation of Peer to Peer Applications in Vehicular Networks. 2008 IEEE 68th Vehicular Technology Conference. doi:10.1109/vetecf.2008.462Cesana, M., Fratta, L., Gerla, M., Giordano, E., & Pau, G. (2010). C-VeT the UCLA campus vehicular testbed: Integration of VANET and Mesh networks. 2010 European Wireless Conference (EW). doi:10.1109/ew.2010.5483535Santa, J., Tsukada, M., Ernst, T., & Gomez-Skarmeta, A. F. (2009). Experimental analysis of multi-hop routing in vehicular ad-hoc networks. 2009 5th International Conference on Testbeds and Research Infrastructures for the Development of Networks & Communities and Workshops. doi:10.1109/tridentcom.2009.4976248Paula, M. C. G., Isento, J. N., Dias, J. A., & Rodrigues, J. J. P. C. (2011). A real-world VDTN testbed for advanced vehicular services and applications. 2011 IEEE 16th International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD). doi:10.1109/camad.2011.5941108Campbell, A., & Choudhury, T. (2012). From Smart to Cognitive Phones. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 11(3), 7-11. doi:10.1109/mprv.2012.41Vandenberghe, W., Moerman, I., & Demeester, P. (2011). On the feasibility of utilizing smartphones for vehicular ad hoc networking. 2011 11th International Conference on ITS Telecommunications. doi:10.1109/itst.2011.6060061Sawada, D., Sato, M., Uehara, K., & Murai, J. (2011). iDANS: A platform for disseminating information on a VANET consisting of smartphone nodes. 2011 11th International Conference on ITS Telecommunications. doi:10.1109/itst.2011.6060062Tornell, S. M., Calafate, C. T., Cano, J.-C., Manzoni, P., Fogue, M., & Martinez, F. J. (2013). Evaluating the Feasibility of Using Smartphones for ITS Safety Applications. 2013 IEEE 77th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring). doi:10.1109/vtcspring.2013.6692553Mitchell, G. (2012). The Raspberry Pi single-board computer will revolutionise computer science teaching. Engineering & Technology, 7(3), 26-26. doi:10.1049/et.2012.0300Fielding R. T.Architectural styles and the design of network-based software architectures [Ph.D. thesis]2000University of Californi

Comprehensive literature review on delay tolerant network (DTN) framework for improving the efficiency of internet connection in rural regions of Malaysia

This paper brief in detail the technology reviews of current available technologies and literature reviews that starts with the history of the Internet and the understanding of the working of the Internet through a conceptual model of TCP/IP and OSI models, the numerous technologies developed to cater for different connectivity environments and recent popular topics in the field of communication technologies. Detailed review is done on the subject of Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN), the chosen technology from which the intended framework can be proposed for improving the efficiency of internet connections. From these literatures, comparisons are made to find the best possible combinations of technologies to design a mini- mum viable product, followed by a generic DTN framework

Transmissão oportunística de informação em redes veiculares

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e TelecomunicaçõesThe development in telecommunications and particularly in wireless communications has been one of the most striking features of the contemporary world. The globalization only has been possible thanks to the evolution of communication technologies which increasingly have allowed to satisfy the constant people's needs of being "always connected" whatever the environment where they are. Concerning the evolution of technologies, vehicular networks have been one of the areas of great interest. This interest has been manifested both in research and in the development of the automotive industry that has produced innovative vehicles which are more and more equipped with new technologies. It is expected that communication in vehicular networks enable not only the communication between vehicles, but also a more comfortable and safe driving, making the user's experience of this type of networks richer and stimulating. The specific characteristics of vehicular networks, namely the high mobility, unpredictable routes, dynamic topology and the consequent and constant loss of connectivity, have been a challenge that has motivated studies to find solutions to these limitations. The work carried out for this dissertation is in the area of Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) and it is based on the Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTNs). With this project, identified as "Opportunistic Transmission of Information in Vehicular Networks", we aim to study the communication and transmission of information in these networks which do not allow communication without delays and disruptions. For this purpose it is studied the performance of DTN mechanisms in these networks. In this work it is used the implementation IBR-DTN to test DTN in VANETs. This implementation showed, in previous works, to be the one that presents the best performance comparing it with other existing implementations. The study involved, in an initial phase, reading and analyzing the implementation code so that it was possible to add instructions that allowed to observe the behavior of the implementation in the several tests carried out, as well as the correction of the bugs in the implementation. In the first phase, in laboratory, with fixed nodes and in a controlled environment, several scenarios were created to simulate the possible situations a node can meet: direct transfer with and without delay, indirect transfer (multi-hop) and indirect transfer with delay which corresponds to the store and transport of the bundles (set of information) until the next node. From the analysis of the collected information and observing the corresponding graphs, it was possible to observe that the implementation was working properly in the vehicles equipment for communication. Still in laboratory it was built an heterogeneous network with several devices (servers, NetRiders, Single Board Computers (SBCs), tablet, Raspberry Pi e Macbook) to show the integration of the IBR-DTN implementation and its extension in different equipments. During this test several files were sent among these devices, which were correctly received in the nodes previously defined as destination nodes. After testing and checking that everything was working properly in the laboratory, the same implementation was transferred to a testbed with 25 vehicles and 3 fixed infrastructures in Leixões harbor. In this testbed several DTN routing protocols were tested in order to check which of them showed better performance in the delivery rate of the bundles and of the collected information (the log files were also delivered via DTN) from the On-Board Units (OBUs) to the server, located in the Internet. The routing protocol with static routes to the Road Side Units (RSUs) proved a better efficiency compared to the other protocols. This was due to the the fact that this network is well covered with RSUs, and there is no relation between the historic of contacts and the probability that the vehicles will meet again in the future.O desenvolvimento na área das telecomunicações e, mais particularmente, nas comunicações sem-fios tem sido um dos traços mais marcantes do mundo actual. A globalização só tem sido possível graças à evolução dos meios de comunicação que cada vez mais permitem satisfazer a constante necessidade das pessoas estarem sempre ligadas, qualquer que seja o ambiente em que se encontrem. As redes veiculares têm sido uma das áreas de elevado interesse na evolução das tecnologias. Esse interesse tem-se manifestado tanto ao nível da investigação como ao nível do desenvolvimento da indústria automóvel que tem produzido veículos cada vez mais equipados com novas tecnologias. Prevê-se que a comunicação em redes veiculares permitam não só a comunicação entre os veículos, mas também uma condução mais confortável e segura, tornando a experiência dos utilizadores deste tipo de redes mais rica e estimulante. As características específicas das redes veiculares, nomeadamente a elevada mobilidade, rotas imprevisíveis, topologia dinâmica e a consequente e constante perda de conectividade, tornam-se um desafio que tem motivado estudos no sentido de se encontrarem soluções para essas limitações. O trabalho desenvolvido para esta dissertação insere-se na área das Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks (VANETs) e baseia-se nas Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTNs). Com este projecto, identificado como "Transmissão Oportunística de Informação em Redes Veiculares", pretende-se estudar a comunicação e envio de informação nas redes que permitem uma comunicação com atrasos e disrupções. Para o efeito é estudado o desempenho de mecanismos de DTN nestas redes. Neste trabalho é utilizada a implementação IBR-DTN para testar DTN nas redes veiculares. Esta implementação mostrou, em trabalhos anteriores, ser aquela que apresenta melhor desempenho face a outras que existem. O estudo envolveu, numa fase inicial, a leitura e analise de código da implementação para que fosse possível adicionar instruções que permitissem observar o comportamento da implementação nos diversos testes realizados, bem como a correcção de erros da implementação. Na primeira fase, em laboratório, com nos fixos e num ambiente controlado, foram realizados vários cenários que mostram as situações possíveis que um nó pode encontrar: transferência direta com e sem atraso, transferência indirecta (multi-hop) e transferência indirecta com atraso que corresponde ao armazenamento e transporte dos bundles (conjunto de informação) até ao próximo nó. A partir da analise da informação recolhida e observação dos gráficos obtidos foi possível verificar o correcto funcionamento da implementação nos equipamentos de comunicação entre veículos. Ainda em laboratório foi construída uma rede heterogénea com diversos dispositivos (servidores, NetRiders, Single Board Computers (SBCs), tablet, Raspberry Pi e Macbook) com o objectivo de mostrar a integração da implementação IBR-DTN e as suas extensões em diferentes equipamentos. Neste teste foram enviados ficheiros entre estes dispositivos, os quais foram recebidos correctamente nos nos definidos como destino. Depois de testar e certificar que tudo funcionava em laboratório, a mesma implementação foi transferida para uma testbed com 25 veículos e 3 infraestruturas fixas, no porto de Leixões. Nesta testbed foram testados diversos protocolos de encaminhamento DTN de forma a verificar qual apresentava melhor desempenho na taxa de entrega dos bundles e da informação recolhida (os ficheiros de log foram também entregues através de DTN) das On-Board Units (OBUs) para o servidor, localizado na Internet. O protocolo com rotas estáticas para as Road Side Units (RSUs) demonstrou uma melhor eficiência em relação aos restantes devido ao facto de esta rede estar bem coberta e de não existir uma relação entre o histórico de contactos e a probabilidade de os veículos se encontrarem novamente