Enhancing infotainment applications quality of service in vehicular ad hoc networks

Les réseaux ad hoc de véhicules accueillent une multitude d’applications intéressantes. Parmi celles-ci, les applications d’info-divertissement visent à améliorer l’expérience des passagers. Ces applications ont des exigences rigides en termes de délai de livraison et de débit. De nombreuses approches ont été proposées pour assurer la qualité du service des dites applications. Elles sont réparties en deux couches : réseau et contrôle d’accès. Toutefois, ces méthodes présentent plusieurs lacunes. Cette thèse a trois volets. Le premier aborde la question du routage dans le milieu urbain. A cet égard, un nouveau protocole, appelé SCRP, a été proposé. Il exploite l’information sur la circulation des véhicules en temps réel pour créer des épines dorsales sur les routes et les connecter aux intersections à l’aide des nœuds de pont. Ces derniers collectent des informations concernant la connectivité et le délai, utilisées pour choisir les chemins de routage ayant un délai de bout-en-bout faible. Le deuxième s’attaque au problème d’affectation des canaux de services afin d’augmenter le débit. A cet effet, un nouveau mécanisme, appelé ASSCH, a été conçu. ASSCH collecte des informations sur les canaux en temps réel et les donne à un modèle stochastique afin de prédire leurs états dans l’avenir. Les canaux les moins encombrés sont sélectionnés pour être utilisés. Le dernier volet vise à proposer un modèle analytique pour examiner la performance du mécanisme EDCA de la norme IEEE 802.11p. Ce modèle tient en compte plusieurs facteurs, dont l’opportunité de transmission, non exploitée dans IEEE 802.11p.The fact that vehicular ad hoc network accommodates two types of communications, Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure, has opened the door for a plethora of interesting applications to thrive. Some of these applications, known as infotainment applications, focus on enhancing the passengers' experience. They have rigid requirements in terms of delivery delay and throughput. Numerous approaches have been proposed, at medium access control and routing layers, to enhance the quality of service of such applications. However, existing schemes have several shortcomings. Subsequently, the design of new and efficient approaches is vital for the proper functioning of infotainment applications. This work proposes three schemes. The first is a novel routing protocol, labeled SCRP. It leverages real-time vehicular traffic information to create backbones over road segments and connect them at intersections using bridge nodes. These nodes are responsible for collecting connectivity and delay information, which are used to select routing paths with low end-to-end delay. The second is an altruistic service channel selection scheme, labeled ASSCH. It first collects real-time service channels information and feeds it to a stochastic model that predicts the state of these channels in the near future. The least congested channels are then selected to be used. The third is an analytical model for the performance of the IEEE 802.11p Enhanced Distributed Channel Access mechanism that considers various factors, including the transmission opportunity (TXOP), unexploited by IEEE 802.11p

Efficient medium access control protocol for vehicular ad-hoc networks

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have enjoyed a tremendous growth in the last decade and the advancement in communication technologies has played a big role behind the success of ITS. Inter-vehicle communication (IVC) is a critical requirement for ITS and due to the nature of communication, vehicular ad-hoc network technology (VANET) is the most suitable communication technology for inter-vehicle communications. In Practice, however, VANET poses some extreme challenges including dropping out of connections as the moving vehicle moves out of the coverage range, joining of new nodes moving at high speeds, dynamic change in topology and connectivity, time variability of signal strength, throughput and time delay. One of the most challenging issues facing vehicular networks lies in the design of efficient resource management schemes, due to the mobile nature of nodes, delay constraints for safety applications and interference. The main application of VANET in ITS lies in the exchange of safety messages between nodes. Moreover, as the wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE) moves closer to reality, management of these networks is of increasing concern for ITS designers and other stakeholder groups. As such, management of resources plays a significant role in VANET and ITS. For resource management in VANET, a medium access control protocol is used, which makes sure that limited resources are distributed efficiently. In this thesis, an efficient Multichannel Cognitive MAC (MCM) is developed, which assesses the quality of channel prior to transmission. MCM employs dynamic channel allocation and negotiation algorithms to achieve a significant improvement in channel utilisation, system reliability, and delay constraints while simultaneously addressing Quality of Service. Moreover, modified access priority parameters and safety message acknowledgments will be used to improve the reliability of safety messages. The proposed protocols are implemented using network simulation tools. Extensive experiments demonstrated a faster and more efficient reception of safety messages compared to existing VANET technologies. Finally, improvements in delay and packet delivery ratios are presented

The Mobility Impact in IEEE 802.11p Infrastructureless Vehicular Networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are an extreme case of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). High speed and frequent network topology changes are the main characteristics of vehicular networks. These characteristics lead to special issues and challenges in the network design, especially at the medium access control (MAC) layer. Due to high speed of nodes and their frequent disconnections, it is difficult to design a MAC scheme in VANETs that satisfies the quality-of-service requirements in all networking scenarios. In this thesis, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of the mobility impact on the IEEE 802.11p MAC performance. The study evaluates basic performance metrics such as packet delivery ratio, throughput, and delay, as well as the impact of mobility factors. The study also presents a relation between the mobility factors and the respective medium access behavior. Moreover, a new unfairness problem according to node relative speed is identified for both broadcast and unicast scenarios. To achieve better performance, we propose two dynamic contention window mechanisms to alleviate network performance degradation due to high mobility. Extensive simulation results show the significant impact of mobility on the IEEE 802.11p MAC performance, an identification of a new unfairness problem in the vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, and the effectiveness of the proposed MAC schemes

Distance Cautious IP - A Systematic Approach in VANETS

VANET is a decentralized network that allows the vehicles to communicate with each other for providingsafety warning, traffic management and driver assistance systems. Vehicular IP in Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (VIP-WAVE)has characterized the IP configuration for extended andnon-extended IP services, and amobilitymanagement scheme supportedby Proxy Mobile IPv6 over WAVE.As the vehicular networks are formed even in remote areas with inadequate power source, the units have power constraints which are overcome by power control in the proposed system .The objective of the paper is to improve the quality of the network by providing internet accesswith transmit power control along which the distance between the RSU and on-board vehicular units(OBU)is determined i.e., power consumption is reduced when at least distance. Hence the RSU provides Distance Cautious Internet Protocol (DCIP) to the OBU for internet access.This paper analyses the WAVE standard and its support of IP based applications, and proposesDistance Cautious Internet Protocol in WAVE(DCIP-WAVE)

Approximation of the IEEE 802.11p standard using commercial off-the-shelf IEEE 802.11a hardware

IEEE 802.11p hardware is hard to find. Previous research efforts often relied on project-specific prototype implementations which are characterized by a high cost and are not always available to the entire research community. Commercially available turnkey implementations are rare and quite expensive compared to commercial of-the-shelf (COTS) IEEE 802.11a/b/g hardware. However, the difference between the IEEE 802.11p amendment and the other IEEE 802.11 standards is quite small. It can be seen as a combination of the IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11e standards, with some specific adjustments. This paper presents how an approximation of the IEEE 802.11p standard can be implemented using COTS IEEE 802.11a hardware and some specific software adjustments. This way, vehicular test infrastructures can be established in a much more cost effective manner, and existing IEEE 802.11 wireless testbeds can be used to support VANET research

Adaptação da taxa de transmissão em redes veiculares

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e TelecomunicaçõesAo longo dos últimos anos, vários progressos em comunicações sem fios têm extendido investigações a novas áreas, onde soluções baseadas em redes com fios são impraticáveis. Neste contexto apareceram as Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs), uma classe emergente das redes Ad Hoc, para interligação e comunicação entre veículos. Devido ás suas características peculiares como alta mobilidade, topologia dinâmica, frequente perda de conectividade, as VANETs enfrentam vários desafios para definir protolocos e mecanismos fiáveis, como a adaptação da taxa de transmissão. De facto, a monitorização do tráfego das ruas através de aplicações são o núcleo das VANETs cujo desempenho depende da taxa de envio de pacotes e da taxa de sucesso que estas redes conseguem oferecer. Mecanismos de adaptação da taxa de transmissão têm como objetivo evitar a degradação do desempenho da rede devido a uma escolha muito elevada da taxa de transmissão, quando a qualidade do canal está deteorada, ou devido à utilização de uma taxa muito baixa quando as condições da qualidade do canal melhoram. Uma vez que os dispositivos que operam segundo a norma IEEE 802.11p suportam várias taxas de transmissão, é importante que estes possam adaptar a taxa de forma dinâmica de modo a obter um desempenho elevado. Assim é essencial ter um mecanismo de adaptação da taxa de transmissão que seja robusto e capaz de lidar com elevadas flutuações e assimetrias do canal, transmissões em rajada e de duração inconstante, e perda de pacotes devido ás condições do meio e à existência de terminais escondidos. Assim sendo, esta dissertação permite avaliar e comparar os mecanismos existentes para redes sem fios, em ambientes veiculares usando o Network Simulator 3 (NS-3) e o Simulator of Urban Mobility (SUMO). Depois de analisar os principais mecanismos presentes na literatura, foram selecionados quatro para serem testados: Adaptive Auto Rate Fall Back-Collision Detection (AARF-CD), Collision-Aware Rate Adaptation (CARA), Minstrel e o Ideal. Serão considerados dois tipos de cenários: auto-estrada e urbano. A comparação dos algoritmos será baseada em métricas conhecidas como a taxa de envio de pacotes, taxa de sucesso e a percentagem de retransmissões para vários níveis de transmissão. Os resultados experimentais mostraram que o AARFCD atingiu um desempenho superior, quando comparado com os restantes algoritmos. O CARA foi o segundo melhor algoritmo segundo as métricas consideradas. De realçar que o AARF-CD obteve uma taxa de sucesso superior ao do CARA, apesar deste oferecer uma taxa de envio de pacotes superior em certos cenários. Em relação ao atraso na rede, tanto o AARFCD como o CARA alcançaram resultados similares. Foi também concluído que algoritmos com diferenciação de perdas de pacotes como o AARF-CD e o CARA oferecem uma melhor adaptação da taxa de transmissão. Por fim, é sugerido um algoritmo de adatação da taxa de transmissão que tem em conta parâmetros externos, como a velocidade, distância e a densidade de veículos. Cada parâmetro é considerado de acordo com a sua influência na transmissão de dados através de pesos. Desta forma os parâmetros que afetam mais a adaptação da taxa de transmissão serão associados a pesos maiores. A adaptação da taxa de transmissão será baseada num processo de pesos, de acordo com o efeito das condições exteriores no desempenho da rede.Over the last years, several progresses in wireless communications have extended research in new sub-areas, where wired solutions are impracticable. In this context, VANETs arose as an emerging area of wireless ad hoc networks, which connect and allow communication between vehicles. Due to its peculiar characteristics such as high mobility, dynamic topology and frequent loss of connectivity, VANETs face many challenges to de ne reliable protocols and mechanisms like rate adaptation schemes. Indeed tra c querying and road sensing applications are the core of VANETs whose performance depends on the throughput and the success ratio these networks can provide. Rate adaptation mechanisms aim to avoid performance network degradation due to rate over-selection when channel quality is deteriorated or rate under-selection when channel quality improves. Since IEEE 802.11p supports multi-rate capabilities, devices must adapt their transmission rate dynamically in order to achieve a high performance. Thus it is critical to have a robust rate adaptation mechanism that can deal with high uctuation and asymmetry of channels, bursty and infrequent duration transmissions, and loss packet own to the extreme environment conditions or hidden terminals. Thereby, this dissertation evaluates and compares the existing rate adaptation mechanisms for wireless in vehicular environments, using NS-3 and SUMO. Four mechanisms: AARF-CD, CARA, Minstrel and Ideal were selected to be compared, after analysing the main mechanisms across literature. It will be considered two types of scenarios: highway and urban scenario. The comparison between the algorithms will be based on known metrics: network throughput, success ratio, delay and percentage of retransmissions. Experimentation results showed that AARF-CD achieved higher performance when compared with the remaining algorithms in both scenarios. CARA was the second best algorithm, considering the same metrics. Although CARA provides higher throughput in certain scenarios, it is outperformed by AARF-CD in terms of rate success. Regarding delay, AARF-CD and CARA attained similar results. It was also concluded that algorithms with loss di erentiation such as AARF-CD and CARA provide better rate adaptation. Finally, it is suggested a rate adaptation algorithm which considers external parameters like velocity, distance and density of nodes. Each parameter is considered according to its impact in the data transmission through weights. Parameters that a ect more the rate adaptation are associated to larger weights. Thus, the rate adaptation is based on a weighted process according to the e ect of external conditions in the network performance

Mobilidade de comunicações entre veículos e infraestrutura

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesThe unique characteristics of VANETs, such as high mobility, dynamic topology and frequent loss of connectivity, turn the network selection scheme into a complex problem. In a crowded wireless environment that surrounds us, mainly in urban areas, there is a proliferation and superposition of multiple networks and technologies. Therefore, in order to guarantee connectivity in a transparent way for users, the presence of a connection manager capable of taking informed decisions is crutial. With the increase of mobile traffic, several initiatives have been performed for deploying free/low-cost Wi-Fi hotspots across the cities, in order to offload traffic from the cellular networks into more cost-effective networks. On the one hand, clients benefit from lower data prices, and on the other hand, operators may reduce the amount of cellular infrastructure deployed. Furthermore, users will certainly prefer to connect to a free source of Internet whenever it is available instead of paying for it. Since nodes in VANETs are vehicles, the perception of the surrounding networks is constantly changing, becoming unstable with speed. Therefore, the high mobility of nodes in VANETs jeopardizes the existing network selection mechanisms, which for the network election, are based on Received Signal Strength (RSS) to choose where to connect. Moreover, in a VANET environment, there are no mechanisms capable of taking into account V2V communication according to the WAVE/DSRC technology. Thereby, we propose a connection manager which considers the Wi-Fi networks, cellular networks and the WAVE/DSRC technology to provide connectivity to vehicles. This connection manager is capable of looking into relevant data that is available in VANET-equipped vehicles, increasing the dynamic of the decision process. VCM is a connection manager optimized to operate in VANET scenarios, which takes into account the vehicle speed and heading, the infrastructure position along with their availability and also the number of hops to reach the service provider, besides the link quality. The proposed connection manager is based on an Analytical Hierarchic Process (AHP) that combines several candidate networks, geographic inputs and physical factors to determine the best connection at all times, including the technology and the best network, for each user. To determine the priority of each parameter, we proposed the combination of pairwise comparisons between the criteria involved, according to Saaty's pairwise comparison scale, enhancing the process through simulation and using a Genetic Algorithm (GA). To observe the enhancements provided by VCM, two typical connection managers were implemented: BCM which only looks to the signal quality to choose where to connect, and PCM which takes into account users preference besides the RSS. The evaluation was performed in a Manhattan grid, composed by several vehicles using SUMO's car-following model and with equal turn probabilities, and infrastructure randomly spread across the scenario. The results show that VCM outperforms the other two connection managers, proving that it is capable of operating in general scenarios minimizing the packet loss and with a reduced number of performed handovers.As características únicas das redes veiculares, como a elevada mobilidade, a topologia dinâmica e a frequente perda de conectividade, tornam o esquema da escolha de rede num problema complexo. Num ambiente replecto de redes sem fios, principalmente nas áreas urbanas, existe um aglomerado e sobreposição de varias redes e tecnologias. Assim, para garantir ao utilizador a conectividade de forma transparente, é necessário a presença de um mecanismo capaz de tomar decisões informadas. Com o aumento do trafego móvel, varias iniciativas estão a ser realizadas, disponibilizando hotspots IEEE 802.11 a/g/n (Wi-Fi) pelas cidades, de forma a retirar trafego das redes celulares. Por um lado, os clientes podem usufruir de preços mais baixos e por outro lado, os operadores conseguem reduzir a quantidade de trafego móvel. Alem disso, os utilizadores irão preferir ligar-se a uma rede mais barata/grátis sempre que estiver disponível, desde que tenha boa qualidade. Uma vez que nas redes veiculares os nos são veículos, as redes disponíveis estão sempre a mudar, tornando-se cada vez mais instáveis com o aumento da velocidade. Assim, a mobilidade dos nos põe em causa as soluções existentes para mecanismos de selecção de redes, que maioritariamente para elegerem a melhor rede se baseiam apenas na qualidade do sinal. Alem disso, para um ambiente de redes veiculares, não existem mecanismos de selecção capazes de ter em conta comunicação Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) de acordo com a tecnologia Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) / (Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC). Assim, é proposta a criação de um gestor de conectividade capaz de ter em conta determinados factores que se encontram disponíveis nos veículos Vehicular Ad-hoc NETwork (VANET)-equipados para aumentar a dinâmica do processo de seleccao. O Vanet Connection Manager (VCM) é um gestor de conectividade optimizado para ambientes veiculares, que considera a disponibilidade de redes Wi-Fi, redes celulares e a tecnologia WAVE / DSRC para veículos. Este gestor tem em conta a velocidade e direcção do veículo, a posição das infraestructuras bem como a sua disponibilidade, o numero de saltos ate ao destino, alem da qualidade do sinal. O mecanismo proposto e baseado num Processo Analítico Hierárquico que combina varias redes candidatas, parâmetros geográficos e factores físicos para determinar a melhor ligação possível, incluindo a tecnologia e a melhor rede, para cada utilizador. Para o calculo das prioridades de cada parâmetro, foi proposto o método das combinações emparelhadas desenvolvido por Saaty, optimizando o processo através de simulação e recorrendo a um Algoritmo Genético. Para observar o desempenho do gestor de conectividade, implementaram-se dois gestores típicos de conectividade: Basic Connection Manager (BCM) que apenas tem em conta a força de sinal para escolher o melhor candidato, e o Preference-based Connection Manager (PCM) que tem em conta as preferências dos utilizadores para além da força de sinal. A avaliação foi realizada num cenário Manhattan, composto por vários veículos com modelos de simulação importados do SUMO e infraestrutura aleatoriamente colocada ao longo do cenário. Os resultados mostram que o VCM apresenta melhores resultados que os outros dois gestores de rede, provando que e capaz de operar em qualquer cenário, minimizando as perdas de dados e com um reduzido numero de mudanças de rede

Simulation and Improvement of the Handover process in IEEE 802.11p based VANETs (Vehicle Ad-hoc NETworks)

Projecte final de carrera fet en col.laboració amb College of Electronics and Information Engineering. Tongji UniversityThis research focuses on the study of the handover process and the di erent simulation environments available in order to generate valid results for the optimization of seamless handover in VANET networks. Handover parameter analysis has been performed and implemented in a application developed in order to batch simulate the process of modifying the selected variables and statistically analyzing the results in order to allow further research on the topic to achieve valid results for VANET handover simulations in a very convenient manner

Controlo de acesso ao meio em comunicações veiculares de tempo-real

Despite several preventive measures, the number of roadway accidents is still very high, being considered even a problem of public health by some entities. This thesis has as global purpose of contributing to the reduction of that number of accidents, and consequent fatalities, by using safety-related applications that use communication among vehicles. In particular, the primary goal is guaranteeing that communication between users in vehicular environments is done with appropriate time bounds to transfer safety-critical information. In detail, it is studied how to manage the scheduling of message’s transmissions (medium access control - MAC), in order to define precisely who will communicate and when is the appropriate instant. The preferable situation where a communication infrastructure is present with full coverage (RSUs) is also studied, from which medium access control is defined precisely, and vehicles (OBUs) become aware of medium utilization. Also, sporadic situations (e.g., absence of RSUs) are studied in which the communication network is “ad hoc” and solely formed by the current vehicles. It is used the recently WAVE / IEEE 802.11p standard, specific for vehicular communications, and it is proposed a TDMA based solution, with appropriate coordination between RSUs in order to effectively disseminate a critical safety event. It is taken into account two different ways of choosing the instant for the initial broadcast, and both cases are compared. In case there is no infrastructure available, methods are derived to minimize communication medium access collisions, and to maximize the available bandwidth. The results reflect the total end-to-end delay, and show that adequate times are attained, and meet with the requisites for the type of applications being considered. Also, enhancements are obtained when using the alternate choice for the initial broadcast instant.Apesar de diversas medidas preventivas, o número de acidentes rodoviários continua a ser muito elevado, sendo mesmo considerado uma questão de saúde pública por algumas entidades. Esta tese tem como objetivo geral contribuir para a redução desse número de acidentes, e consequentes fatalidades, através da utilização de aplicações de segurança que envolvem comunicação entre veículos. Em particular, o objetivo principal é garantir que a comunicação entre utentes, em ambientes veiculares, seja efetuada com limites temporais apropriados à transferência de informações críticas. De forma mais detalhada, é estudada a gestão do escalonamento das transmissões (controlo de acesso ao meio – MAC) que irá definir quem vai comunicar e quando o pode fazer. São estudadas situações (desejadas) onde há uma infra-estrutura de comunicações com cobertura integral (RSUs), a partir da qual se faz a coordenação do acesso ao meio pelos veículos (OBUs), e situações (esporádicas, por ausência de RSU) em que a rede de comunicação é “ad hoc” e apenas constituída pelos veículos presentes. Utiliza-se a recente norma WAVE / IEEE 802.11p, específica para comunicações veiculares, e propõe-se uma solução baseada em TDMA, com coordenação apropriada entre RSUs para disseminação efetiva de um evento crítico de segurança. A escolha do instante para o broadcast inicial do evento de segurança também é tida em conta, e são comparados dois casos distintos. No caso da ausência de infraestrutura, derivam-se métodos para minimizar colisões no acesso ao meio de comunicação, e maximizar a largura de banda disponível. Os resultados refletem o atraso total end-to-end, mostrando tempos apropriados para os requisitos das aplicações em causa, e evidenciando melhorias aquando da escolha alternativa para o instante do broadcast inicial.Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Eletrotécnic