Connectivity Analysis in Vehicular Ad-hoc Network based on VDTN

In the last decade, user demand has been increasing exponentially based on modern communication systems. One of these new technologies is known as mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET). One part of MANET is called a vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET). It has different types such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicular delay-tolerant networks, and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I). To provide sufficient quality of communication service in the Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Network (VDTN), it is important to present a comprehensive survey that shows the challenges and limitations of VANET. In this paper, we focus on one type of VANET, which is known as VDTNs. To investigate realistic communication systems based on VANET, we considered intelligent transportation systems (ITSs) and the possibility of replacing the roadside unit with VDTN. Many factors can affect the message propagation delay. When road-side units (RSUs) are present, which leads to an increase in the message delivery efficiency since RSUs can collaborate with vehicles on the road to increase the throughput of the network, we propose new methods based on environment and vehicle traffic and present a comprehensive evaluation of the newly suggested VDTN routing method. Furthermore, challenges and prospects are presented to stimulate interest in the scientific community

QoSHVCP: hybrid vehicular communications protocol with QoS prioritization for safety applications

This paper introduces a hybrid communication paradigm for achieving seamless connectivity in Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs), wherein the connectivity is often affected by changes in the dynamic topology, vehicles' speed, as well as the traffic density. Our proposed technique named QoS-oriented Hybrid Vehicular Communications Protocol (QoSHVCP) exploits both existing network infrastructure through a Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), as well as a traditional Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) connection that could satisfy Quality-of-Service requirements. QoSHVCP is based on a V2V-V2I protocol switching algorithm, executed in a distributed fashion by each vehicle and is based on the cost function for alternative paths each time it needs to transmit a message. We utilize time delay as a performance metric and present the delay propagation rates when vehicles are transmitting high priority messages via QoSHVCP. Simulation results indicate that simultaneous usage of preexisting network infrastructure along with intervehicular communication provide lower delays, while maintaining the level of user's performance. Our results show a great promise for their future use in VANETs

Infocast: A New Paradigm for Collaborative Content Distribution from Roadside Units to Vehicular Networks Using Rateless Codes

In this paper, we address the problem of distributing a large amount of bulk data to a sparse vehicular network from roadside infostations, using efficient vehicle-to-vehicle collaboration. Due to the highly dynamic nature of the underlying vehicular network topology, we depart from architectures requiring centralized coordination, reliable MAC scheduling, or global network state knowledge, and instead adopt a distributed paradigm with simple protocols. In other words, we investigate the problem of reliable dissemination from multiple sources when each node in the network shares a limited amount of its resources for cooperating with others. By using \emph{rateless} coding at the Road Side Unit (RSU) and using vehicles as data carriers, we describe an efficient way to achieve reliable dissemination to all nodes (even disconnected clusters in the network). In the nutshell, we explore vehicles as mobile storage devices. We then develop a method to keep the density of the rateless codes packets as a function of distance from the RSU at the desired level set for the target decoding distance. We investigate various tradeoffs involving buffer size, maximum capacity, and the mobility parameter of the vehicles

The Dynamics of Vehicular Networks in Urban Environments

Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs) have emerged as a platform to support intelligent inter-vehicle communication and improve traffic safety and performance. The road-constrained, high mobility of vehicles, their unbounded power source, and the emergence of roadside wireless infrastructures make VANETs a challenging research topic. A key to the development of protocols for inter-vehicle communication and services lies in the knowledge of the topological characteristics of the VANET communication graph. This paper explores the dynamics of VANETs in urban environments and investigates the impact of these findings in the design of VANET routing protocols. Using both real and realistic mobility traces, we study the networking shape of VANETs under different transmission and market penetration ranges. Given that a number of RSUs have to be deployed for disseminating information to vehicles in an urban area, we also study their impact on vehicular connectivity. Through extensive simulations we investigate the performance of VANET routing protocols by exploiting the knowledge of VANET graphs analysis.Comment: Revised our testbed with even more realistic mobility traces. Used the location of real Wi-Fi hotspots to simulate RSUs in our study. Used a larger, real mobility trace set, from taxis in Shanghai. Examine the implications of our findings in the design of VANET routing protocols by implementing in ns-3 two routing protocols (GPCR & VADD). Updated the bibliography section with new research work

Contribution to the design of VANET routing protocols for realistic urban environments

One of the main concerns of the cities' administration is mobility management. In Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), pedestrians, vehicles and public transportation systems could share information and react to any situation in the city. The information sensed by vehicles could be useful for other vehicles and for the mobility authorities. Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) make possible the communication between vehicles (V2I) and also between vehicles and fixed infrastructure (V2I) managed by the city's authorities. In addition, VANET routing protocols minimize the use of fixed infrastructure since they employ multi-hop V2V communication to reach reporting access points of the city. This thesis aims to contribute in the design of VANET routing protocols to enable reporting services (e.g., vehicular traffic notifications) in urban environments. The first step to achieve this global objective has been the study of components and tools to mimic a realistic VANET scenario. Moreover, we have analyzed the impact of the realism of each one of those components in the simulation results. Then, we have improved the Address Resolution procedure in VANETs by including it in the routing signaling messages. Our approach simplifies the VANET operation and increases the packet delivery ratio as consequence. Afterwards, we have tackled the issue of having duplicate packets in unicast communications and we have proposed routing filters to lower their presence. This way we have been able to increase the available bandwidth and reduce the average packet delay with a slight increase of the packet losses. Besides, we have proposed a Multi-Metric Map aware routing protocol (MMMR) that incorporates four routing metrics (distance, trajectory, vehicle density and available bandwidth) to take the forwarding decisions. With the aim of increasing the number of delivered packets in MMMR, we have developed a Geographical Heuristic Routing (GHR) algorithm. GHR integrates Tabu and Simulated Annealing heuristic optimization techniques to adapt its behavior to the specific scenario characteristics. GHR is generic because it could use any geographical routing protocol to take the forwarding decisions. Additionally, we have designed an easy to implement forwarding strategy based on an extended topology information area of two hops, called 2-hops Geographical Anycast Routing (2hGAR) protocol. Results show that controlled randomness introduced by GHR improves the default operation of MMMR. On the other hand, 2hGAR presents lower delays than GHR and higher packet delivery ratio, especially in high density scenarios. Finally, we have proposed two mixed (integer and linear) optimization models to detect the best positions in the city to locate the Road Side Units (RSUs) which are in charge of gathering all the reporting information generated by vehicles.Una de las principales preocupaciones en la administración de las ciudades es la gestión de la movilidad de sus vehículos, debido a los problemas de tráfico como atascos y accidentes. En los sistemas inteligentes de transporte (SIT), peatones, vehículos y transporte público podrán compartir información y adaptarse a cualquier situación que suceda en la ciudad. La información obtenida por los sensores de los vehículos puede ser útil para otros vehículos y para las autoridades de movilidad. Las redes ad hoc vehiculares (VANETs) hacen posible la comunicación entre los propios vehículos (V2V) y entre vehículos y la infraestructura fija de la red de la ciudad (V2I). Asimismo, los protocolos de encaminamiento para redes vehiculares minimizan el uso de infraestructura fija de red, ya que los protocolos de encaminamiento VANET emplean comunicaciones multisalto entre vehículos para encaminar los mensajes hasta los puntos de acceso de la red en la ciudad. El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral es contribuir en el diseño de protocolos de encaminamiento en redes ad hoc vehiculares para servicios de notificaciones (p.ej. reportes del estado del tráfico) en entornos urbanos. El primer paso para alcanzar este objetivo general ha sido el estudio de componentes y herramientas para simular un escenario realista de red ad hoc vehicular. Además, se ha analizado el impacto del nivel de realismo de cada uno de los componentes de simulación en los resultados obtenidos. Así también, se ha propuesto un mecanismo de resolución de direcciones automático y coherente para redes VANET a través del uso de los propios mensajes de señalización de los protocolos de encaminamiento. Esta mejora simplifica la operación de una red ad hoc vehicular y como consecuencia aumenta la tasa de recepción de paquetes. A continuación, se ha abordado el problema de la aparición inesperada de paquetes de datos duplicados en una comunicación punto a punto. Para ello, se ha propuesto el filtrado de paquetes duplicados a nivel del protocolo de encaminamiento. Esto ha producido un incremento del ancho disponible en el canal y una reducción del retardo medio en la trasmisión de un paquete, a costa de un mínimo aumento de la pérdida de paquetes. Por otra parte, hemos propuesto un protocolo de encaminamiento multi-métrica MMMR (Multi-Metric Map-aware Routing protocol), el cual incorpora cuatro métricas (distancia al destino, trayectoria, densidad de vehículos y ancho de banda) en las decisiones de encaminamiento. Con el objetivo de aumentar la tasa de entrega de paquetes en MMMR, hemos desarrollado un algoritmo heurístico de encaminamiento geográfico denominado GHR (Geographical Heuristic Routing). Esta propuesta integra las técnicas de optimización Tabu y Simulated Annealing, que permiten a GHR adaptarse a las características específicas del escenario. Adicionalmente, hemos propuesto 2hGAR (2-hops Geographical Anycast Routing), un protocolo de encaminamiento anycast que emplea información de la topología de red a dos saltos de distancia para tomar la decisión de encaminamiento de los mensajes. Los resultados muestran que la aleatoriedad controlada de GHR en su operación mejora el rendimiento de MMMR. Asimismo, 2hGAR presenta retardos de paquete menores a los obtenidos por GHR y una mayor tasa de paquetes entregados, especialmente en escenarios con alta densidad de vehículos. Finalmente, se han propuesto dos modelos de optimización mixtos (enteros y lineales) para detectar los mejores lugares de la ciudad donde ubicar los puntos de acceso de la red, los cuales se encargan de recolectar los reportes generados por los vehículos.Postprint (published version

Seamless Connectivity Techniques in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks

In this chapter we describe the traditional techniques used for seamless connectivity in heterogeneous wireless network environments, and in particular adopt them in VANETs, where V2V and V2I represent the main communication protocols. Section 2 deals with the basic features of Vertical Handover (VHO) in the general context of a hybrid wireless network environment, and it discusses how decision metrics can affect handover performance (i.e. number of handover occurrences, and throughput). Instead, Section 3 briefly introduces two proposed techniques achieving seamless connectivity in VANETs. The first technique is a vertical handover mechanism applied to V2I-only communication environments; it is presented in Section 4 via an analytical model, and main simulated results are shown. The second approach is described in Section 5. It addresses a hybrid vehicular communication protocol (i.e. called as Vehicle-to-X) performing handover between V2V and V2I communications, and vice versa.

Networking And Security Solutions For Vanet Initial Deployment Stage

Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a special case of mobile networks, where vehicles equipped with computing/communicating devices (called smart vehicles ) are the mobile wireless nodes. However, the movement pattern of these mobile wireless nodes is no more random, as in case of mobile networks, rather it is restricted to roads and streets. Vehicular networks have hybrid architecture; it is a combination of both infrastructure and infrastructure-less architectures. The direct vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication is infrastructure-less or ad hoc in nature. Here the vehicles traveling within communication range of each other form an ad hoc network. On the other hand, the vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication has infrastructure architecture where vehicles connect to access points deployed along roads. These access points are known as road side units (RSUs) and vehicles communicate with other vehicles/wired nodes through these RSUs. To provide various services to vehicles, RSUs are generally connected to each other and to the Internet. The direct RSU to RSU communication is also referred as I2I communication. The success of VANET depends on the existence of pervasive roadside infrastructure and sufficient number of smart vehicles. Most VANET applications and services are based on either one or both of these requirements. A fully matured VANET will have pervasive roadside network and enough vehicle density to enable VANET applications. However, the initial deployment stage of VANET will be characterized by the lack of pervasive roadside infrastructure and low market penetration of smart vehicles. It will be economically infeasible to initially install a pervasive and fully networked iv roadside infrastructure, which could result in the failure of applications and services that depend on V2I or I2I communications. Further, low market penetration means there are insufficient number of smart vehicles to enable V2V communication, which could result in failure of services and applications that depend on V2V communications. Non-availability of pervasive connectivity to certification authorities and dynamic locations of each vehicle will make it difficult and expensive to implement security solutions that are based on some central certificate management authority. Nonavailability of pervasive connectivity will also affect the backend connectivity of vehicles to the Internet or the rest of the world. Due to economic considerations, the installation of roadside infrastructure will take a long time and will be incremental thus resulting in a heterogeneous infrastructure with non-consistent capabilities. Similarly, smart vehicles will also have varying degree of capabilities. This will result in failure of applications and services that have very strict requirements on V2I or V2V communications. We have proposed several solutions to overcome the challenges described above that will be faced during the initial deployment stage of VANET. Specifically, we have proposed: A VANET architecture that can provide services with limited number of heterogeneous roadside units and smart vehicles with varying capabilities. A backend connectivity solution that provides connectivity between the Internet and smart vehicles without requiring pervasive roadside infrastructure or large number of smart vehicles. A security architecture that does not depend on pervasive roadside infrastructure or a fully connected V2V network and fulfills all the security requirements. v Optimization solutions for placement of a limited number of RSUs within a given area to provide best possible service to smart vehicles. The optimal placement solutions cover both urban areas and highways environment

Connected Vehicle Technology: User and System Performance Characteristics

The emerging connected vehicle (CV) technology plays a promising role in providing more operable and safer transportation environments. Yet, many questions remain unanswered as to how various user and system characteristics of CV-enabled networks can shape the successful implementation of the technology to maximize the return on investment. This research attempts to capture the effect of multiple factors such as traffic density, market penetration, and transmission range on the communication stability and overall network performance by developing a new CONnectivity ROBustness (CONROB) model. The model was tested with data collected from microscopic simulation of a 195 sq-mile traffic network and showed a potential to capture the effect of such factors on the communication stability in CV environments. The information exchanged among CVs can also be used to estimate traffic conditions in real time by invoking the probe vehicle feature of CV technology. Since factors affecting the connectivity robustness also have an impact on the performance of traffic condition estimation models, a direct relationship between connectivity robustness and traffic condition estimation performance was established. Simulation results show that the CONROB model can be used as a tool to predict the accuracy of the estimated traffic conditions (e.g. travel times), as well as the reliability of such estimates, given specific system characteristics. The optimal deployment of road-side units (RSUs) is another important factor that affects the communication stability and the traffic conditions estimates and reliability. Thus, an optimization approach was developed to identify the optimal RSUs locations with the objective function of maximizing the connectivity robustness. Simulation results for the developed approach show that CONROB model can help identify the optimal RSUs locations. This shows the importance of CONROB model as a planning tool for CV environments. For the individual user performance characteristics, a preliminary driving simulator test bed for CV technology was developed and tested on thirty licensed drivers. Forward collision warning messages were delivered to drivers when predefined time-to-collision values take place. The findings show improved reaction times of drivers when receiving the warning messages which lend credence to the safety benefits of the CV technology

Centrality Analysis in Vehicular Networks

To better understand networking and security aspects of VANETs, we have been investigating network connectivity issues and mappings of car networks to the underlying road topology. Using this mapping and various metrics based on centrality, we locate hot-spots in vehicular networks to determine the most vulnerable points for jamming. We also use these to optimize the placement of roadside units