Two-Hop Connectivity to the Roadside in a VANET Under the Random Connection Model

We compute the expected number of cars that have at least one two-hop path to a fixed roadside unit in a one-dimensional vehicular ad hoc network in which other cars can be used as relays to reach a roadside unit when they do not have a reliable direct link. The pairwise channels between cars experience Rayleigh fading in the random connection model, and so exist, with probability function of the mutual distance between the cars, or between the cars and the roadside unit. We derive exact equivalents for this expected number of cars when the car density $\rho$ tends to zero and to infinity, and determine its behaviour using an infinite oscillating power series in $\rho$, which is accurate for all regimes. We also corroborate those findings to a realistic situation, using snapshots of actual traffic data. Finally, a normal approximation is discussed for the probability mass function of the number of cars with a two-hop connection to the origin. The probability mass function appears to be well fitted by a Gaussian approximation with mean equal to the expected number of cars with two hops to the origin.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Integrating Smartdust into Intelligent Transportation System

The last few years have seen the emergence of many new technologies that can potentially have major impacts on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). One of these technologies is a micro-electromechanical device called smartdust. A smartdust device (or a mote) is typically composed of a processing unit, some memory, and a radio chip, which allows it to communicate wirelessly with other motes within range. These motes can also be augmented with additional sensors – such as those for detecting light, temperature and acceleration – hence enhancing their features and making their application areas virtually limitless. As the smartdust concept is still relatively new, and very little is known about its application in transport domain, conducting research in this area may prove to be very valuable. It is generally perceived that smartdust will become the low-cost, ubiquitous sensor of the future, especially once its size shrinks dramatically to merit its name. Our involvement in several transport-related EU and UK funded projects (ASTRA, 2005; ASK-IT, 2007; EMMA, 2007; Foot-LITE, 2007; MESSAGE, 2007; TRACKSS, 2007) provides us with an opportunity to carry out experiments and to develop demonstrations of smartdust applications in transport systems. We also have a chance to investigate how smartdust can be used in collaboration with other (more traditional) transport sensors for developing better Co-operative Transport Systems (CTS). This paper outlines our experience in these projects and provides an illustration on the important role that the smartdust technology can play in future ITS. We also present encouraging results obtained from our experiments in investigating the feasibility of utilising smartdust in real ITS applications

Distribution of Road Hazard Warning Messages to Distant Vehicles in Intelligent Transport Systems

© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permissíon from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertisíng or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] The efficient distribution of intelligent transport system (ITS) messages is fundamental for the deployment and acceptance of ITS applications by mobile network operators and the automotive industry. In particular, the distribution of road hazard warning (RHW) messages to distant vehicles requires special mechanisms. In this case, the combination of direct communication between vehicles and the wide area coverage provided by cellular networks might be crucial not only for reducing the data transmission costs but also for improving the timeliness of ITS information. Moreover, the application of clustering and cluster head selection mechanisms among vehicles can increase the efficiency of hybrid vehicular and cellular communication networks. This paper introduces a novel cluster head selection technique for the distribution of RHW messages, and proposes an implementation of another legacy technique that was originally intended for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). This paper evaluates the performance of these techniques by the means of computer simulations in two scenarios with distinct congestion and propagation conditions. The simulation results show the potential benefit of hybrid networks compared with pure cellular transmissions, especially, if the novel cluster head selection technique is used.Calabuig Soler, D.; Martín-Sacristán, D.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Botsov, M.; Gozálvez Serrano, D. (2018). Distribution of Road Hazard Warning Messages to Distant Vehicles in Intelligent Transport Systems. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. 19(4):1152-1165. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2017.2718103S1152116519

Evaluating the Impact of Transmission Power on Selecting Tall Vehicles as Best Next Communication Hop

The relatively low height of antennas on communicating vehicles in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) makes one hop and as well multi-hop Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication susceptible to obstruction by other vehicles on the road. When the transmitter or receiver (or both) is a Tall vehi- cle, (i.e., truck), the V2V communication suffer less from these obstructions. The transmission power control is an important feature in the design of (multi- hop) VANET communication algorithms. However, the benefits of choosing a Tall vehicle when transmission power is varied are not yet extensively re- searched. Therefore, the main contribution of this paper is to evaluate the im- pact of transmission power control on the improved V2V communication capa- bilities of tall vehicles. Based on simulations, it is shown that significant bene- fits are observed when a Tall vehicle is selected rather than a Short vehicle as a next V2V communication hop to relay packets. Moreover, the simulation exper- iments show that as the transmission power is increasing, the rate of Tall vehi- cles that are selected as best next V2V communication hop is significantly growing

Performance evaluation of a hybrid sensor and vehicular network to improve road safety

In the last years, wireless networks have become a widely spread type of communication technology and also a challenging scientific area for new fields of research. Many contributions in ad hoc networks, such as WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks) and VANETs (Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks), have been proposed. Nowadays, the huge amount of cars in transit has raised a big interest in vehicular communication technologies. A new type of network has been developed, named HSVN (Hybrid Sensor and Vehicular Network) in which WSNs and VANETs cooperate with the aim of improving road safety. Recent projects, such as CVIS [1] and COMeSafety [2], are focused on improving the road driving. This type of approaches will warn the driver and the co-pilot of any event occurred in the road ahead, such as traffic jam, accidents, bad weather, etc. This way, the number of traffic accidents may decrease and many lives might be saved. Besides, a better selection of non-congested roads will help to reduce pollution. In addition, other attractive services, such as downloading of multimedia services or Internet browsing, would be easily available through infrastructure along the roadside. Transportation in motorways will be easier, safer and more comfortable for passengers. In this paper a HSVN platform is presented, also a communications protocol between VANETs and WSNs is described and evaluated using the NCTUns [3] simulator.Postprint (published version

Vehicle to vehicle (V2V) wireless communications

This work focuses on the vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, its current challenges, future perspective and possible improvement.V2V communication is characterized by the dynamic environment, high mobility, nonpredective scenario, propagation effects, and also communicating antenna's positions. This peculiarity of V2V wireless communication makes channel modelling and the vehicular propagation quite challenging. In this work, firstly we studied the present context of V2V communication also known as Vehicular Ad-hoc Netwok (VANET) including ongoing researches and studies particularly related to Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), specifically designed for automotive uses with corresponding set of protocols and standards. Secondly, we focused on communication models and improvement of these models to make them more suitable, reliable and efficient for the V2V environment. As specifies the standard, OFDM is used in V2V communication, Adaptable OFDM transceiver was designed. Some parameters as performance analytics are used to compare the improvement with the actual situation. For the enhancement of physical layer of V2V communication, this work is focused in the study of MIMO channel instead of SISO. In the designed transceiver both SISO and MIMO were implemented and studied successfully

Wireless vehicular communications for automatic incident detection and recovery

Incident detection is the process by which an incident is brought to the attention of traffic operators in order to design and activate a response plan. To minimize the detection time is crucial to mitigate the incident severity for victims as well to reduce the risk of secondary crashes. Automated incident information dissemination and traffic conditions is useful to alert in-route drivers to decide alternative routes on unexpected traffic congestion and may be also used for the incident recovery process, namely to optimize the response plan including the “nearest” rescue teams, thereby shortening their response times. Wireless vehicular communications, notably the emergent IEEE 802.11p protocol, is the enabling technology providing timely, dependable and secure properties that are essential for the devised target application. However, there are still some open issues with vehicular communications that require further research efforts. This paper presents an overview of the state of the art in wireless vehicular communications and describes the field operational tests proposed within the scope of the upcoming FP7 project ICSI - Intelligent Cooperative Sensing for Improved traffic efficiency

Performance Evaluation of Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks using simulation tools

Recent studies demonstrate that the routing protocol performances in vehicular networks can improve using dynamic information on the traffic conditions. WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks) and VANETs (Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks) are exactly related with this statement and represent the trend of wireless networks research program in the last years. In this context, a new type of network has been developed: in fact, HSVN (Hybrid Sensor and Vehicular Network) let WSNs and VANETs cooperate through dynamic information data exchanges with the aim to improve road safety, and especially to warn the driver and the co-pilot of any event occurred in the road ahead, such as traffic jam, accidents or bad weather. The results will be immediate: less accidents means more saved lives, less traffic means a pollution decrease, and from the technological point of view, this communication protocol will open the door to attractive services, such as downloading of multimedia services or internet browsing, that means easier, safer and more comfortable trips. It is out of doubt that speaking about cars and road technology developments, the market and the interests about this field increase exponentially. Recent projects such as CVIS [1] and COMeSafety [2], focused on improving the road driving, and are the concrete demonstration that this entire context can get soon very close to reality. Owing to their peculiar characteristics, VANETs require the definition of specific networking techniques, whose feasibility and performance are usually tested by means of simulation. Starting from this point, this project will present a HSVN platform, and will also introduce and evaluate a communication protocol between VANETs and WSNs using the NCTUns 6.0 [3] simulator. We will particularly analyze the performances of 2 types of Scenarios developed during our project. Both of them are in an urban context, but we will extract different useful results analyzing the packet losses, the throughput and the end-to-end packet delay

Building an Intelligent Transport Information Platform for Smart Cities

Intelligent Transportation management is a key requirement in the development of Smart Cities. This can be realised with a new technology known as Vehicular Ad hoc Networks or VANETs. VANETs allow us to integrate our transport and communication infrastructures through communication devices deployed along the roads called Roadside Units (RSUs). The RSUs talk to a device in your car called an Onboard Unit (OBU). OBUs can exchange information with RSUs as well as with each other, and because VANETs have been engineered to deliver information quickly and reliably, they can be used in a number of safety-critical areas such as collision avoidance, accident notification and disaster management. This project was about building and evaluating a prototype VANET network on the Middlesex University Hendon Campus and surrounding roads. The information from this VANET Testbed was stored and processed using a Cloud platform at Middlesex University, enabling visual and data analytics to be applied in order to provide an intelligent platform for transport management