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.

Towards video streaming in IoT environments: vehicular communication perspective

Multimedia oriented Internet of Things (IoT) enables pervasive and real-time communication of video, audio and image data among devices in an immediate surroundings. Today's vehicles have the capability of supporting real time multimedia acquisition. Vehicles with high illuminating infrared cameras and customized sensors can communicate with other on-road devices using dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) and 5G enabled communication technologies. Real time incidence of both urban and highway vehicular traffic environment can be captured and transmitted using vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication modes. Video streaming in vehicular IoT (VSV-IoT) environments is in growing stage with several challenges that need to be addressed ranging from limited resources in IoT devices, intermittent connection in vehicular networks, heterogeneous devices, dynamism and scalability in video encoding, bandwidth underutilization in video delivery, and attaining application-precise quality of service in video streaming. In this context, this paper presents a comprehensive review on video streaming in IoT environments focusing on vehicular communication perspective. Specifically, significance of video streaming in vehicular IoT environments is highlighted focusing on integration of vehicular communication with 5G enabled IoT technologies, and smart city oriented application areas for VSV-IoT. A taxonomy is presented for the classification of related literature on video streaming in vehicular network environments. Following the taxonomy, critical review of literature is performed focusing on major functional model, strengths and weaknesses. Metrics for video streaming in vehicular IoT environments are derived and comparatively analyzed in terms of their usage and evaluation capabilities. Open research challenges in VSV-IoT are identified as future directions of research in the area. The survey would benefit both IoT and vehicle industry practitioners and researchers, in terms of augmenting understanding of vehicular video streaming and its IoT related trends and issues

Vehicular Networks with Infrastructure: Modeling, Simulation and Testbed

This thesis focuses on Vehicular Networks with Infrastructure. In the examined scenarios, vehicular nodes (e.g., cars, buses) can communicate with infrastructure roadside units (RSUs) providing continuous or intermittent coverage of an urban road topology. Different aspects related to the design of new applications for Vehicular Networks are investigated through modeling, simulation and testing on real field. In particular, the thesis: i) provides a feasible multi-hop routing solution for maintaining connectivity among RSUs, forming the wireless mesh infrastructure, and moving vehicles; ii) explains how to combine the UHF and the traditional 5-GHz bands to design and implement a new high-capacity high-efficiency Content Downloading using disjoint control and service channels; iii) studies new RSUs deployment strategies for Content Dissemination and Downloading in urban and suburban scenarios with different vehicles mobility models and traffic densities; iv) defines an optimization problem to minimize the average travel delay perceived by the drivers, spreading different traffic flows over the surface roads in a urban scenario; v) exploits the concept of Nash equilibrium in the game-theory approach to efficiently guide electric vehicles drivers' towards the charging stations. Moreover, the thesis emphasizes the importance of using realistic mobility models, as well as reasonable signal propagation models for vehicular networks. Simplistic assumptions drive to trivial mathematical analysis and shorter simulations, but they frequently produce misleading results. Thus, testing the proposed solutions in the real field and collecting measurements is a good way to double-check the correctness of our studie

Recent Developments on Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks and Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

This book presents collective works published in the recent Special Issue (SI) entitled "Recent Developments on Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks and Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks”. These works expose the readership to the latest solutions and techniques for MANETs and VANETs. They cover interesting topics such as power-aware optimization solutions for MANETs, data dissemination in VANETs, adaptive multi-hop broadcast schemes for VANETs, multi-metric routing protocols for VANETs, and incentive mechanisms to encourage the distribution of information in VANETs. The book demonstrates pioneering work in these fields, investigates novel solutions and methods, and discusses future trends in these field

SDN-based VANET routing: A comprehensive survey on architectures, protocols, analysis, and future challenges

As the automotive and telecommunication industries advance, more vehicles are becoming connected, leading to the realization of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) supports various ITS services, including safety, convenience, and infotainment services for drivers and passengers. Generally, such services are realized through data sharing among vehicles and nearby infrastructures or vehicles over multi-hop data routing mechanisms. Vehicular data routing faces many challenges caused by vehicle dynamicity, intermittent connectivity, and diverse application requirements. Consequently, the software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm offers unique features such as programmability and flexibility to enhance vehicular network performance and management and meet the quality of services (QoS) requirements of various VANET services. Recently, VANET routing protocols have been improved using the multilevel knowledge and an up-to-date global view of traffic conditions offered by SDN technology. The primary objective of this study is to furnish comprehensive information regarding the current SDN-based VANET routing protocols, encompassing intricate details of their underlying mechanisms, forwarding algorithms, and architectural considerations. Each protocol will be thoroughly examined individually, elucidating its strengths, weaknesses, and proposed enhancements. Also, the software-defined vehicular network (SDVN) architectures are presented according to their operation modes and controlling degree. Then, the potential of SDN-based VANET is explored from the aspect of routing and the design requirements of routing protocols in SDVNs. SDVN routing algorithms are uniquely classified according to various criteria. In addition, a complete comparative analysis will be achieved to analyze the protocols regarding performance, optimization, and simulation results. Finally, the challenges and upcoming research directions for developing such protocols are widely stated here. By presenting such insights, this paper provides a comprehensive overview and inspires researchers to enhance existing protocols and explore novel solutions, thereby paving the way for innovation in this field

Capacity analysis in different systems exploiting mobility of VANETs

Improving road safety and traffic efficiency has been a long-term endeavor for not only government but also automobile industry and academia. After the U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) allocated a 75 MHz spectrum at 5.9 GHz for vehicular communications, the vehicular ad hoc network (VANET), as an instantiation of the mobile ad hoc network (MANET) with much higher node mobility, opens a new door to combat the road fatalities. In VANETs, a variety of applications ranging from safety related (e.g. emergency report, collision warning) to non-safety-related (e.g. infotainment and entertainment) can be enabled by vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-roadside (V2R) communications. However, the flourish of VANET still hinges fully understanding and managing the challenges that the public concerns, for example, capacity and connectivity issues due to the high mobility of vehicles. In this thesis, we investigate how vehicle mobility can impact the performance in three important VANET-involved systems, i.e., pure VANET, VANET-enhanced intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and fast electric vehicle (EV) charging systems. First, in pure VANET, our work shows that the network data-traffic can be balanced and the network throughput can be improved with the help of the vehicle mobility differentiation. Furthermore, leveraging vehicular communications of VANETs, the mobility-aware real-time path planning can be designed to smooth the vehicle traffic in an ITS, through which the traffic congestion in urban scenarios can be effectively relieved. In addition, with the consideration of the range anxiety caused by mobility, coordinated charging can provide efficient charging plans for electric vehicles (EVs) to improve the overall energy utilization while preventing an electric power system from overloading. To this end, we try to answer the following questions: Q1) How to utilize mobility characteristics of vehicles to derive the achievable asymptotic throughput capacity in pure VANETs? Q2) How to design path planning for mobile vehicles to maximize spatial utility based on mobility differentiation, in order to approach vehicle-traffic capacity in a VANET-enhanced ITS? Q3) How to develop the charging strategies based on mobility of electric vehicles to improve the electricity utility, in order to approach load capacities of charging stations in VANET-enhanced smart grid? To achieve the first objective, we consider the unique features of VANETs and derive the scaling law of VANETs throughput capacity in the data uploading scenario. We show that in both free-space propagation and non-free-space propagation environments, the achievable throughput capacity of individual vehicle scales as $\Theta (\frac{1}{{\log n}}) with$n$denoting the population of a set of homogenous vehicles in the network. To achieve the second objective, we first establish a VANET-enhanced ITS, which incorporates VANETs to enable real-time communications among vehicles, road side units (RSUs), and a vehicle-traffic server in an efficient way. Then, we propose a real-time path planning algorithm, which not only improves the overall spatial utilization of a road network but also reduces average vehicle travel cost for avoiding vehicles from getting stuck in congestion. To achieve the third objective, we investigate a smart grid involved EV fast charging system, with enhanced communication capabilities, i.e., a VANET-enhanced smart grid. It exploits VANETs to support real-time communications among RSUs and highly mobile EVs for real-time vehicle mobility information collection or charging decision dispatch. Then, we propose a mobility-aware coordinated charging strategy for EVs, which not only improves the overall energy utilization while avoiding power system overloading, but also addresses the range anxieties of individual EVs by reducing the average travel cost. In summary, the analysis developed and the scaling law derived in$Q1$of this thesis is practical and fundamental to reveal the relationship between the mobility of vehicles and the network performance in VANETs. And the strategies proposed in$Q2$and$Q3$ of the thesis are meaningful in exploiting/leveraging the vehicle mobility differentiation to improve the system performance in order to approach the corresponding capacities