Information-centric dissemination protocol for safety information in vehicular ad-hoc networks

In vehicular networks, efficient safety information dissemination is a crucial issue. Unique characteristics of such an environment like highly mobility, fast topology changing, short-lived and intermittent connectivity pose challenges for safety information dissemination. Although IEEE 802.11p is standardized as an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 for connection-based wireless communication in vehicular environments (WAVE), it is still an open topic and a challenge to efficiently handle high mobility, intermittent connectivity, and spontaneous characteristics of vehicles on the roadway during wireless communication. This paper exploits information centric networking approach to design an efficient information dissemination protocol for such a challenging environment. The protocol is designed for both communication schemes in vehicular networks including vehicles-to-vehicles and vehicle-to-road. By focusing on information object itself, instead of end-to-end connection, the proposed mechanism supports fast and efficient data dissemination among multiple content consumers and multiple content providers, removing dependence on end-to-end connection between two nodes, thus improve the overall network performance. Through experimental results over different scenarios, we show that the proposed protocol achieves a significant improvement in term of the network performance compared to the conventional approach (WAVE).     

Directed information dissemination in vehicular ad-hoc networks

In this article, we utilize the idea of multipoint relays (MPRs) found in literature (Jacquet et al. in Proceedings of IEEE INMIC, 2001), to propagate accident information in a restricted way (e.g., only backwards). We devise an algorithm to identify MPRs that are geographically situated behind a particular node using only its neighbor table, and speed information of the neighboring vehicles. With the identification of the backward MPRs, it is possible to restrict the information dissemination to vehicles behind a particular vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) node only. This might benefit the approaching vehicles so that the driver could take preventive measures in real-time since he/she will have an indication of the severity of road conditions ahead. We assume that there exists an inter vehicular network using optimized link state routing (OLSR) where accident information can be propagated to all nodes using on-going OLSR control packets. We envision our application will run on top of existing routing protocols (e.g., OLSR), thereby resulting in very little integration effort, and retaining OLSR’s reduced network traffic advantage through the use of MPRs. We analyze our back MPR identification algorithm in a detailed manner. We also show that by using our approach the location of the accident alert instigator node could be pinpointed if a subset of the nodes in the same VANET know their geographical positions. We use VANET mobility models generated by SUMO into NS-3 for our simulations, and also perform preliminary experiments to verify the algorithm’s effectiveness. Our analysis and experiments show favorable results.     

Adaptive TDMA slot assignment protocol for vehicular ad-hoc networks

This paper proposes a novel adaptive time division multiple access (TDMA) slot assignment protocol (ATSA) for vehicular ad-hoc networks. ATSA divides different sets of time slots according to vehicles moving in opposite directions. When a node accesses the networks, it choices a frame length and competes a slot based on its direction and location to communication with the other nodes. Based on the binary tree algorithm, the frame length is dynamically doubled or shortened, and the ratio of two slot sets is adjusted to decrease the probability of transmission collisions. The theoretical analysis proves ATSA protocol can reduce the time delay at least 20% than the media access control protocol for vehicular ad-hoc networks (VeMAC) and 30% than the ad-hoc. The simulation experiment shows that ATSA has a good scalability and the collisions would be reduced about 50% than VeMAC, channel utilization is significantly improved than several existing protocols.     

Performance modeling of SEAD protocol in vehicular environment

Wireless Networks - Toward the growing number of the transport safety applications offered by VANET, a large amount of messages need to be efficiently disseminated between connected vehicles. The...     

ReIDD: reliability-aware intelligent data dissemination protocol for broadcast storm problem in vehicular ad hoc networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have emerged as fast growing networks with aims to provide safety, and comfort to the onboard passengers. But, in this environment reliable data dissemination to the destination nodes is one of the biggest challenges as there may be a congestion in the network due to blind flooding of messages to their final destination, called as broadcast storm which may lead to the performance degradation with respect to the metric such as-message delivery, reliability and response time. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a reliability-aware intelligent data dissemination protocol for broadcast storm problem in VANETs. We have solved the above specified problem using game theory concepts in which players, strategy space and decisions with respect to the current state of the system. To reduce the message overhead with respect to the communication cost among the players of the game, in the proposed scheme, messages are routed to the next destination by selecting the most reliable path in an intelligent manner. A coalition game is formulated among the vehicles by considering vehicles as the players in the game. Each player in the game has an initial payoff value based upon the parameters such as-communication range, storage requirements, and computation power. Based upon the payoff value of the players in the game, different coalitions/clusters are formulated among the players in the proposed scheme. Then, the players send the messages to the other vehicles/players within the same coalition which increases the reliability of transmission. In the proposed scheme, messages are unicasted to their final destination in an intelligent manner. Different algorithms are designed for coalition formation, maintenance, and reliability-aware data dissemination. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using various evaluation metrics such as-service time, packet delivery ration, and throughput. The results obtained prove the effectiveness of the proposed scheme as compared to the other state-of-the-art existing schemes.     

Incentive based scheme for improving data availability in vehicular ad-hoc networks

Vehicular networks are popular in recent years to provide low cost communication medium during mobility. Vehicular Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) are one of the major categories of emerging technology. DTNs work on carry and forward mechanism to deliver data to the destination. The network performance gets severely affected due to reluctance shown by selfish nodes where few nodes show no interest in forwarding others data due to lack of any personal profit. The proposed mechanism is based on coalition game theory and discusses about incentive based mechanism which provides incentive to nodes which are forwarding data to forward to destination and motivates other vehicles in the network to participate in coalition to forward data. This scheme not only encourages other selfish nodes to forward their private data and other nodes’ public data as early as possible to destination but also increases reliability in the network as more nodes show their interest in selected routing protocol. The proposed scheme outperforms in overall benefit earned by individual node and whole coalition, and increases mutual cooperation which improves availability of data in the network.     

Octopus: A fault-tolerant and efficient ad-hoc routing protocol

Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) are failure-prone environments; it is common for mobile wireless nodes to intermittently disconnect from the network, e.g., due to signal blockage. This paper focuses on withstanding such failures in large MANETs: we present Octopus, a fault-tolerant and efficient position-based routing protocol. Fault-tolerance is achieved by employing redundancy, i.e., storing the location of each node at many other nodes, and by keeping frequently refreshed soft state. At the same time, Octopus achieves a low location update overhead by employing a novel aggregation technique, whereby a single packet updates the location of many nodes at many other nodes. Octopus is highly scalable: for a fixed node density, the number of location update packets sent does not grow with the network size. And when the density increases, the overhead drops. Thorough empirical evaluation using the ns2 simulator with up to 675 mobile nodes shows that Octopus achieves excellent fault-tolerance at a modest overhead: when all nodes intermittently disconnect and reconnect, Octopus achieves the same high reliability as when all nodes are constantly up. A preliminary version of this paper appears in Proceedings of the 24th IEEE Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems (SRDS 2005) October 26–28, 2005, Orlando, Florida. Idit Keidar is a faculty member at the department of Electrical Engineering at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and a recipient of the national Alon Fellowship for new faculty members. She holds Ph.D., M.Sc. (summa cum laude), and B.Sc (summa cum laude) degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She was a postdoctoral research associate at MIT’s laboratory for Computer Science, where she held post-doctoral fellowships from Rothschild Yad-Hanadiv and NSF CISE. Dr. Keidar has consulted for BBN Technologies (a Verizon Company) in the area of fault-tolerance and intrusion tolerance, and for Microsoft Research in the area of fault-tolerant storage systems. Dr. Keidar’s research focuses on reliability in distributed algorithms and system. She is the academic head of Software Systems Laboratory at the Technion. Dr. Keidar served as a member of the Steering Committee of the ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC), has served on numerous program committees of leading conferences in the area of distributed and parallel computing, has twice served as a vice-chair for the IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS), and once served as a vice-chair for Euro-Par. Yoav Barel is a Senior Business Line Manager at Sun Microsystems. He holds a B.Sc from the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. Mr. Barel works with wireless carriers world wide and assists them in deploying innovative services based on cutting edge Java technologies. Roie Melamed is a research staff member at IBM Haifa Research Laboratory. He holds Ph.D. and B.A. (cum laude) degrees from the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Melamed’s research focuses on reliability in distributed systems.     

An adaptive low-overhead resource discovery protocol for mobile ad-hoc networks

In this paper we propose a Distributed Hash Table (DHT)-based peer-to-peer resource discovery protocol designed for large-scale Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork (MANET). The proposed Mobile Resource Discovery Protocol (MRDP) uses a distributed dynamic clustering algorithm to adaptively and rapidly group nodes in a MANET for resource discovery purpose, and utilizes DHTs to efficiently cache resource information in a peer-to-peer manner. We provide a probabilistic lower bound on the performance of the MRDP. We also present simulation results under different scenarios to show that MRDP has low message overheads and its performance is highly insensitive to the size of the MANET. These characteristics make MRDP suitable for large-scale MANETs.     

A comprehensive survey of network coding in vehicular ad-hoc networks

Network coding is a data processing technique in which the flow of digital data is optimized in a network by transmitting a composite of two or more messages to make the network more robust. Network coding has been used in traditional and emerging wireless networks to overcome the communications issues of these networks. It also plays an important role in the area of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) to meet the challenges like high mobility, rapidly changing topology, and intermittent connectivity. VANETs consist of network of vehicles in which they communicate with each other to ensure road safety, free flow of traffic, and ease of journey for the passengers. It is now considered to be the most valuable concept for improving efficiency and safety of future transportation. However, this field has a lot of challenges to deal with. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of network coding schemes in VANETs. We have classified different applications like content distribution, multimedia streaming, cooperative downloading, data dissemination, and summarized other key areas of VANETs in which network coding schemes are implemented. This research work will provide a clear understanding to the readers about how network coding is implemented in these schemes in VANETs to improve performance, reduce delay, and make the network more efficient.     

Beetle colony optimization algorithm-based node clustering scheme for efficient data dissemination in vehicular ad hoc networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are the ultimate solution for preventing road accidents, which result in the loss of precious human life worldwide. In this context, effective communication between the vehicular nodes is essential due to the varying network topology and high vehicular mobility inherent with VANETs. Cluster-based routing is identified to be a significant approach for achieving efficient routing and improving communication proficiency in VANETs. In this paper, a beetle colony optimization algorithm–based clustering scheme (BCOACS) is proposed for generating optimized clusters for facilitating reliable data dissemination. This BCOACS algorithm includes two vital strategies such as beetle antenna search (BAS) and swarm intelligence for attaining inter-cluster and intra-cluster communications. In specific, BAS strategy that includes random search attributed toward gradient direction is used for intra-cluster communication without using the complete amount of gradient information. On the other hand, a swarm intelligence strategy that encompasses a collective approach of self-organized and decentralized agents is used for inter-cluster communication with the view to minimize the load on each cluster head (CH) and to extend the clusters' lifetime. The simulation outcomes of the proposed BCOACS scheme confirmed improved performance in optimizing the number of constructed clusters independent of the increase in the network grid size, transmission range, and number of vehicular nodes in the network compared to the benchmarked approaches. The results also confirmed that the proposed BCOACS scheme achieved a maximized throughput of 13.42%, with reduced delay and protocol overhead of 18.96% and 19.45%, better than the benchmarked schemes used for investigation.     

On minimizing the system information age in vehicular ad-hoc networks via efficient scheduling and piggybacking

Recent advances in vehicular networks have enforced researchers to focus on various information dissemination techniques. Exchanging information among the vehicles is imperative due to the ever-changing network topology in vehicular networks. However, random transmitter selection in traditional CSMA based channel access mechanism limits the delay performance. Data, such as state information, is often time critical, and hence, efficient information dissemination techniques to improve delay performance are essential. In this work, we aim to minimize the average system age which is the mean number of time slots old a vehicle’s information is at all other vehicles in the network. To achieve this, we explore the benefits of simultaneous transmission along with piggybacking of information for multi-hop communication. While allowing simultaneous transmission guarantees faster dissemination of information, piggybacking facilitates dissemination of more information per transmission, thereby keeping the network more updated. We have also analysed the relationship between piggybacked information and number of vehicles in the network. Simulation results show improvement in network performance. Our analytical results are in good agreement with the simulation results.     

Service capacity in vehicular networks: A resource dissemination analysis

The support of peer-to-peer (P2P) resource sharing in dynamic scenarios is one of the most challenging research fields for both its expected commercial and technological impact on everyday life. To this purpose, resource sharing within a vehicular network can facilitate an acceleration in the dissemination process and increase the number of nodes in the network which possess a certain resource and can share it with other devices. This performance parameter, denoted as service capacity, has been recently studied in the context of wired P2P networks but its calculation in mobile networks is still an open problem. In this paper, we perform a service capacity analysis in P2P vehicular networks where nodes move according to traffic patterns which consider realistic car interactions such as acceleration, breaking and inter-car minimum safety distance maintenance and, while moving, perform resource dissemination. More specifically, we will present a service capacity analysis which considers the impact of traffic correlation and node density on the number of mobile vehicles in the network possessing a certain resource. Finally, we will also estimate the impact of link errors on the probability that a resource is propagated up to a certain location, in a given time.     

An efficient anonymous communication protocol for peer-to-peer applications over mobile ad-hoc networks

An efficient anonymous communication protocol, called MANET Anonymous Peer-to-peer Communication Protocol (MAPCP), for P2P applications over mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) is proposed in this work. MAPCP employs broadcasts with probabilistic-based flooding control to establish multiple anonymous paths between communication peers. It requires no hop-by-hop encrypt ion/decryption along anonymous paths and, hence, demands lower computational complexity and power consumption than those MANET anonymous routing protocols. Since MAPCP builds multiple paths to multiple peers within a single query phase without using an extra route discovery process, it is more efficient in P2P applications. Through analysis and extensive simulations, we demonstrate that MAPCP always maintains a higher degree of anonymity than a MANET anonymous single-path routing protocol in a hostile environment. Simulation results also show that MAPCP is resilient to passive attacks     

A cross-layer multihop data delivery protocol with fairness guarantees for vehicular networks

In this paper, a new cross-layer communication protocol for vehicular Internet access along highways is introduced. The objective of the new Controlled Vehicular Internet Access (CVIA) protocol is to increase the end-to-end throughput while achieving fairness in bandwidth usage between road segments. To achieve this goal, the CVIA protocol eliminates contention in relaying packets over long distances. CVIA creates single-hop vehicle clusters and mitigates the hidden node problem by dividing the road into segments and controlling the active time of each segment. Using an analytical throughput estimation model, the protocol parameters are fine-tuned to provide fairness among road segments. Simulation results confirm that the proposed CVIA protocol provides higher throughput and better fairness in multihop data delivery in vehicular networks when compared with purely IEEE 802.11-based protocols.     

An efficient TDMA-based variable interval multichannel MAC protocol for vehicular networks

Vehicular Adhoc NETworks (VANETs) are the key to the future of intelligent transportation systems. An efficient MAC protocol is of greater importance to meet the strict deadlines of safety related applications in VANETs. This work introduces a novel TDMA-based variable interval multichannel MAC protocol (TM-MAC) for VANETs. TM-MAC employs TDMA along with variable interval multichannel scheduling for providing a reliable and efficient broadcast service over a lossy wireless medium. TM-MAC reduces transmission collisions thus making Control CHannel (CCH) more reliable and provides high throughput over Service CHannel (SCH) via maximum channel utilization. The scheduling strategy ensures that vehicles are assigned a slot instantaneously. Moreover there is a reduction of almost 50 % in number of vehicles incurring merging collisions when compared with VeMAC (Omar et al. in IEEE Trans Mob Comput 12(9):1724–1736, 2013), an existing and recently proposed TDMA based MAC protocol. This reduction in merging collisions increased the packet delivery ratio by almost 25 % when compared with VeMAC. Extensive simulations which were done over a realistic city scenario connote the superiority of TM-MAC over existing schemes for a wide range of traffic conditions.     

R-DRA: a replication-based distributed randomized algorithm for data dissemination in connected vehicular networks

Wireless Networks - As data dissemination is of great importance for applications in connected vehicular networks (VANETs), we aim to facilitate the performance of data dissemination in this study....     

A medium access protocol exploiting multiuser-detection in CDMA ad-hoc networks

A new medium access protocol which exploits the physical layer capability of multiuser detection is proposed to help in improving the throughput/delay performance of ad-hoc networks. When more than one node has packets buffered for a common node in the neighborhood, all such nodes can simultaneously transmit their packets to the common receiver after reserving their surrounding channel. This is achieved in our protocol by extending the (sender-initiated) CSMA/CA collision avoidance framework by the receiver-initiated medium access technique and incorporating the transmission power control. We analyze the improvement in the throughput that can be achieved over the basic sender-initiated collision avoidance protocol in the network. Since the throughput improvement via multi-packet reception is influenced by the network layer activity as well, the performance of our protocol rolls back to that of the basic sender-initiated protocol in case of no coordination from the network layer. For the evaluation of performance of our protocol we simulate ad-hoc networks for different network topologies and traffic configurations. We observe the scheme to be capable in significantly improving the throughput/delay performance of the network.     

Cooperative caching for content dissemination in vehicular networks

The explosive growth of mobile data traffic has made cellular operators to seek low‐cost alternatives for cellular traffic off‐loading. In this paper, we consider a content delivery network where a vehicular communication network composed of roadside units (RSUs) is integrated into a cellular network to serve as an off‐loading platform. Each RSU subjecting to its storage capacity caches a subset of the contents of the central content server. Allocating the suitable subset of contents in each RSU cache such that maximizes the hit ratio of vehicles requests is a problem of paramount value that is targeted in this study. First, we propose a centralized solution in which, we model the cache content placement problem as a submodular maximization problem and show that it is NP‐hard. Second, we propose a distributed cooperative caching scheme, in which RSUs in an area periodically share information about their contents locally and thus update their cache. To this end, we model the distributed caching problem as a strategic resource allocation game that achieves at least 50% of the optimal solution. Finally, we evaluate our scheme using simulation for urban mobility simulator under realistic conditions. On average, the results show an improvement of 8% in the hit ratio of the proposed method compared with other well‐known cache content placement approaches.     

A lightweight identity authentication protocol for vehicular networks

In vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs), vehicles perform a handover procedure in order to connect to the next RSU. In general, the handover procedure comprises two stages, namely searching for an appropriate road side unit (RSU) to connect to and performing an authentication procedure with the selected RSU. Since the vehicles in a VANET typically have a high mobility, frequent handover operations are required, and thus the transmission delay is inevitably increased. Accordingly, this paper proposes an authentication method designated as LIAP (Lightweight Identity Authentication Protocol) to reduce the handover authentication delay. LIAP employs a DSSP (Dynamic Session Secret Process) method to improve the speed and computational efficiency of the authentication process whilst simultaneously concealing the sensitive information of the vehicle. The security analysis results and performance evaluations show that LIAP not only provides an efficient and confidential authentication capability, but also preserves the robustness of the VANET toward malicious attacks.