On Infostation Density of Vehicular Networks
Vinod Kone
Haitao Zheng
Antony Rowstron
Ben Y. Zhao
ACM Mobile Networking and Applications (MONET), 2010
[Full Text in PDF Format, 377KB]
Paper Abstract
Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Roadside
communications are going to become an indispensable
part of the modern day automotive experience. For
people on the move, vehicular networks can provide
critical network connectivity and access to real-time
information. Infostations play a vital role in these networks by acting
as gateways to the Internet and by
extending network connectivity. In this context, an important question
is "What is the minimum number of
infostations that need to be deployed in an area in order
to support vehicular applications?" Optimizing infostation density
is vital to understanding and reducing the
cost of deployment and management. In this paper, we
examine the required infostation density in a highway
scenario using different data dissemination models.We
start from a simple analysis that captures the required
density under idealized assumptions. These models
are validated by an event-driven simulator. We then
run detailed QualNet simulations on both controlled
and realistic vehicular traces to observe the information
density trends in practical environments, and consequently
propose techniques to improve dissemination performance and
reduce the required infostation density.