Improvement of Vehicular Communications

by Using 3G Capabilities to
Disseminate Control Information

Submitted by
Introduction
Vehicular Communication Systems are an emerging type of networks in which
vehicles and roadside units are the communicating nodes providing each other with
information! such as safety warnings and traffic information"
Cellular networks have gained a lot of popularity in the conte#t of vehicular
communication within the last few years" $#isting reference architectures already
consider them to provide enhanced connectivity to vehicles for data communication"
%heir capabilities! especially 3G and ne#t generation! translate into great potential in the
vehicular environment! far beyond the provision of data connectivity" In this conte#t we
present a solution that uses 3G cellular networks not only as a backup for data
communication among vehicles! but also and especially as an efficient mechanism for the
dissemination of relevant control information for multiple applications! services and
protocols" %he simulation results demonstrate that by using our 3G based solution to
disseminate connectivity information! vehicular ad hoc routing protocols improve their
route selections! which results in a higher packet delivery ratio in urban scenarios"
Vehicular ad hoc Networks (VANETs)
Vehicular ad hoc networks &V'($%s) consist of a set of vehicles e*uipped with
onboard units &+,Us) and roadside units &-SUs) that communicate wirelessly" (odes in
the V'($% have routing capabilities that facilitate multihop communication! especially
designed for gathering and disseminating road safety and efficiency related information"
%hus! they are very useful to share critical information in a specific region of a road! for
e#ample! for disseminating warning information or providing unicast communication
between two vehicles for infotainment.related services"
V'($% routing protocols are responsible for the selection of paths from the
source to the destination or destinations" %his is a challenging task due to the intrinsic
properties of V'($%s! which include the variability of the network topology! high.speed
of vehicles! network partitioning into clusters of vehicles or uneven network density!
among others" /ere we focus on V'($%s formed by vehicles"
0any V'($%.specific routing solutions have been proposed in the recent years"
%he key to all these protocols is to take advantage of additional information available in
the vehicles! such as position! digital maps! or even planned routes" ,y using this
additional information! these new V'($% protocols improve the performance of routing
mechanisms" /owever! their performance depends on the amount of information in the
vehicles. the higher! the better . and is hence limited when this information cannot be
disseminated &e"g"! across partitioned clusters of vehicles)" +ne option to improve the
performance of these routing protocols is the use of backup network to ensure a data
channel for vehicular communications" %his network! typically cellular! acts as a backup
link when the dissemination node is not reachable through the V'($%"
,esides providing backup communications for vehicles! it has been demonstrated
that the third.generation &3G) mobile network infrastructure is capable of ensuring timely
message dissemination throughout large areas" 0oreover! the mobile broadcast enables
efficient message dissemination for many.user scenarios" 1inally! end.to.end delays of
below 233ms can be achieved in today4s 3G networks! although they cannot be
guaranteed" %he main innovation in this article is the use of cellular networks to gather
and distribute relevant control information"
Application of New Operator Enablers in Vehicular Scenarios
%he penetration! coverage! and data rates offered by 3G mobile technologies such
as enhanced data Global System for 0obile communications &GS0) environment
&$DG$) and high.speed &uplink5downlink) packet access &/s#6') have made them a
viable alternative to provide efficient data communications in the vehicular conte#t"
%hus! future vehicular networks are certainly e#pected to be hybrid in nature"
(G( 'rchitecture and +perator $nablers
7e define an enabler as a functionality located in the network infrastructure that
enriches final user services and applications without complicating their operational logic"
$nablers allow services to delegate common tasks like authentication and user location to
the operator4s network through well.defined interfaces that use standard protocols"
%he basis for many of the relevant enablers is the next-generation-network (NGN)
architecture and it core element! the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)" (G( has been
designed to replace the public switched telephone network &6S%() for the use of voice
and multimedia services" I0S deals with the control! access! and deployment to all the
applications in this new network architecture" %he subsystem can be used over any access
network based on I6"
Location Service. ' location service periodically obtains the position of the terminals
through the network and offers location information to the services through standard
interfaces" 0obile terminals report their location using data channels over secure I6
connections"
Advanced ontent !roadcast"#ulticast. %his capability allows services to deliver
advanced digital content like multimedia streaming or files to many users" %here are
several standardi8ations for working on this area but we focus on the multimedia
broadcast multicast service (MBMS)
0,0S is a broadcasting service that can be offered via e#isting GS0 and 3G
cellular networks" 0,0S is fle#ible and cost.effective" ,y fle#ible we mean that it can
be configured to use only a portion of a cell carries! leaving the rest for other services" It
is cost.effective because radio transmission is independent of the number of subscribers
in the cell" It only introduces minor changes to the e#isting network and terminals!
reducing implementation costs and making mobile broadcast a relatively ine#pensive
technology"
0,0S enables operators to define broadcast and multicast services for
geographical areas at fine granularity! down to the si8e of radio cells" %he file
downloading service in 0,0S consists of three phases9 service advertisement! file
transmission! and post.delivery repair in order to ensure correct delivery to all
subscribers" 0,0S adapts the I6 multicast model for cellular networks" Data delivery is
done based on I6 multicast addresses! which are associated with the different flows of a
service" %erminals subscribe to the I6 multicast addresses of those services they are
interested in using the Internet Group 0anagement 6rotocol &IG06)"
Identit$ %rovider. Services need to authenticate users without full access to all attributes
of user identities" 1or this purpose! identity management is delegated to a trusted entity of
the operator4s infrastructure" %his element is called the identity provider &Id6)"
Using this enabler! services are simplified! and the real identity of users is
protected" It also enhances the user e#perience because it is not necessary to perform an
authentication for every service" Id6 can work with multiple authentication mechanisms
such as user5password! certificates! and SI0.card.based! allowing services to choose the
one attending their preferences"
Ter&inal apabilities. %he main function of this enabler is to provide the characteristics
of the user terminals to services"
%o gather information about the hardware and software of a terminal! served:ces
use the device identifier to interrogate the enabler" %he information includes! among
other! multimedia features! communication technologies! firmware versions! product
manufacturer! and model" %hese attributes are provided within a structure called a
composite capability5preference profile &CC566) and can be adapted to the service needs
in different environments" 'dditionally! the enabler also provides a subscription feature
for services that need to be informed when certain capabilities change"
'pplication within Vehicular Communications and Services
Vehicular network protocols can benefit from the efficiency of e#isting operator
enablers" Very challenging problems in V'($%s related to security issues and routing
mechanisms can be dealt with using the previously described enablers"
Enabler Vehicular Networkin' Vehicular Services
;ocation Server +btain relevant information for
communication protocols &vehicle
density! positions! mobility
predictions! etc")"
1leet management! enhanced
traffic management by authorities
&e"g"! avoiding traffic <ams)! etc"
'dvanced
,roadcast5multicast
Geocasting useful real.time
information to a group of vehicles
for optimi8ed routing and security
management &position! certificate
revocation lists! etc")"
Dissemination of critical
information &safety warnings!
traffic congestion! etc")"
%erminal
Capabilities
=nowing available networking
interfaces and capabilities of
vehicles! I6 addresses! provided
services! estimated routes! etc"
1acilitate control by authorities
&cars driving without insurance!
remote diagnosis! etc")
Identity 6rovider Generation of network identities
for the vehicle! authentication!
privacy! etc"
Secure electronic toll! secure
gathering of private information
by medical services after a crash!
etc"
%able >" 'pplications of operator enablers in the vehicular conte#t
VANET (outin' I&prove&ent )sin' *+ apabilities
In this section we describe how these enablers over 3G networks can be used to
improve the performance of V'($% routing protocols as one of the possible
applications" In particular! we focus on how our proposed idea is even able to offer
advantages to multihop routing"
,enefits for V'($% -outing
Vehicles use V'($% routing protocols to deliver messages between a source and
a destination using other intermediate vehicles as relays" %he constrained mobility of
vehicles due to streets! intersections! traffic lights! and the like results in a partitioned
network with uneven network density in which routing task becomes very challenging"
$ven mobile ad hoc networks fail to provide acceptable performance"
1or this reason! V'($%.specific routing solutions have been proposed" %heir
main innovation is that they are particularly designed to e#ploit available information
regarding the scenario and other vehicles" 1or instance they can be based on the use of
street maps! location and speed of other vehicles! etc" the general idea behind V'($%
routing protocols in city scenarios consists of finding the most appropriate list of
streets5<unctions connecting the source and the destination" Data packets are sent from the
source vehicle to the position of the destination by traversing those streets5<unctions" %o
do that! each vehicle participating in the forwarding selects neighboring vehicles closer to
the ne#t <unction than itself" %his process! called greedy routing! can fail if a message gets
stuck at a vehicle traveling along a street with insufficient density to guarantee message
forwarding" So! it is highly valuable for V'($% routing protocols to count on real time
information about which streets have enough connectivity to facilitate packet forwarding"
%o solve this problem! we design an efficient mechanism based on e#isting
enablers to provide vehicles with information about which streets have enough
connectivity among cars to provide a multihop path" %he main enablers we e#tend in our
solution are the location server! broadcast and multicast service! and terminal capabilities"
'rchitecture
In this section we describe the architecture of our solution we named as VISI+(S
&Vehicular Improvement9 Solution based on I0S +perational (odes and Services)" It has
modules located in vehicles and in the operator infrastructure"
1ig >" 'rchitecture
Onboard #odules. %he elements onboard are responsible for collecting information of
the vehicle! sending it to the server! receiving road situation information! and enriching
the routing mechanisms with the received information"
%he hardware modules are a GPS receiver to get the position of the vehicle and
two communication interfaces9 !ireless "ccess in #e$icular %nvironment (!"#%) for
the V'($% and &G cellular"
%he ve$icle in'ormation base &VI,) consists of an information repository storing
updated data of the nodes in the area where the vehicle is"
%he terminal ca(abilities ()*) client obtains attributes like vehicle ID! V'($%
I6 address! 3G I6 address! the identification number of the cellular subscriber! mobile
station international subscriber directory number &0SISD()!and the estimated route of
the vehicle from the +,U! stores them! and sends them to the %C enabler"
%he location client periodically obtains information from the G6S receiver
&position! speed! direction and timestamp)" %his information is stored and sent out to the
location server enabler over the user channel of the cellular interface"
%he MBMS receiver gets the information about other cars broadcast by the
operator infrastructure and stores it in the VI,"
%he (rediction module is in charge of estimating the position of the nodes when
re*uired! based on the position! speed! direction! and tra<ectory from the VI, and time
elapsed since the last update" %his module has an application programming interface
&'6I) responsible for providing the information to V'($% routing protocols"
Infrastructure #odules. %hese modules! based on the operator enablers are responsible
for collecting data from the vehicles! processing it! and sending back efficiently the
aggregated information to the vehicles inside the geographical regions defined by the
coverage area of one or more radio cells"
%he location server collects position! speed! direction! and timestamp from the
vehicles! and stores them in the database" %he functionalities are offered through a
standardi8ed '6I"
%he )* enabler is responsible for the collection and storage of the rest of the
attributes"
%he P+,), ada(ter is a new module! developed e#plicitly for our solution! that
accesses location and %C enablers through their standardi8ed '6Is for retrieving
information in order to generate a set of digital files called 6/+%+s" $ach 6/+%+
contains all the attributes of the vehicles within a specific region"
%he MBMS enabler provides broadcasting capabilities and is used to efficiently
distribute 6/+%+s to all vehicles inside regions defined by a set of one or more ad<acent
cells"
Operation of VISIONS
%he overall operation of VISI+(S is depicted in fig"! which illustrates the provision of
enhanced information to the V'($% routing module of an +,U employing the
previously described enablers"
1ig" ?" +peration Scheme
1ig"?" +peration Scheme
%his operation consists of the following se*uential steps9
>) +,U connects to the cellular network using its 3G interface"
?) a) %he %C client collects attributes from the +,U and stores them in the local
database &VI,)"
b) 'ttributes are sent to the corresponding enabler located in the VISI+(S
infrastructure module"
c) %C enabler in the infrastructure acknowledges the operation"
3) ;ocation process
a) %he location client in the +,U retrieves information from the G6S receiver and
stores it in the VI,"
b) %he information is sent to the location server"
c) ;ocation server acknowledges the operation"
@) 6/+%+ generation
%he 6/+%+ adapter retrieves information from9
a) the location server and
b) the %C enabler
and generates the 6/+%+s"
2) 6/+%+s are sent to the 0,0S"
A) 0,0S distributes each 6/+%+ into the geographical region"
B) 7hen a vehicle within a region receives the corresponding 6/+%+! it stores the
information in the local VI,"
C) In each vehicle the V'($% routing protocol in the +,U *ueries the VISI+(S
prediction module through the '6I"
D) %he prediction module calculates the current position of the surrounding vehicles
and answers the *uery"
>3) V'($% routing protocol is provided with relevant information and makes an
informed routing decision towards the targeted destination"
Step 3 is repeated for each vehicle either periodically or when the obtained position is
sufficiently different"
Steps @.B are also repeated periodically or at dynamic intervals for every region"
onclusions and ,uture -ork
%he use of e#isting mobile telecommunication networks in the conte#t of
vehicular communications is *uite common nowadays" /owever! their use is mainly
oriented towards the provision of data communication services for vehicles" %hese
networks have evolved very rapidly within the last few years and nowadays operators
have many efficient communication mechanisms that may become very valuable in the
vehicular environment much beyond providing connectivity"
In this conte#t! based on the most relevant operator enablers applicable to the
vehicular conte#t! we have designed and evaluated a solution that can help V'($%
routing protocols make more accurate routing decisions" +ur proposed solution shows
that cellular network.assisted V'($% routing achieves a higher delivery ratio! while it
does not re*uire a lot of bandwidth from the operator network" In our view! this idea of
operator enabled vehicular communications has much wider applicability and opens up
an interesting research direction" In fact! VISI+(S can help other applications in the
vehicular environment! which include efficient location service! access control for
V'($%s! and management of certificate revocation lists"
(eferences
I$$$ (etwork! Ean51eb ?3>3
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