Chapter 1

Prologue
1.1 Preamble

This chapter defines the scope and provides required background for the research
work. An introduction to various topics covered in this research such as
Characteristics of VANETs, VANETs protocols and standards, System architectures,
ComplexProblems and Technical Challenges, Practical Applications of the Research
work. We first define terms and concepts related to VANETs and then discuss
Complex Problems and Technical Challenges in VANETs and summarize
contributions of our research work.

1.2 Introduction to VANETs

Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (VANET) is a type of wireless networking technology,

created by establishing a network of vehicles with road side units, used for
communication purpose on highways or in urban environments to increase safety and
comfort for vehicles as shown in Figure 1.1. VANETs act as a crucial component of
Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and VANETs are an upcoming high-tech
technology, combination of Ad-Hoc network, wireless LAN, and cellular technology
to attain intelligent vehicle Communication system.

VANETs are identical to Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs). VANETS can be

distinguishing from MANETs by their hybrid architecture. In simple words we can
say VANET is communication between vehicles. Ad hoc network is described as the
networks which do not depend on any of the preceding framework like routers in
connection oriented network and access points in transmission networks. The
VANETs architecture mainly comprises of the On board units [OBU] equipped in
vehicles, Road side units [RSU] deployed on roadside junctions, and centralized
stations called base station Units [BSU], and the vehicles. Vehicles in then network
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interact with each other through OBU via messages. Similarly, OBU can directly
interact with RSU and BSU.

Figure 1.1: Future Vehicular Communication Scenario

Vehicles are the mobile machines used for transportation. Due to the increase in
human population there is also an increase in the population of vehicles. Due to this
reason there is an increase in congestion of vehicles. Vehicular congestion occurs if
the vehicles require space more than the available space. Increase in vehicles not only
cause congestion but are also responsible for the problems such as toxic waste,
consumption of fuel, misfortunes etc. To an organization, congestion means worker
productivity loss, delays in delivery, and greater costs. In order to resolve congestion
issues it is possible not only by physically creating new amenities and strategies but
also by developing technology to transportation management systems is significant
Vehicular research has the aim to enhance movement of flow of people and goods.

VANETs have been receiving and acquiring a lot of focus due to the enormous
variations in support they can offer. The VANET technology is mainly used to
provide defense and amenity to the commuters and also to prevent them from
unfortunate incidents.

VANETs have become a lively domain of research, regulation and development. Due
to its high potential to increase vehicle & road safety, traffic proficiency, suitability
and as well as luxury to both vehicle drivers and commuters. Current research works
have put a solid focus point on VANETs design frameworks and implementations.
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VANETs research works have concentrated on precise areas such as routing,

congestion control, dissemination, security and Quality of Service (QoS).

As the number of road users constantly increases, and resources provided by existing
infrastructures are less, congestion in traffic has become a very significant issue. To
overcome all these issues, this research primarily focuses on congestion related
problems. This technology mainly uses vehicles as nodes in a network to develop a
wandering network.

Congestion can happen in two ways. One is message congestion and another one is
vehicular congestion. Congestion can view in two dimensions, such as message
congestion and vehicular congestion both leads to vehicular traffic. Vehicular traffic
is the primary problem for many developing countries. Vehicular traffic will occurs
when the size of vehicles flow require more space than the existing road capacity. The
congestion is one of the important technical challenges in VANETs. Message
Congestion in VANETs may lead to higher packet loss, lower throughput and
increased packet delay and it leads to Vehicular traffic. In our research work propose
the Performance Analysis of different Proactive Congestion Control Techniques for
Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks in module1. So Vehicular traffic jams can be prevented
by controlling the message congestion in VANETs.

Congestion control techniques provides solutions which assists in distributing existing

resources among nodes effectively in a network. If the existing resources are less, and
the network topology and node density alter over time, a reasonable distribution of
resources becomes tough. We have discussed few rules for designing an efficient and
effective congestion control techniques and then we have equated different proactive
congestion control techniques as per QoS metrics like end-to-end delay, Network
overhead, Packet throughput, Packet drop, sending packets, packet delivery ratio.

Avoiding traffic jams is useful to both atmosphere and also for the economy, but
enhanced traffic flow may also result in a surge in demand. Vehicles in cities, traffic
can cause greater travel times because of ineffective traffic light control system. So it
is very important to efficiently handle the traffic lights at the intersections.
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Traffic light control system is a difficult optimization issue and few algorithms like
fuzzy logic, evolutionary algorithms, and Reinforcement Learning (RL) have
previously been opted in order to resolve it. Numerous methods have been opted such
as video image processing, microwave radar, laser radar, passive infrared, ultrasonic,
and passive acoustic array. But these systems come with a greater equipment cost and
their accuracy is based on environmental criteria. Optimum control of traffic lights
using smart sensors and dynamic optimization algorithms may be very useful. In our
research work propose the Dynamic signaling system and Alternative Path Selection
Technique will increases road capacity and smooth traffic flow and can prevent traffic
congestions in module 2 and module 3 respectively.

1.2.1 VANETs Characteristics

VANETs are categorized by their unique features that differentiate them from
MANETs. These distinct features can be briefed as follows:

High mobility: VANETs nodes are categorized by their greater relative speed which
makes VANET environment highly dynamic.

Predictable and restricted mobility patterns: MANETs is based on random

mobility whereas in VANET vehicular movements are having some constrained rules,
which make them anticipated at least for a short period of time.

Rapid topology change: VANET vehicles are categorized by their greater speed, this
results in regular network topology changes, which presents higher communication
overhead for exchanging latest topology information.

Localization: Through Global Positioning System (GPS) vehicles can figure out their
location accurately.

Abundant network nodes: VANETs can be very huge because the density of
vehicles is high.

Hard delay constraints: Transmitting Emergency messages without delay is the

primary objective of VANETs
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1.3 VANETs Protocols and Standards

VANETs use wireless protocol for communication between the nodes to exchange
critical data and also follow International standards for VANETs communication.

1.3.1 Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC)

DSRC is one of the wireless protocols which are used by VANETs. The main aim of
this protocol is to increase the safety of the traveler. These protocols are used to
establish data communication between the vehicles in the VANET scenario. The
DSRC mainly consists of seven channels and it also uses the IEEE standards. The
details of the IEEE standard are mentioned in the next section.

Figure 1.2: DSRC channels

DSRC band is distributed into seven conduits. Figure 1.2 represents the DSRC
channels. The frequency range of the channel is from 5.850 GHz to 5.925 GHz. From
the above Figure 1.2 channel 172 is dedicated for critical safety of life. Channel
174,176,180 and 182 represent the service channels and channel 178 with frequency
5.890 GHz represents the control channel. For high power public safety it uses the
frequency of 5.920 and the channel is 184.The control channels are mainly used to
transfer the emergency messages. Service channels are used to transfer non-
emergency messages.

1.3.2 IEEE Standards and WAVE Architecture

As mentioned earlier the DSRC will use the IEEE standard. Vehicular ad hoc
networks mainly use the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.x Standard. In the former
standard the physical layer and MAC layer protocols have been specified. The IEEE
802.11 is mainly used for the operations of single channel whereas for the operation
of multichannel the IEEE 1609.4 has been specified. The IEEE 802.11 MAC is also
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known as CSMA/CA because this is the access medium used by IEEE 802.11. As we
know VANETs use the shared wireless medium for communication. It cannot just
transmit or broadcast data to all the nodes because it may lead to collision. Due to this
reason we use the CSMA/CA protocol. The CSMA/CA functions as follows: if a node
wants to send message to other nodes, it has to first sense the medium to check if any
other node is transmitting or transferring the data to that node. Suppose if the medium
is free then it can send the data or else it has to wait until the channel becomes free.
Figure 1.3 represents the physical and MAC layer protocols.

Figure 1.3: Physical and MAC Layer

Figure 1.4: WAVE architecture

WAVE is abbreviated as Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment as shown in

Figure 1.4. The 802.11p protocol is the extended version of 802.11 protocols. The
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802.11p functions in the physical layer. The 1609.2 is mainly used to transfer
messages or process them in a secure manner. The 1609.3 is used in the network layer
and it provides networking services for the wave communication. The 1609.4 is used
for multi-channel operations. It also specifies how to arrange and use the multi-
channel. The 1609.5 is mainly used for the management of the layers.

1.4 System Architecture

System architectures can be classified into dissimilar forms based on different view
point in VANETs. With regards to the vehicular communication view point, it can be
classified into three layers. Infrastructure Domain is the upper layer comprising of
base station, servers, gateway and Road Side Unit (RSU). Ad-Hoc Domain is the
middle layer; finally In-Vehicle Domain is the lower layer. There are five types of
communications are possible in VANETs, they are V2V, V2RSU, RSU2RSU, RSU2
BS, BS2BS. The On Board Units [OBU] are fixed in vehicles. These vehicles are
interacting with RSU. Road side units [RSU] are fixed near the junctions. These units
collect the information from OBU and sends to BSU. Base Stations Units [BSU] are
centralized units. The computation will take place and result will sends to OBU
through RSU as shown in figure 1.5.

Figure 1.5: VANETs System Architecture

1.5 Complex Problems and Technical Challenges

Networks usually instill quite a lot technical issues regarding Data processing and
sharing on network involving network management. Along with the above , networks
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also throw additional technical challenges in discovering of new networks,

congestion control challenges , network control and routing issues, collective
information processing, querying. Following are the list of additional challenges
involved in VANETs they are
 Vehicular Network Discovery
 Network Control and Routing
 Congestion Control
 Collaborative Signal and Information Processing
 Tasking and Querying
 Security

1.6 Practical Applications of the Research work

• Public Safety Applications

• Traffic Management Applications

• Traffic Coordination and Assistance Applications

• Additional Applications

Public Safety Applications: In this research work, developed mobile android

application enables features for providing safety to vehicle riders by sending SOS
messages to nearest police stations in case of emergency.

Traffic Management Applications: Traffic management applications focuses on

improving traffic flow, thus reducing both congestion as well as accidents resulting
from congestion and it also reduce travel time. In this research work, the proposed
Dynamic-DFPAV algorithm controls the congestion for better traffic management.

Also, Dynamic signaling system and alternative path selection algorithm provides
better solutions in managing with traffic like Traffic monitoring, Traffic light
scheduling and Emergency vehicles.
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Traffic Coordination and Assistance Applications: In proposed research work, the

sensors at traffic junctions provide traffic information to Base Station regarding traffic
scenario at junctions. Mobile application helps vehicle riders in receiving the current
status of traffic via picture or text messages.

Additional Applications: vehicle theft identification systems (VTIS) and smart

ambulance system (SAS) provides vehicle owner an option to get back their stolen
vehicles by registering a complaint in database and for the free movement of
ambulance in order to reach hospitals for providing timely medical assistance to
patients, respectively.

1.7Outline of the Thesis

The Thesis is organized as follows:

Chapter-1: Introduction: This chapter tells about the VANETs Characteristics,

VANETs Protocols and Standards, System Architecture, Technical challenges,
background of the modules and its Applications.

Chapter-2: Literature Survey: This chapter basically discusses all the fundamentals
study of Congestion control algorithms for VANETs along with the brief discussion
on past research work in same area. We also discuss on Motivation for Research
work, its existing system and its effects as well as proposed system with its theoretical
outline.

Chapter-3: This chapter basically discusses on Design Guidelines and Taxonomy for
Congestion Control in VANETs. In this chapter we thoroughly investigate the
different congestion control techniques such as proactive, Reactive and Hybrid.
Finally discuss about Traffic signaling system.

Chapter 4: This chapter basically discusses on Mathematical Models which includes

Types of model and also discusses on Asymptotic Throughput Capacity Analysis for
Vehicular Traffic.
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Chapter 5: Module 1: Performance Analysis of Proactive Congestion Control

Techniques such as Static D-FPAV and Dynamic D-FPAV for Vehicular Ad-Hoc
Networks. We provide comparison of proactive congestion control techniques.

Chapter 6: Module 2: we discuss novel method for Dynamic Signaling System in

Road Scenarios Using Density Based Approach to Control Vehicular Traffic in
VANETs.

Chapter-7: Module 3: we discuss novel method Alternate Path Selection Algorithm

By Virtue Of Proactive Congestion Control Technique for VANETS.

Chapter-8: Module-4: In this chapter we discuss and develop a Vehicle Theft

Identification System (VTIS), Smart Ambulance system (SAS) and Smart Street
Lights System (SSLS).

Chapter-9: Module-5: Developed an application that provides safety assistance such

as Ambulance services during a road mishap, also enables the end user to request for
Fire douser and also it shows the alternative paths to avoid traffic. As an add-on,
application also provides vehicle tracking so that security can be provided.

Epilogue -This chapter is mainly the summary of the entire module development and
it also suggests future work of which enhances the application.