Analysis of Path Characteristics and Transport Protocol Design in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) enable new applications by providing self-organizing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication. Some of these applications require reliable, in-order data delivery across end-to-end connections. The performance of a vehicular transport protocol (VTP) that provides such a service depends on its ability to adapt quickly to the varying path characteristics of highly dynamic environments. This paper studies path characteristics of VANETs in highway scenarios. An analytical evaluation derives upper bounds on the expected connectivity and disruption duration. Simulations validate these results and study further metrics, such as packet loss, packet reordering and round trip times. The paper also briefly outlines a preliminary VTP design that incorporates these analytical results.