Optimal data rate selection for vehicle safety communications

This paper answers a simple but important question in VANET research: what is the optimal data rate to be used in DSRC-based vehicle safety communications? While it is generally accepted that the default choice is 6 Mbps, this assumption is not rooted in strong technical considerations. This paper provides a systematic evaluation of optimized data rates choices in a variety of scenarios. The answer found enables researchers to generally eliminate one dimension of complexity in relevant VANET studies. Additionally, the methodology used in this paper is possibly as interesting as the conclusion.