On the use of WiMAX and Wi-Fi in a VANET to provide in-vehicle connectivity and media distribution

Date
2011-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The recent emergence of ubiquitous wireless connectivity and the increasing computational capacity of modern vehicles have triggered immense interest in the possibilities of vehicular connectivity. A plethora of potential applications for vehicular networks have been proposed in the areas of safety, traffic infrastructure management, information, and entertainment. The broad range of applications requires creative utilisation of the available wireless medium, using a combination of existing and novel wireless technologies. In this research the evaluation of one such configuration is performed. Dedicated short range communication for safety applications is assumed, and the use of Wi- Fi and WiMAX for non-safety applications is evaluated. Little is known about the media streaming performance of these wireless technologies in realistic vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) scenarios. Due to the extreme mobility and unpredictable environmental aspects in a real road environment, an empirical evaluation is performed and presented. Evaluation of a multi-vehicle to infrastructure (V2V2I) VANET, using Wi-Fi for the vehicle-to-vehicle communication and WiMAX for the vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication is experimented. It is observed that Wi-Fi is unaffected by the vehicle speed; whenever nodes are within communication range, data gets transferred normally. A detailed characterisation of the network architecture is presented and the results show that a multitude of applications can be supported with this proposed network architecture.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die toenemende beskikbaarheid en digtheid van koordlose netwerke en die verhoogde verwerkingsvermoëns van moderne voertuie het die afgelope paar jaar aansienlike belangstelling gewek in die moontlikhede wat voertuig-kommunikasie bied. ʼn Magdom moontlike toepassings is voorgestel in ʼn wye verskeidenheid van velde insluitende veiligheid, verkeersinfrastruktuur, informasie en vermaak. Hierdie voorstelle vereis die kreatiewe benutting van die beskikbare en nuwe koordlose tegnologieë. Hierdie tesis evalueer een voorbeeld van so ‘n opstelling. ʼn Toegewyde kortafstand kommunikasie modus vir veiligheidstoepassings word aangeneem, terwyl Wi-Fi en WiMAX vir ander toepassings evalueer word. Daar is min navorsing oor die kapasiteit en seinsterkte van hierdie beskikbare netwerke onder realistiese voertuig netwerk (VANET) scenario‘s. Weens die hoë mobiliteit van voertuie en ook die onvoorspelbaarheid van hierdie omgewing word ʼn empiriese evaluasie beskou as die mees gepaste metode. Die navorsing ondersoek ʼn multi-voertuig-totinfrastruktuur- netwerk wat Wi-Fi gebruik vir voertuig-tot-voertuig (V2V) kommunikasie en WiMAX vir voertuig-tot-infrastruktuur (V2I) kommunikasie. Die navorsing bevind dat Wi-Fi nie beïnvloed word deur die spoed van die voertuig nie: wanneer die nodes binne die bereik is van die netwerk word data normaal oorgedra. ‗n Gedetailleerde karakterisering van dié netwerk word gedoen en die resultate dui aan dat ‗n groot hoeveelheid toepassings ondersteun kan word deur dié opstelling.
Description
Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.
Keywords
Vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET), WiMAX, Wi-Fi, Vehicular networks, Dissertations -- Electronic engineering, Theses -- Electronic engineering, Mobile communication systems, Wireless communication systems
Citation