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 context of vehicular
communication within the last few years. Existing reference architectures already
consider them to provide enhanced connectivity to vehicles for data communication.
Their capabilities, especially 3G and next generation, translate into great potential in the
vehicular environment, far beyond the provision of data connectivity. In this context 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. The 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 (VANETs) consist of a set of vehicles equipped with
onboard units (OBUs) and roadside units (RSUs) that communicate wirelessly. Nodes in
the VANET have routing capabilities that facilitate multihop communication, especially
designed for gathering and disseminating road safety and efficiency related information.
Thus, they are very useful to share critical information in a specific region of a road, for
example, for disseminating warning information or providing unicast communication
between two vehicles for infotainment-related services.

VANET routing protocols are responsible for the selection of paths from the
source to the destination or destinations. This is a challenging task due to the intrinsic
properties of VANETs, which include the variability of the network topology, high-speed
of vehicles, network partitioning into clusters of vehicles or uneven network density,
among others. Here we focus on VANETs formed by vehicles.

Many VANET-specific routing solutions have been proposed in the recent years.
The 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. By using this
additional information, these new VANET protocols improve the performance of routing
mechanisms. However, 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). One option to improve the
performance of these routing protocols is the use of backup network to ensure a data
channel for vehicular communications. This network, typically cellular, acts as a backup
link when the dissemination node is not reachable through the VANET.

Besides 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. Moreover, the mobile broadcast enables
efficient message dissemination for many-user scenarios. Finally, end-to-end delays of
below 500ms can be achieved in today’s 3G networks, although they cannot be
guaranteed. The 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

The penetration, coverage, and data rates offered by 3G mobile technologies such
as enhanced data Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) environment
(EDGE) and high-speed (uplink/downlink) packet access (HsxPA) have made them a
viable alternative to provide efficient data communications in the vehicular context.
Thus, future vehicular networks are certainly expected to be hybrid in nature.

NGN Architecture and Operator Enablers

We define an enabler as a functionality located in the network infrastructure that
enriches final user services and applications without complicating their operational logic.
Enablers allow services to delegate common tasks like authentication and user location to
the operator’s network through well-defined interfaces that use standard protocols.
The basis for many of the relevant enablers is the next-generation-network (NGN)
architecture and it core element, the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS). NGN has been
designed to replace the public switched telephone network (PSTN) for the use of voice
and multimedia services. IMS deals with the control, access, and deployment to all the
applications in this new network architecture. The subsystem can be used over any access
network based on IP.

Location Service- A location service periodically obtains the position of the terminals
through the network and offers location information to the services through standard
interfaces. Mobile terminals report their location using data channels over secure IP
connections.

Advanced Content Broadcast/Multicast- This capability allows services to deliver

advanced digital content like multimedia streaming or files to many users. There are
several standardizations for working on this area but we focus on the multimedia
broadcast multicast service (MBMS).
 MBMS is a broadcasting service that can be offered via existing GSM and 3G
cellular networks. MBMS is flexible and cost-effective. By flexible 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 existing network and terminals,
reducing implementation costs and making mobile broadcast a relatively inexpensive
technology.
MBMS enables operators to define broadcast and multicast services for
geographical areas at fine granularity, down to the size of radio cells. The file
downloading service in MBMS consists of three phases: service advertisement, file
transmission, and post-delivery repair in order to ensure correct delivery to all
subscribers. MBMS adapts the IP multicast model for cellular networks. Data delivery is
done based on IP multicast addresses, which are associated with the different flows of a
service. Terminals subscribe to the IP multicast addresses of those services they are
interested in using the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP).

Identity Provider- Services need to authenticate users without full access to all attributes
of user identities. For this purpose, identity management is delegated to a trusted entity of
the operator’s infrastructure. This element is called the identity provider (IdP).
Using this enabler, services are simplified, and the real identity of users is
protected. It also enhances the user experience because it is not necessary to perform an
authentication for every service. IdP can work with multiple authentication mechanisms
such as user/password, certificates, and SIM-card-based, allowing services to choose the
one attending their preferences.

Terminal Capabilities- The main function of this enabler is to provide the characteristics
of the user terminals to services.
To gather information about the hardware and software of a terminal, served=ces
use the device identifier to interrogate the enabler. The information includes, among
other, multimedia features, communication technologies, firmware versions, product
manufacturer, and model. These attributes are provided within a structure called a
composite capability/preference profile (CC/PP) and can be adapted to the service needs
in different environments. Additionally, the enabler also provides a subscription feature
for services that need to be informed when certain capabilities change.

Application within Vehicular Communications and Services

Vehicular network protocols can benefit from the efficiency of existing operator
enablers. Very challenging problems in VANETs related to security issues and routing
mechanisms can be dealt with using the previously described enablers.

Enabler Vehicular Networking Vehicular Services

Location Server Obtain relevant information for Fleet management, enhanced

communication protocols (vehicle traffic management by authorities
density, positions, mobility (e.g., avoiding traffic jams), etc.
predictions, etc.).

Advanced Geocasting useful real-time Dissemination of critical

Broadcast/multicast information to a group of vehicles information (safety warnings,
for optimized routing and security traffic congestion, etc.).
management (position, certificate
revocation lists, etc.).

Terminal Knowing available networking Facilitate control by authorities

Capabilities interfaces and capabilities of (cars driving without insurance,
vehicles, IP addresses, provided remote diagnosis, etc.)
services, estimated routes, etc.

Identity Provider Generation of network identities Secure electronic toll, secure

for the vehicle, authentication, gathering of private information
privacy, etc. by medical services after a crash,
etc.

Table 1. Applications of operator enablers in the vehicular context

VANET Routing Improvement Using 3G Capabilities
In this section we describe how these enablers over 3G networks can be used to
improve the performance of VANET 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.

Benefits for VANET Routing

Vehicles use VANET routing protocols to deliver messages between a source and
a destination using other intermediate vehicles as relays. The 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.
Even mobile ad hoc networks fail to provide acceptable performance.
For this reason, VANET-specific routing solutions have been proposed. Their
main innovation is that they are particularly designed to exploit available information
regarding the scenario and other vehicles. For instance they can be based on the use of
street maps, location and speed of other vehicles, etc. the general idea behind VANET
routing protocols in city scenarios consists of finding the most appropriate list of
streets/junctions connecting the source and the destination. Data packets are sent from the
source vehicle to the position of the destination by traversing those streets/junctions. To
do that, each vehicle participating in the forwarding selects neighboring vehicles closer to
the next junction than itself. This 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 VANET routing protocols to count on real time
information about which streets have enough connectivity to facilitate packet forwarding.
To solve this problem, we design an efficient mechanism based on existing
enablers to provide vehicles with information about which streets have enough
connectivity among cars to provide a multihop path. The main enablers we extend in our
solution are the location server, broadcast and multicast service, and terminal capabilities.
Architecture
In this section we describe the architecture of our solution we named as VISIONS
(Vehicular Improvement: Solution based on IMS Operational Nodes and Services). It has
modules located in vehicles and in the operator infrastructure.

Fig 1. Architecture
Onboard Modules- The 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.
The hardware modules are a GPS receiver to get the position of the vehicle and
two communication interfaces: Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment (WAVE) for
the VANET and 3G cellular.
The vehicle information base (VIB) consists of an information repository storing
updated data of the nodes in the area where the vehicle is.
The terminal capabilities (TC) client obtains attributes like vehicle ID, VANET
IP address, 3G IP address, the identification number of the cellular subscriber, mobile
station international subscriber directory number (MSISDN),and the estimated route of
the vehicle from the OBU, stores them, and sends them to the TC enabler.
 The location client periodically obtains information from the GPS receiver
(position, speed, direction and timestamp). This information is stored and sent out to the
location server enabler over the user channel of the cellular interface.
The MBMS receiver gets the information about other cars broadcast by the
operator infrastructure and stores it in the VIB.
The prediction module is in charge of estimating the position of the nodes when
required, based on the position, speed, direction, and trajectory from the VIB and time
elapsed since the last update. This module has an application programming interface
(API) responsible for providing the information to VANET routing protocols.

Infrastructure Modules- These 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.
The location server collects position, speed, direction, and timestamp from the
vehicles, and stores them in the database. The functionalities are offered through a
standardized API.
The TC enabler is responsible for the collection and storage of the rest of the
attributes.
The PHOTO adapter is a new module, developed explicitly for our solution, that
accesses location and TC enablers through their standardized APIs for retrieving
information in order to generate a set of digital files called PHOTOs. Each PHOTO
contains all the attributes of the vehicles within a specific region.
The MBMS enabler provides broadcasting capabilities and is used to efficiently
distribute PHOTOs to all vehicles inside regions defined by a set of one or more adjacent
cells.

Operation of VISIONS
The overall operation of VISIONS is depicted in fig., which illustrates the provision of
enhanced information to the VANET routing module of an OBU employing the
previously described enablers.
Fig. 2. Operation Scheme

Fig.2. Operation Scheme

This operation consists of the following sequential steps:

1) OBU connects to the cellular network using its 3G interface.
2) a) The TC client collects attributes from the OBU and stores them in the local
database (VIB).
b) Attributes are sent to the corresponding enabler located in the VISIONS
infrastructure module.
c) TC enabler in the infrastructure acknowledges the operation.
3) Location process
a) The location client in the OBU retrieves information from the GPS receiver and
stores it in the VIB.
b) The information is sent to the location server.
c) Location server acknowledges the operation.
4) PHOTO generation
The PHOTO adapter retrieves information from:
a) the location server and
b) the TC enabler
and generates the PHOTOs.
5) PHOTOs are sent to the MBMS.
6) MBMS distributes each PHOTO into the geographical region.
7) When a vehicle within a region receives the corresponding PHOTO, it stores the
information in the local VIB.
8) In each vehicle the VANET routing protocol in the OBU queries the VISIONS
prediction module through the API.
9) The prediction module calculates the current position of the surrounding vehicles
and answers the query.
10) VANET 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 4-7 are also repeated periodically or at dynamic intervals for every region.
Conclusions and Future Work
The use of existing mobile telecommunication networks in the context of
vehicular communications is quite common nowadays. However, their use is mainly
oriented towards the provision of data communication services for vehicles. These
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 context, based on the most relevant operator enablers applicable to the
vehicular context, we have designed and evaluated a solution that can help VANET
routing protocols make more accurate routing decisions. Our proposed solution shows
that cellular network-assisted VANET routing achieves a higher delivery ratio, while it
does not require 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, VISIONS can help other applications in the
vehicular environment, which include efficient location service, access control for
VANETs, and management of certificate revocation lists.
References
IEEE Network, Jan/Feb 2010
http://scholar.google.com