Enabling Accurate Cross-Layer PHY/MAC/NET Simulation Studies of Vehicular Communication Networks

Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communications is required for numerous applications that aim at improving traffic safety and efficiency. In this setting, however, gauging system performance through field trials can be very expensive especially when the number of studied vehicles is high....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the IEEE 2011-07, Vol.99 (7), p.1311-1326
Main Authors: Mittag, Jens, Papanastasiou, Stylianos, Hartenstein, Hannes, Strom, Erik G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
access
Access methods and protocols, osi model
Applied sciences
Bit error rate
Channels
Coding, codes
communication
Computational modeling
Cross layer
Exact sciences and technology
Frames
Information, signal and communications theory
Intelligent vehicles
Interference
Modulation, demodulation
network layer simulation
Networks
Physical layer
physical layer simulation
Radio
Receivers
Road transportation
Signal and communications theory
Signal processing
Simulation
Simulators
Systems, networks and services of telecommunications
Telecommunications
Telecommunications and information theory
Teleprocessing networks. Isdn
Traffic engineering
Traffic flow
Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments)
vehicle-to-infrastructure communication
vehicle-to-vehicle
vehicle-to-vehicle communication
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Summary:Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communications is required for numerous applications that aim at improving traffic safety and efficiency. In this setting, however, gauging system performance through field trials can be very expensive especially when the number of studied vehicles is high. Therefore, many existing studies have been conducted using either network or physical layer simulators; both approaches are problematic. Network simulators typically abstract physical layer details (coding, modulation, radio channels, receiver algorithms, etc.) while physical layer ones do not consider overall network characteristics (topology, network traffic types, and so on). In particular, network simulators view a transmitted frame as an indivisible unit, which leads to several limitations. First, the impact of the vehicular radio channel is typically not reflected in its appropriate context. Further, interference due to frame collisions is not modeled accurately (if at all) and, finally, the benefits of advanced signal processing techniques, such as interference cancellation, are difficult to assess. To overcome these shortcomings we have integrated a detailed physical layer simulator into the popular NS-3 network simulator. This approach aims to bridge the gap between the physical and network layer perspectives, allow for more accurate channel and physical layer models, and enable studies on cross-layer optimization. In this paper, we exemplify our approach by integrating an IEEE 802.11a and p physical layer simulator with NS-3. Further, we validate the augmented NS-3 simulator against an actual IEEE 802.11 wireless testbed and illustrate the additional value of this integration.
ISSN:0018-9219
1558-2256
1558-2256
DOI:10.1109/JPROC.2010.2103291