Towards the Development of Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs)

Abstract

Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs), a new mobile ad-hoc network technology (MANET), are currently receiving increased attention from manufacturers and researchers. They consist of several mobile vehicles (intelligent vehicles) that can communicate with each other (inter-vehicle communication) or with fixed road equipment (vehicle-infrastructure communication) adopting new wireless communication technologies. The objective of these networks is to improve road safety by warning motorists of any event on the road (accidents, hazards, possible deviations, etc.), and make the time spent on the road more pleasant and less boring (applications deployed to ensure the comfort of the passengers). Practically, VANETs are designed to support the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The latter are seen as one of the technical solutions to transport challenges. This chapter, given the importance of road safety in the majority of developed countries, presents a comprehensive study on the VANET networks, highlighting their main features.