Traffic information systems: efficient message dissemination via adaptive beaconing

Sommer, Christoph; Tonguz, Ozan; Dressler, Falko · 2011 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1109/mcom.2011.5762815

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Summary

This paper addresses the challenge of efficient message dissemination in Traffic Information Systems (TIS) within Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). Unlike safety-critical applications that require low-latency flooding, TIS messages remain valid for extended periods, making flooding inefficient in sparse or disconnected networks where it often skips large areas. The authors propose Adaptive Traffic Beacon (ATB), a fully distributed protocol that uses adaptive beaconing rather than flooding to disseminate traffic information. The motivation stems from the need for a system that adapts to highly dynamic, heterogeneous environments—ranging from highway to urban scenarios—without relying on rigid topological assumptions or unique node identifiers, which can compromise privacy. The ATB protocol determines the beacon interval based on two primary metrics: channel quality ($C$) and message utility ($P$). Channel quality is derived from past collisions, current Signal-to-Noise Ratio, and the number of neighboring nodes, allowing the system to react to past, present, and future channel conditions. Message utility is calculated based on the distance to the event and the age of the information, prioritizing newer and closer events. Nodes continuously adjust their transmission intervals to maximize dissemination while preventing channel overload. The authors implemented ATB in the Veins simulation environment, combining OMNeT++ for network simulation and SUMO for traffic microsimulation. They evaluated ATB against DV-CAST, a state-of-the-art flooding-based protocol, using a realistic 4 km² scenario in Ingolstadt with traffic densities ranging from 14 to 170 vehicles per km². The results demonstrate that while flooding-based approaches like DV-CAST achieve faster initial dissemination speeds, ATB provides significantly broader long-term penetration. Flooding creates a "shock wave" that leaves disconnected nodes unaware of the message, whereas ATB’s continuous beaconing ensures that nodes rejoining the network after disconnection still receive the information. Furthermore, ATB drastically reduces packet collisions compared to static beaconing schemes that attempt to match flooding speeds, maintaining channel load at manageable levels. The protocol effectively balances the trade-off between dissemination speed and network congestion, adapting its behavior to maintain a congestion-free channel even in dense traffic conditions. The significance of this work lies in demonstrating that adaptive beaconing is more suitable for non-safety TIS applications than flooding. By avoiding the need for topology maintenance and unique identifiers, ATB offers a scalable, privacy-preserving solution that performs well in both connected and disconnected network states. The study highlights that for applications with relaxed delay constraints, maximizing reach and minimizing channel interference is more critical than minimizing initial propagation time, providing a robust framework for future VANET information systems.

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• v2x connected vehicle