Design, implementation and test of a wireless peer-to-peer network for roadway incident exchange

The existing paradigms for vehicular traffic monitoring and control have a strong infrastructure bias. Data collection and processing typically require a support system that may be prohibitively expensive or suffer from scalability issues. Current research aims to solve these problems with local-area wireless technology, allowing the vehicles themselves to form an ad hoc network. Our vision of such a traveller-centric, zero-infrastructure system is called Autonet. In this paper, we present the key Autonet concepts, validated through a prototype implementation and field measurements. In the prototype, an in-vehicle client with an informative GUI continuously listens for other clients, exchanging knowledge about network state once contact is made. We show that knowledge about traffic conditions can be propagated successfully using this system. The prototype also enabled benchmarking of 802.11b wireless technology in a transportation environment. These measurements establish its maximum throughput at approximately 3,500 traffic incidents for two vehicles passing at highway speeds. Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.