Large-Scale Crowdsourcing by Vehicular Data Packets in a Sparse Roadside Infrastructure

The main objective of this paper is to show that large-scale sensor data collection is feasible while relying on vehicles to collect and deliver data to a relatively small number of static nodes on the roadside infrastructure. The proposed technology is based on simple 802.11 beacons (as opposed to 802.15 WAVE and 802.11p and others) which are accessible on common smartphones and are comparatively easier to program on commodity 802.11 hardware. While the proposal is not limited to a particular type of collected data, this paper showcases the proposal on smart power grids, where power plants serve as sources of information, vehicles collect the information while passing on the road near the plants, and roadside nodes finally collect the aggregated information from passing vehicles.