Emulation of Multi-Connectivity in Hybrid Vehicular Networks

The next generation of vehicular communication modules is expected to be equipped with multiple wireless interfaces in order to provide reliable connectivity to users. Multi-connectivity is considered a promising approach that improve the network service to vehicles through transparent aggregation of access technologies. This paper presents an assessment study on the use of the ns-3 platform to conduct real-time experiments in heterogeneous vehicular networks. First, our emulation setup, which integrates simulated networks with virtualized devices, has been discussed in detail. The modelled vehicles employ realistic mobility patterns provided by a dedicated traffic simulator. Next, the performance of Multipath TCP (MPTCP) was analyzed in the context of vehicular communication. Real-time traffic was successfully exchanged through the multiple communication paths between the simulated networks and the real-world environment. The obtained results demonstrate the expected behavior of the protocol under study. The evaluation experiments also showed a good performance of the described emulation technique, limited only by the host running hardware.