Mitigating the Effects of Multipath Propagation in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Vehicular networks have emerged as a viable option to disseminate information and prevent accidents in traffic environments. In these networks, vehicles can communicate with each other forming a Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (VANET). In a VANET, vehicles do not require an external infrastructure to coordinate routing, they employ broadcast mechanisms to alert other drivers and pedestrians of possible risk situations. In this context, ensuring efficient message delivery is of utmost importance. However, the effect of multipath propagation can impair communication in VANETs since it introduces connection interruption areas that prevent message reception. This work proposes a solution to this problem employing a strategy called Coverage for a Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (COVANET) that refines the way forwarders are chosen, thus ensuring neighbor awareness. Our proposal is simple enough that it can be easily adapted by other VANET protocols. The performance evaluation of COVANET was done through simulations and compared to other protocols, results show that our proposed approach can increase network coverage without incurring significant increases in latency, collisions or network load.