Delay analysis for sparse vehicular sensor networks with reliability considerations

This paper addresses the relation between message delivery delay and reliability for the communication between a vehicle and a road side unit (RSU). We focus on sparse vehicular sensor networks (VSNs), where timely message delivery and reliable transmission are of significant importance. We present a mathematical framework for the message delivery delay distribution for a two-lane road, where vehicles in one direction act as message carriers for the ones in the other direction and have the freedom to leave the road from randomly distributed road junctions with a certain probability. Packet generator vehicles store the original packets till meeting an RSU while sending multiple copies of each packet to packet carrier vehicles. Our analysis offers an analytical tool for an intelligent transportation system (ITS) service provider to determine the minimum RSU density required to cover a road for meeting a probabilistic requirement of the message delay. Extensive computer simulation results show the accuracy of our analysis and clearly indicate the relation of packet delay and the number of packet replicas.