Method and Protocol for Congestion Control in a Vehicular Network

• US 20110044172A1
• Filed: 08/19/2009
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Ye, Fei, Yim, Raymond, Saito, Masashi, Orlik, Philip V.
• Granted Patent: US 8,233,389 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/321 Interlayer communication protocols or service data unit [SDU] definitions; Interfaces between layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

In a vehicle ad-hoc network (VANET), a transceiver node is arranged in a vehicle. The node includes a protocol stack, which includes an application layer, a link layer; and a congestion control layer arranged between the application layer and the link layer. The congestion layer transfers short messages between the application layer and the link layer. The short messages are defined according to a standard for the VANET, and the congestion layer optimizes a network-wide rate allocation for the short messages.

Claims

1. A node, in a vehicle ad-hoc network (VANET), wherein the node is arranged in a vehicle, wherein the node includes a transmitter, a receiver and a processor for performing steps of a protocol stack, comprising:

a protocol stack, further comprising;

an application layer;

a link layer; and

a congestion control layer arranged between the application layer and the link layer, wherein the congestion layer is configured to transfer short messages between the application layer and the link layer, and wherein the short messages are defined according to a standard for the VANET, and wherein the congestion layer optimizes a network-wide rate allocation for the short messages.

2. The node of claim 1, wherein the short messages are broadcast.

3. The node of claim 1, wherein the protocol stack further comprises:

a physical layer; and

a short message layer arranged between the congestion control layer and the physical layer, wherein the short message layer enable the node to directly control characteristics of the physical layer for the short messages.

4. The node of claim 3, wherein the characteristics include channel number, data rate, transmit power level, and provider service identifier.

5. The node of claim 2, wherein receivers of the broadcast short message do not acknowledge the short messages.

6. The node of claim 1, wherein the short message includes location, velocity, acceleration, and braking condition of the vehicle.

7. The node of claim 1, wherein the congestion control further comprises:

means for storing a status of the node;

a local network information database; and

a buffer configured to store the short messages.

8. The node of claim 7, wherein messages are deleted from the buffer after a predetermined time interval.

9. The node of claim 1, wherein the short message is an update message.

10. The node of claim 1, wherein the short message is an alert message.

11. The node of claim 1, wherein duplicate incoming short messages are deleted.

12. The node of claim 1, wherein the congestion control layer determines a local density, wherein the local density depends on a number of neighboring vehicles, and data rates used by the neighboring vehicles.

13. The node of claim 7, wherein the short messages are stored in the buffer when an outgoing message rate is higher than an optimal rate.

14. The node of claim 13, wherein the short messages in the buffer are transferred to the short message layer according to the optimal rate and a priority of the short messages.

15. The node of claim 12, wherein the local density is determined by incoming and outgoing short messages, a probability of idle, successful, and failed reception of the short messages at the node.

16. The node of claim 1, wherein a number of idle, successful and failed packet reception is sent from the link layer to the congestion control layer.