Metaheuristics Optimize VANET File Transfer Protocol

Faculty of Science, Technology and
Communication
Master in Information and Computer Sciences
Metaheuristics for Optimal Transfer of P2P

Information in VANETs
Author
Jamal Toutouh El Alamin
Supervisor
Pascal Bouvry
UNIVERSITY OF LUXEMBOURG
Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks to my advisor, Dr. Pascal Bouvry, for his support and guidance
throughout the Master Thesis work; the Computer Science and Communications
research unit colleges, for sharing their knowledge with me; and the University of
Luxembourg, for offering me the opportunity of presenting this Master Thesis.
I also would like to make a special reference to my family; my parents Sakina
and Ahmed, and my brothers Abdeslam, Mohamed, and Said; for working with me
to make our dreams come true.
I am deeply indebted to my girlfriend, Rosa, who has borne up the whole process
which finishes with this Master Thesis.
I cannot go without mentioning Networking and Emerging Optimization research
unit at University of Málaga, specially its head Dr. Enrique Alba, for introducing
me to the wonderful world of scientific research.
Moreover, I have to thank to my friends for the great times that we have spent
together and their support, specially to the Neudorfers.
3
Metaheuristics for Optimal Transfer of
P2P Information in VANETs
Master in Information and Computer Sciences
Jamal Toutouh El Alamin

jamal@lcc.uma.es
June 8, 2010
2
Contents
1 Introduction 9
2 VANET Networks 13
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 VANET Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 Wireless Access Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.1 Ad-hoc Network Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.2 Cellular Technoligies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Routing Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4.1 Communication Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.2 Routing Protocols Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.3 Routing Protocols for VANETs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.5 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.5.1 Safety-related Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.5.2 Transportation Efficiency Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5.3 Information and Entertainment Applications . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.6 Simulation of VANETs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.6.1 VANET Simulation Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.6.2 VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 Simulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.7 Research Challenges in VANETs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 Metaheuristics 39
3.1 Definition of Metaheuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.2 Metaheuristics Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2.1 Trajectory-based Metaheurístics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2.2 Population-based Metaheurístics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.3 Algorithms used in this Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.3.1 Simulated Annealing (SA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3.2 Genetic Algorithm (GA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3
CONTENTS
3.3.3 Evolutionary Strategies (ES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3.3.4 Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3.5 Differential Evolution (DE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4 VDTP Protocol Optimization Problem 65

4.1 File Transfer in VANETs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.2 VDTP Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.2.1 VDTP Protocol Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2.2 VDTP Protocol Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.3 OFTC Problem Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.3.1 Search Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.3.2 Fitness Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5 Experiments 73
5.1 Optimization Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.1.1 Instances: VANET Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.1.2 Algorithms Parameter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.2 Software and Hardware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.2.1 MALLBA Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.2.2 Optimizing VDTP by using VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 . . . . . . . 79
5.2.3 Parallel Executions by using Condor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.3 Used Metrics to compare Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6 Results 85
6.1 Global Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.2 Algorithms Performance Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.3 VANET QoS Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7 Conclusions and Future Work 95

7.1 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.2 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
A Detailed Numerical Results 99

A.1 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
A.2 Final Execution Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Bibliografy 109
4
List of Tables
2.1 Current bluetooth classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.2 Features of wireless network technologies proposed to deploy VANETs. 21
2.3 Main features of routing protocols applied on VANETs. . . . . . . . . 26
5.1 VANET instance specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

5.2 Parameterization of SA optimization algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.3 Parameterization of PSO optimization algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.4 Parameterization of GA, ES, and DE optimization algorithms. . . . . 78
6.1 Final fitness values for both VANET scenarios and the five optimiza-
tion algorithms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.2 KS-test results for the five algorithms and two scenarios. . . . . . . . 87
6.3 Friedman Rank test with confidence level 95% . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.4 Mean execution time (seconds) per independent run of each algorithm
for both, urban and highway, scenarios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.5 Optimal configurations achieved in the median execution and the
CARLINK experts one for VDTP protocol and simulation values in
urban scenario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.6 Optimal configurations achieved in the median execution and the
CARLINK experts one for VDTP protocol and simulation values in
highway scenario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
A.1 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the PSO configura-

tion (chunk_size=41358, timeout=10.00000, max_attempts=3). . . . 100
A.2 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the DE configura-
A.3 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the GA configura-
5
LIST OF TABLES
A.4 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the ES configuration

(chunk_size=28278, timeout=6.00000, max_attempts=9). . . . . . . 101
A.5 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the SA configuration
(chunk_size=19756, timeout=6.43308, max_attempts=3). . . . . . . 102
A.6 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the CARLINK con-
figuration [24] (chunk_size=25600, timeout=8.0, max_attempts=8). 102
A.7 Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the PSO config-
uration (chunk_size=29257, timeout=6.42140, max_attempts=9). . . 103
A.8 Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the DE configu-
ration (chunk_size=19810, timeout=6.91179, max_attempts=8). . . 103
A.9 Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the GA configu-
A.10 Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the ES configu-
A.11 Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the SA configu-
A.12 Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the CARLINK
configuration (chunk_size=25600, timeout=8.0, max_attempts=8). . 105
A.13 Execution time in seconds for the algorithms to find the best solution
(Best sol.) and to finish the whole process (Total) solving the OFTC
problem in the urban scenario. Each row indicates an independent
run of 30 (#). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
A.14 Execution time in seconds for the algorithms to find the best solution
(Best sol.) and to finish the whole process (Total) solving the OFTC
problem in the highway scenario. Each row indicates an independent
run of 30 (#). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6
List of Figures
1.1 VANET use case: Warn of obstacle in the road. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1 Example of a MANET network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.2 Example of a VANET application: Warning of a traffic accident. . . . 15
2.3 Example of a VANET application: Warning of obstacles in the road. . 15
2.4 DSRC Channel assignment in North America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5 Accident warning by using GPRS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.6 Communication pattern representations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.7 Blind-Flooding protocol representation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.8 CDS protocol representation with dominant nodes in black and pas-
sive nodes in white. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.9 Discovery procedure used by DSR routing protocol. . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.10 VANET application: Cooperative forward collision warning. . . . . . 31
2.11 VANET application: Approaching motorcycle warning. . . . . . . . . 32
2.12 VANET application: Publicity board podcasting of a cinema. . . . . . 33
2.13 VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 basic architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.1 Optimization techniques classification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3.2 Operation of a typical SA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3 Examples of gens encoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.4 Operation of a typical GA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.5 Widely used crossover operators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.6 Mutation operator over one gene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.7 Operation of a typical ES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.8 Particle movement from point xig to point xig+1 in the search space
(PSO). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.1 Information requesting phase of VDPT protocol. . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

4.2 General operation during data requesting phase of VDTP protocol. . . 68
7
LIST OF FIGURES
4.3 VDTP operation with lost packets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

4.4 Basic structure of VDPT packet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.1 Optimization framework for VDTP configuration in VANETs, where

the algorithms invoke the ns-2 simulator for each solution evaluation. 74
5.2 Selected areas of Málaga for our VANET simulations. . . . . . . . . . 75
5.3 Málaga areas representation by using VanetMobiSim for their simu-
lation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.4 Common design of Mallba skeletons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.5 Classes developed to simulate VDTP in ns-2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.1 Median fitness performance in urban scenario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

6.2 Median fitness performance in highway scenario. . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.3 Effective transmission data rates (throughput) in Kbps achieved dur-
ing the simulations of the final VDTP configurations in comparison
with values given by human expert configurations of CARLINK con-
sortium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
8
Chapter 1
Introduction
For people living in developed countries the sheer volume of road traffic can be a
daily nuisance. In addition, the road traffic conditions affect the safety of the popu-
lation since 1.2 million people worldwide are estimated to be killed each year on the
roads1 . For this reason, nowadays the automotive industry and governments invest
many resources to increase road safety and traffic efficiency, as well as to reduce the
impact of transportation on the environment. The application of communications
and information technologies for this purpose has opened a new range of possibili-
ties. One of the most promising areas of research is the study of the communications
among vehicles and road-side units, or more specifically the Vehicular Ad-hoc Net-
works (VANET) [58]. This kind of networks are self-configuring networks composed
of a collection of vehicles and elements of roadside infrastructure connected with
each other without requiring an underlying infrastructure, sending and receiving
information and warnings about the current traffic situation (see Figure 1.1).
Nowadays, WiFi (IEEE 802.11 based ) technologies are the most commonly used
for deploying VANETs. The vehicles are equipped with wireless network interfaces
which use either IEEE 802.11b or IEEE 802.11g standards for access media. How-
ever, these are general purpose standards and they do not fit properly the require-
ments of high dynamic networks such as VANETs. Currently, DSRC (Dedicated
Short-Range Communicatio) [108] has been proposed as the communications stan-
dard specifically for VANETs, it is a short medium range communications service
that offers very low latency and high data rate. DSRC is based upon the standards
IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609 family.
1
According to "Global Road Safety Fact File" of FIA Foundation
9
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Figure 1.1: VANET use case: Warn of obstacle in the road.
The use of IEEE 802.11 (not cellular ) standards implies that vehicles commu-
nicate within a limited range while moving, thus exhibiting a topology that may
change quickly and in unpredictable ways. In such kind of networks, previous to its
deployment, it is crucial to provide the user with an optimal configuration of the
communication protocols in order to increase the effective data packet exchange, as
well as to reduce the transmission time and the network usage (with their implica-
tions on higher bandwidth and lower energy consumption). This is specially true
in certain VANET scenarios in which buildings and distances discontinue communi-
cation channels frequently, and where the available time for connecting to vehicles
could be really short.
The efficient protocol configuration for VANETs without using automatic in-
telligent design tools is practically impossible because of the enormous number of
possibilities (NP-problems). It is especially difficult (e.g., for a network designer)
when considering multiple design issues, such as highly dynamic topologies and re-
duced coverage. All this motivates the use of metaheuristic techniques [15] which
arises as well-suited tools to solve this kind of problems. Unfortunately, few related
approaches can be found in the specialized literature. In Alba et al. (2006) [5], a
specialized Cellular Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (cMOGA) was used for find-
ing an optimal broadcasting strategy in urban Mobile Ah Hoc Networks (MANETs).
Chiang et al. (2007) [33] developed an Ant Colony based model for resource man-
agement in VANETs. More recently, in Dorronsoro et al. (2008) [40], six versions
of GAs (panmictic and descentralized) were evaluated and used in the design of ad
hoc injection networks.
10
In the present Thesis, we face the Optimal File Transfer protocol Configura-
tion (OFTC) problem in VANETs, which deals with the optimization of VDTP
(Vehicular Data Transport Protocol ) [23], by means of five different state-of-the-
art optimization techniques (metaheuristic algorithms). This problem lies in the
core of any VANET application, and thus optimal configuration is a major con-
cern. Also, we face many optimization algorithms because this is a new field, and
their relative advantages are still unclear. These algorithms are two swarm intel-
ligence techniques: Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) [70] and Differential Evo-
lution (DE) [128]; two evolutionary algorithms: Genetic Algorithm (GA) [15] and
Evolutionary Strategy (ES) [120]; and a trajectory search technique, Simulated An-
nealing (SA) [73]. For our tests, two typical car-to-car environment instances have
been defined: urban and highway scenarioss. We rely on a flexible simulation struc-
ture using VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 [8] (realistic VANET simulator) for optimizing the
transmission time, the number of lost packets, and the amount of data transferred.
One additional contribution of this work is to provide the specialist with a useful
platform, embedded within ns-2, to configure network protocols and hence obtaining
a fair QoS control in VANETs.
The remaining of this thesis is organized as follows:
• Chapter 2 provides an overview of the field of VANET networks summariz-

ing the possible applications, applied technologies, and challenges. Also, we
introduce the state of the art in VANETs simulation.
• Chapter 3 presents different paradigms for solving optimization problems fo-

cusing on the five metaheuristic algorithms used for solving the proposed prob-
lem.
• Chapter 4 details the problem of optimizing the point-to-point information

transfer using VDTP protocol in VANETs, ending with the OFTC problem.
• Chapter 5 presents the methodology used to solve the proposed problem.
• Chapter 6 shows the obtained results solving the optimization problem by

using the five different metaheuristics.
• Finally, Chapter 7 draws the conclusions and the future work from all the
achievements mentioned in this Thesis.
11
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
In turn, we have included an appendix:
• Appendix A shows the tables of numerical results obtained during the opti-
mization process.
12
Chapter 2
VANET Networks
This chapter provides an overview about state of the art in Vehicular Ad-hoc
Networks (VANETs) since we have optimized Vehicular Data Transport Protocol
(VDTP) used in this kind of networks. This chapter is organized as follows: First,
Section 2.1 introduces the idea of VANET. Following, Section 2.2 presents the main
characteristics of such networks. In turn, sections 2.3 and 2.4 summarizes the main
wireless access technologies and routing protocols used in VANETs. Section 2.5 list
a representative set of proposed applications to exploit, and both, the main research
groups and consortia, that work or have worked designing this kind of networks.
Section 2.6 presents the problem of simulating VANETs and the proposed solutions.
Finally, Section 2.7 provides an outline of challenges and future works that arise in
the networks that are presented in this chapter.
2.1 Introduction
Equipping vehicles with wireless communication devices is a subject that has inter-
ested the research community and the automotive industry since 80’s [58]. Advances
in wireless networking technologies rise to the emergence of Mobile Ad-hoc Networks
(MANETs). A MANET is a self-configuring network composed of a collection of in-
dependent mobile wireless nodes connected with each other without requiring an
underlying infrastructure. Each node in a MANET is free to move independently in
any direction, and therefore change their links frequently. Normally the nodes are
personal computers or small mobile devices as personal digital assistants (PDAs),
sensors, cell phones, etc. (see Figure 2.1).
13
CHAPTER 2. VANET NETWORKS
Figure 2.1: Example of a MANET network.
The main attraction with the MANET is its immediate and direct application
to the real world, offering the possibility of accessing to a communication network
where for different reasons an infrastructure can not be installed. A very promising
and interesting example of such applications is the use of PDAs and MANET tech-
nologies in emergency and rescue [117, 112], as it can be an area after an earthquake
or a major fire, where the communications infrastructure may have been damaged
and unusable.
Soon, the research community and the automotive industry studied the appli-
cation of MANET technologies to deploy networks among vehicles equipped with
certain mobile devices as GPS navigators or smart phones. From this work two dif-
ferent technologies appeared: IVC (Inter-Vehicle Communications) and RVC (Road-
Vehicle Communications). The first one enables vehicles to communicate with each
other and it is also known as communication V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle). RVC pro-
vides communications between vehicles and the roadside units (RSU) that gather
and broadcast information, this kind of communication is also known as commu-
nication V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure). The union of IVC and RVC germinated
in what we understand today as Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks or VANETs (see Fig-
ure 2.2).
Using this technology vehicles can communicate with each other to transmit
different kinds of information. The interchange of real time traffic information con-
ditions among vehicles can make driving safer and more efficient, for this reason the
research community is mainly working to develop such applications. For example,
warning about the existence of an accident is useful for the drivers because they
can be able to reduce the speed and look for alternative routes before reaching the
accident area (see Figure 2.2).
14
2.1. INTRODUCTION
Figure 2.2: Example of a VANET application: Warning of a traffic accident.
The roadside elements such as road traffic signs or traffic lights typically just
provide visual information and usually with an unchanging pattern. However, with
the application of VANET technologies the roadside elements actings as RSU could
be more active in informing users with personalized real-time information. For
example, a dangerous curve sign could warn the driver of a vehicle traveling at
excessive speed before reaching it. Another example would be a men at work signal
which may broadcast information about of the existence of road works, so that
drivers would know their existence in advance (see Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3: Example of a VANET application: Warning of obstacles in the road.
The term VANET was originally adopted to reflect the ad-hoc nature of these
highly dynamic networks. However, because the term ad-hoc network was associated
widely with unicast routing-related research, there is currently a debate among the
pioneers of this field about redefining the acronym VANET to de-emphasize ad-hoc
networking [58]. Because this discussion has not yet reached consensus, VANET is
the term used to refer to vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communications
based on wireless local area networking technology.
15
To deploy such kind of vehicular networks we need devices to perform both

transmission and reception of information and to process it, some vehicles to achieve
that include an electronic device called car PC. These devices must be equipped with
a voice recognition system, since drivers can not use their hands to access the typical
human-computer interfaces such as keyboards or touch screens.
2.2 VANET Characteristics

VANET networks can be viewed as a subclass of MANETs where nodes are vehicles
or roadside infrastructure elements. However they behave fundamentally different.
The mobility of their nodes is the main and most critical difference. The mobility
of vehicles (nodes) that belong to a VANET is influenced by driver behavior, con-
straints on mobility (road restrictions), and high speeds. These characteristics have
important implications for design decisions in these networks.
The major characteristics of VANETs are presented following:
• Rapid changes in VANETs topology are difficult to manage. Due to high

relative speed between cars network’s topology changes very fast. Different
authors have tried to find solutions to this problem for both highway scenar-
ios [137, 56] and urban environments [93]. However these results can be applied
only to those specific scenarios and not for both at the same time.
• VANET networks are subject to frequent fragmentation, so that messages have

troubles reaching their destination nodes. This issue remains open because,
as the previous problem, the obtained results depend on the treated scenarios.
Of course being connective for VANETs is not important for emergency safety
messages since while the network is not connected there is no problem in safety
point of view.
• Such networks have small effective network diameter. We mainly due to the
speed, the high number of obstacles, and the height of the used antennae. For
this reason links between nodes can be broken frequently.
• The devices used to deploy these networks have not significant power con-
straints, unlike sensor and other types of mobile devices used in other kind of
MANETs where limited battery life is a major concern.
16
2.3. WIRELESS ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES
• The network density is variable because it depends highly on vehicular density.

This may be high in some situations, for example, during rush hours at the
entrance of major cities, or it can be light in low-traffic highway environments.
• The topology of the network could be affected by the response of the drivers
after receiving messages. This means that the content of messages can change
the network topology.
2.3 Wireless Access Technologies

In this section we present several access standards that could be used for VANETs
connectivity. In general, the aim is to provide a set of air interfaces and parameters
for high speed vehicular communications using one or more available media. Note
that currently the WiFi (IEEE 802.11 based) technologies are the most commonly
used for connecting vehicles by different research groups and consortia involved in
research and development of these networks [115, 133, 41].
Following, we present briefly several connection technologies that have been con-
sidered to be used to deploy vehicular networks. We have defined two different
groups: ad-hoc network (without any infrastructure) and cellular technologies.
2.3.1 Ad-hoc Network Technologies

The improvement of ad-hoc connection technologies has boosted the appearance
of VANET networks (see Section 2.1). Currently, it is being discussed the use
of different technologies that do not require any infrastructure for development of
vehicular networks. Below, the most interesting ones are presented.
WiFi (Wireless Fidelity): Generally, WiFi refers to any type of IEEE 802.11
wireless protocol. More specifically, WiFi is the industry standard for products de-
fined by the WiFi Alliance 1 and conforming to IEEE 802.11 standard [63]. WiFi
standard defines over-the-air protocols necessary to support networking in a local
area and it specifies physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers.
There are several specifications in the IEEE 802.11 family which extends the orig-
inal one (IEEE 802.11) that supports 1 or 2 Mbps transmission in the 2.4 GHz band.
1
WiFi Alliance - http://www.wifialliance.org
17
The most extended ones are the standards IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g, that
provide 11 Mbps and 54 Mbps transmission in 2.4 GHz band with a maximum range
of 500 m, respectively. Most of mobile devices, as PDAs, smart phones or laptops, are
equipped with the necessary hardware to use these two standards. IEEE 802.11a is
an extension to 802.11 that provides up to 54 Mbps in the 5GHz band using OFDM
(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) [135] encoding scheme. Transfer rates
increased with IEEE 802.11n standard with a bandwidth up to 500 Mbps. In ad-
dition, there are a number of other 802.11 WG activities that define inter access
point protocol (IEEE 802.11f ), MAC enhancements for security (IEEE 802.11i),
MAC enhancements for QoS (IEEE 802.11e), etc.
The main research groups have opted for the use of IEEE 802.11b for its strong
presence in the market. The results, which are being achieved by both simulations
and real tests, are quite encouraging [53].
WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access): WiMax is

another standard developed by IEEE, the IEEE 802.16 [101]. It was defined as
an alternative to cable and xDSL for providing wireless broadband access over long
distances. This kind of connections operates on licensed or unlicensed spectrum.
A commonly-held misconception is that WiMAX can deliver 70 Mbps over 50 Km.
However, WiMAX can either operate at higher bitrates or over longer distances
but not both: operating at the maximum range of 50 Km increases bit error rate
and thus results in a much lower bitrate. Conversely, reducing the range allows
a device to operate at higher bitrates. In [46], they measured the performance of
different scenarios getting a maximum bandwidth of 20 Mbps and transmissions at
a maximum distance of 6 Km. After publication of IEEE 802.16 standard in 2002,
several revisions have emerged, in December 2005 appeared IEEE 802.16e specific
for mobile devices.
Bluetooth: Bluetooth technology (IEEE 802.15.1) [14] was originally developed

by mobile phones company Ericsson2 in 1994. It is a short range radio communica-
tion system designed as a wireless alternative to the serial communication RS-232
(Recommended Standard 232) for communication of devices like mobile phones,
PDAs, notebooks, PCs, headsets, etc. It should be cheap and low power consump-
tion for easy implantation into mobile devices. This is currently the most widespread
communication technology for WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Networks). There
2
Ericsson Website - http://www.ericsson.com
18
are three different classes of bluetooth according to their coverage and power (see
Table 2.1), getting transfer rates up to 3 Mbps and ranges up to 100 meters. These
networks operate on a free frequency band using sufficiently robust security mecha-
nisms.
Table 2.1: Current bluetooth classes
Class Maximum allowable power Coverage (approximate)

Class 1 100 mW (20 dBm) 100 m
Class 2 2.4 mW (4 dBm) 10 m
Class 3 1 mW (0 dBm) 1m
UWB (Ultra Wide Band): The UWB can be seen as an evolution of the blue-
tooth that comes with the IEEE 802.15.3 standard. UWB is a radio technology
that can be used at very low power levels for short-range (10 m) high-bandwidth
(> 500 MHz) communications by using a large portion of the radio spectrum. It
offers transmission bitrates up to 480 Mbps [34]. One of the most important feature
of UWB is the low power consumption.
ZigBee: ZigBee is based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard [78] and it is the tech-
nology used in ad-hoc WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks). It presents a fairly limited
bandwidth (250 Kbps) and a coverage up to 75 m. This technology is used mostly in
systems where little information is transferred to very small distances. The greatest
quality of ZigBee is that the power consumption is extremely low.
DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications): DSRC has been pro-

posed as the communications standard for V2V and V2I communications links
(PHY/MAC layers). More specifically, it is a short medium range communications
service that supports several applications requiring very low latency and high data
rate. Nowadays, DSRC systems in Europe, Japan, and US are not compatible. In the
US DSRC will be based upon the standards IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609 family,
and will use seven 10 MHz-wide channels in the 5.85-5.925 GHz bandwidth [108].
IEEE 1609 is a higher layer standard on which IEEE 802.11p is based.
IEEE 802.11p standard was proposed as a modification of IEEE 802.11a by the
ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)3 to better match the vehicular
environment. IEEE 802.11p is an extension to 802.11 in order to add Wireless Access
3
ASTM Website - http://www.astm.org
19
in the Vehicular Environment (WAVE). WAVE mode of operation allows data ex-
change between vehicular devices in rapidly changing communication environments,
where mobile nodes may move up to 200 Km/h and the distances between them are
between 100 and 500 meters. In order to cope with very low latency VANET ap-
plications, very short-duration communications exchanges are required. Regarding
the physical layer, 802.11p is very similar to 802.11a, 802.11p is also OFDM-based,
with more emphasis on a reduced channel spacing (10 MHz instead of 20 MHz)
to cope with the higher multi-path effect of urban environments. The data rates
ranges are from 3 to 27 Mbps for each channel, because lower rates are preferred
in order to obtain robust communication. The DSRC spectrum is structured into
seven channels (see Figure 2.4). Channel 178 is the control channel (CCH), which is
restricted to safety communications. The two channels at the ends of the spectrum
band are reserved for special uses. The rest are service channels (SCH) available for
both safety and non-safety usage.
At MAC layer level, DSRC is based on access control provided by the CSMA/CA
(Carrier Sense Multiple Access, Collision Avoidance), but modified to avoid the hid-
den terminal problem. In order to achieve that, it implements the message exchanges
RTS/CTS (Request-to-Send/Clear-to-send) [31]. This mechanism avoids collisions
but introduces overload and delay transmissions. For this reason, it does not imple-
ment RTS/CTS in the CCH channel.
Figure 2.4: DSRC Channel assignment in North America.
Table 2.2 presents the main features of the wireless ad-hoc network technologies
presented previously.
20
Table 2.2: Features of wireless network technologies proposed to deploy VANETs.
Name Coverage Transfer data rates Power consumption

WiFi 500 m 54 Mbps High
WiMax 50000 m 70 Mbps High
Bluetooth 20 m 3 Mbps Medium
UWB 10 m 480 Mbps Low
ZigBee 75 m 250 Kbps Very low
WAVE 500 m 27 Mbps High
2.3.2 Cellular Technoligies

The main drawback of the wireless ad-hoc connection technologies is the link loss
problem when there is not any nearby node, this problem is aggravated when they
are used on nodes with high mobility as in VANETs. In order to avoid this problem
there are different lines of research that do not rule out using cellular connection
technologies such as GPRS, UMTS or HSDPA to deploy VANETs (see Figure 2.5).
Following, we present these technologies:
Figure 2.5: Accident warning by using GPRS.
• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service): GPRS is an extension of Global

System for Mobile Communications (GSM) that offers a packet oriented mobile
data service available to users of 2G cellular communication systems. GPRS
provides data rates between 56 and 114 Kbps. 2G cellular systems combined
with GPRS are often described as 2.5G, that is, a technology between the
second (2G) and third (3G) generations of cellular communication technolo-
gies. It is being used to provide services such as Short Message Service (SMS),
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP),
Internet access, etc.
21
• UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System): UMTS is one

of the third-generation (3G) cellular communication technologies, it emerges
to offer the possibility of making video-calls to users of cellular phones. UMTS
also provides Internet access with high quality multimedia content since its
data rate is up to 2 Mbps.
• HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access): HSDPA is an optimiza-

tion of UMTS, hence it is known as 3.5G. The improvements have increased
transfer data rates to 14 Mbps. While real rates remain close to 3 Mbps, which
is enough for one of the most innovative services to emerging technology: ac-
cess to television content via the mobile terminal by streaming.
Currently, it is being developing new cellular telecommunications technologies as

forth (4G) and fifth (5G) generations [100]. However, these two technologies have
not yet been deployed.
2.4 Routing Protocols
Because of the fact that it may be necessary to send a packet through several vehi-
cles to reach a determinate node a routing protocol is needed. Designing an efficient
and reliable routing strategy is one of the most challenging problem in the field of
VANETs. As these are wireless ad-hoc networks, all nodes behave as routers and
take part in discovery and maintenance of routes to other nodes in the network. An
adaptable routing strategy is required since network conditions change continuously
such as: network topology, traffic density, and network partitioning. Additionally,
the routing protocol may need to provide different levels of QoS to different types
of applications and services. The first solution has been the application of MANET
routing protocols directly or modifying them, however these protocols are unsuitable
due to VANETs and MANETs have critical differences (see Section 2.2). In parallel
with this, some VANET specific protocols are also proposed.
In this section we present different approaches trying to solve the routing problem
in VANETs. But previously, we describe the different communication patterns, that
is, the problem of which nodes will be the receivers of the transmitted information.
This is another problem related to routing strategy.
22
2.4. ROUTING PROTOCOLS
2.4.1 Communication Patterns

Communication pattern refers to which nodes will receive the packets sent by the
data source. Mainly, we can find two different communication patterns: unicast-
ing and multicasting. The first one describes communications in which the source
node sends information just to one receiver node (see Figure 2.6.a) and multicasting
is the communication pattern where one node transmits a packet to multiple nodes
(see Figure 2.6.b).
The easiest multicasting strategy is to generate a separate copy for each destina-
tion and transmit them separately. However, this is the most costly approach since
it does not use information about the path the packets follow and the routes between
the source and destinations may follow the same path up to a certain node (when
multi-hop communication is carried out). Although this is a challenging issue, there
are solutions in the literature [38]. There are different multicasting approaches, the
most used ones are: broadcasting, anycasting, and geocasting.
Broadcasting strategies theoretically send information to all nodes in a network

(see Figure 2.6.c), but in practice the information is only received by the nodes on
the broadcasting domain. The anycasting sends a packet to just one destination
of a number potential destination nodes, the node which receives the packet is not
specified (see Figure 2.6.d).
The last multicasting strategy, geocasting, is the most promising approach to be

used over VANET and MANET networks. This strategy sends packets to a group of
receiver nodes that are located within a certain geographic area (see Figure 2.6.e).
In this case there is no definition of any group for a terminal as broadcasting. The
geographical location defines whether a node will receive packets or not.
2.4.2 Routing Protocols Classification

Routing protocols can be classified in two major categories depending on when and
how the routes are discovered, these are: proactive (table-driven) and reactive
(on-demand) protocols. In proactive routing protocols all nodes have consistent
and up-to-date routing information to each node permanently whereas in reactive
routing the routes are created when is needed by the source node.
23
a) Unicasting b) Multicasting
c) Broadcasting d) Anycasting
e) Geocasting
Figure 2.6: Communication pattern representations.
Each node maintains one or more tables containing routing information to ev-
ery other node in the network when proactive routing protocols are used. When
the network topology changes nodes propagate messages throughout the network in
order to maintain a consistent and up-to-date routing information about the whole
network. These routing protocols differ in the method by which the topology change
information is distributed across the network and the number of necessary routing-
related tables.
24
The strategy followed by on-demand routing protocols is different, since the route
is established just when is required for a network connection. When a source node
S needs to connect to a destination node D, S invokes a routing discovery process
to find a route between them. After route establishment, nodes S and D as well as
intermediate nodes store the information regarding the route from S to D in their
routing tables. The route is maintained until the destination is unreachable or the
route is no longer needed.
On the one hand, proactive routing protocols have the advantage of reduced end-
to-end delay, since, upon generation of a network connection request, the route is
already established. However, their disadvantage is the fact that routing information
is disseminated to all network nodes increasing the traffic and power consumption.
Thus, bandwidth for user traffic is reduced and the operating time of the battery-
powered mobile nodes is limited. On the other hand, reactive routing protocols have
a lower power consumption and demand less control signaling. However, end-to-end
connection delay is higher, since upon generation of a connection request between
two nodes, the connection needs to wait some time for the link between the nodes
to be established [97].
Finally, some works have studied the possibility of applying the actual Mobile
IP protocol [109] over vehicular networks [81] and [30]; however this protocol cannot
fulfill the requirements for routing in which not only the hosts but also the backbone
is mobile and multi-hop wireless connections composed of many links with varying
QoS are allowed. Therefore, more adaptive network layer protocols are required.
Proactive or reactive approaches can be followed when designing a routing algorithm
for ad-hoc networks [97].
2.4.3 Routing Protocols for VANETs
There are a high number of routing protocols that can be applied over vehicular
ad-hoc networks in the literature offering different QoS, mostly MANET routing
protocols; therefore this section will give a brief overview of a representation of
them. Some of these protocols are shown in Table 2.3. Following, we present the
main features of the most significant routing protocols.
25
Table 2.3: Main features of routing protocols applied on VANETs.
Protocol Comm. pattern Scheme Use of geograph. info.

Bliding-Flooding [91] Broadcasting - No
MPR [118] Broadcasting - No
NES [127] Broadcasting - No
CDS [127] Broadcasting - No
DSR [69] Unicasting Reactive No
AODV [111] Unicasting Reactive No
TORA [107] Unicasting Reactive No
DSDV [110] Unicasting Proactive No
LAR [75] Unicasting Proactive Yes
FSR [65] Unicasting Proactive No
OLSR [66] Unicasting Proactive No
ZRP [55] Unicasting Hybrid No
MAODV [3] Multicasting Reactive No
GeoTORA [74] Geocasting Reactive Yes
GeoGRID [143] Geocasting Reactive Yes
LBM [76] Geocasting Proactive Yes
GAMER [19] Geocasting Proactive Yes
Blind-Flooding: Blind-Flooding protocol [91] is the simplest broadcasting pro-

tocol. Each node receiving a packet repeats it by broadcasting (see Figure 2.7)
unless a maximum number of hops for the packet is reached, the packet has been
already sent or the destination of the packet is the node itself. It does not require
costly topology maintenance or complex route discovery algorithms. However, it
does not take into account the available resources at the nodes or links, i.e. resource
blindness, and the nodes receive duplicated packets (see Figure 2.7).
Figure 2.7: Blind-Flooding protocol representation.
Connected Dominating Sets (CDS): CDS [127] establishes a hierarchy within

the network nodes classifying them as dominant or passive. The transmissions of
the first ones should cover the whole network (see Figure 2.8). This algorithm
26
reduces the network traffic; however, the computation of the minimum connected
dominating set over a given graph is in general an NP-Complete problem [83],
thus approximations must be employed in practice.
Figure 2.8: CDS protocol representation with dominant nodes in black and passive
nodes in white.
Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV): DSDV [110] is a proactive

unicast routing protocol based on the distance-vector. The routing tables are sent
after a significant change in the topology of the network. In DSDV routing tables,
each route is tagged with a sequence number originated by the destination indicating
how old the route is. Each node manages its own sequence number by assigning it
two greater than the old one (call an even sequence number) every time. When a
updated route with a higher sequence number is received, the old route is replaced.
In case of different routes with the same sequence number, the route with better
metrics is used.
Dynamic Source Routing (DSR): DSR [69] is a reactive unicast routing pro-
tocol. The main idea is discovering the best cost route for the destination node
(discovery procedure). When a node has a packet to send and it does not know
the route for the destination, it sends out a route request packet (see Figure 2.9.a).
While this packet is being transferred through the network, all the nodes traversed
are recorded in the packet header. A node that knows the route to the destination
does not forward the packet further, but appends the route to the route information
already accumulated in the packet and returns a route reply packet to the source
node (see Figure 2.9.b). Using this information the source node updates its routing
cache and delivers the packet to the destination node through the discovered route.
If the discovered route fails, the source node receives a route error packet and the
discovery procedure is invoked again.
27
a) Route request packet delivery.
b) Route reply packet reception.
Figure 2.9: Discovery procedure used by DSR routing protocol.
Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV): AODV [111] is a reactive

version of DSDV protocol. As DSDV, in AODV every node maintains a routing
table where there can be at most one entry for a destination. Each entry has fields
like the neighbor node to relay an incoming packet destined to a specific node and
the cost of the selected route. AODV differs from the distance vector algorithm
by its routing table maintenance mechanism. If there is not an entry for the next
hop router destination in the packet; a new route is discovered by broadcasting
a route request (RREQ) packet. An RREQ packet includes the following fields:
source address, request id, destination address, source sequence number, destination
sequence number, and hop count. The source address is the address of the initiator
of the route requesting.
Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP): ZRP [55] was introduced in 1997 as the first
hybrid routing protocol with both a proactive and a reactive routing components.
ZRP defines a zone around each node consisting of its k-neighbourhood called routing
28
zone of node. This protocol is formed by two sub-protocols, a proactive routing

protocol called Intra-zone Routing Protocol (IARP), which is used inside routing
zones, and a reactive routing protocol known as Inter-zone Routing Protocol (IERP),
which is used between routing zones. A route to a destination within the local zone
can be established from the proactively cached routing table of the source by IARP,
therefore, if the source and destination is in the same zone, the packet can be
delivered immediately.
Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR): OLSR [66] is one of the most popular
MANET proactive unicast protocols. It finds an alternative route when a link failure
takes place. Every node broadcasts periodically Hello-messages with information
to specific nodes in the network to exchange neighbourhood information. Sending
these messages the size of the data to exchange to generate routes is lesser since
it does not interchange the routing tables. After receiving this information a node
builds an individual routing table. After, the node is able to calculate with shortest
path algorithm the route to every destination node.
Multicast AODV (MAODV): As the name suggests, MAODV is a multicast

extension of AODV. MAODV [3] allows the creation of bidirectional shared trees
connecting multiple source and destination nodes for each multicast group. Multi-
cast routes are discovered on demand. The multicast route request is broadcasted like
the unicast route request, and the route reply propagates back from the nodes that
are members of the multicast group. However, in MAODV, each multicast group
has a leader responsible for the maintenance storing a sequence number for each
group. This number, as in AODV, indicates the relevance of the route information.
Geocast Adaptive Mesh Environment for Routing (GAMER): GAMER is

a geocasting routing protocol used in several VANET designs. The route to a geocast
area is fragile and can break down at any time. The authors of GAMER [19] propose
it to solve this problem by identifying redundant paths from the source node to the
geocast area. First, the source node sends a JOIN-DEMAND packet using flooding
through the forwarding zone to any node in the geocast area. Once received the
packet, the receiver node responds by sending JOIN-TABLE packet in reverse to
the source node. Once the source node receives this JOIN-TABLE packet is able to
start sending the geocast packets.
29
2.5 Applications
Previously, we presented the technologies that have been taken into account to de-
ploy VANETs by the research community and industry.In recent years, an extensive
list of potential applications and services addressed to be applied over such networks
have been proposed. The main factors that have led to this development are:
• the progress in the technologies that they need,
• the investment by the automotive industry, which sees in this technology a

way to increase both safety and comfort of its products,
• and the gamble of governments and institutions because they understand that
it can improve the daily lives of citizens.
This is reflected in the large number of projects and consortia that are currently
working on developing VANET networks. Nowadays, the main research foci are in
Europe, USA, and Japan. The following is a non-exhaustive list of some of the
projects/consortia grouped by their geographical areas:
• Europe: Prometheus (1986-1994), CHAUFFEUR (1996-2003), FleeNet (2000-

2003), C2C-CC (Car-to-Car Communication Consortium) (2001-currently),
PReVENT (2004-2008), NoW (Network on Wheels) (2004-2008), CARLINK
Consortium 4 (2006-2008), and WiSafeCar 5 (2009-currently).
• USA: PATH (California Parthners for Advanced Transit and Highways) (1986),
IVI (Intelligent Vehicle Initiative) (1998-2004), WAVE (Wireless Access in Ve-
hicular Environments) (2004), VII (Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (2004-
2006), and VSC (Vehicle Safety Communications Consortium) (2002-2009).
• Japan: JSK (Association of Electronic Technology for Automobile and Driv-

ing) (1981), ASV (Advanced Safety Vehicle Program) (1991-2007), and VICS
(Vehicle Information and Communication System Center) (1995-2008).
Additionally, there are some projects which are not specifically proposed to tackle
problems for vehicular ad-hoc networks as DIRICOM (Diseño Inteligente de Redes
Inalámbricas de Comunicación) 6 at University of Málaga. However, they address
several design VANET problems offering different results.
4
CARLINK Website - http://carlink.lcc.uma.es
5
WiSafeCar Website - http://wisafecar.gforge.uni.lu
6
DIRICOM Website - http://diricom.lcc.uma.es
30
2.5. APPLICATIONS
Typically, the literature categorize applications in three different groups: safety,

transport efficiency, and information/entertainment applications. Nevertheless, these
groups cannot be seen completely orthogonal. Thus, an application designed to pre-
vent car crashes improves the efficiency because it avoids the traffic jams that the
accidents may cause. Following, we summarize some existing and potential appli-
cations that have been proposed for VANETs and we present the most important
requirements of these applications.
2.5.1 Safety-related Applications

The applications included in this group are designed to reduce the number of traffic
accidents making trips more safety. Different consortia have designed applications to
achieve this purpose. VSC consortium identified eight potential applications [115]:
traffic signal violation warning, curve speed warning, emergency electronic brake
light, pre-crash sensing, cooperative forward collision warning (see Figure 2.10), left
turn assistant, lane-change warning, and stop sign movement assistant.
Figure 2.10: VANET application: Cooperative forward collision warning.
C2C-CC consortium [133] proposed other safety-related applications that could

be used jointly with the ones presented before: approaching motorcycle warning
(see Figure 2.11) or road works warning (see Figure 2.3). Additionally, CARLINK
presented an application of real time weather information and forecast broadcast-
ing. This application is useful in countries where the weather can change suddenly
making dangerous the road trips, as in Scandinavian countries.
31
Figure 2.11: VANET application: Approaching motorcycle warning.
Note that these applications require vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-

infrastructure (V2I) communications. The derived technical requirements show the
importance of one-hop broadcast communication (i.e., a vehicle simply transmits a
packet, and every vehicle that is able to receive it directly is considered a one-hop
neighbor), which comes in two flavors: event-driven or periodic [58].
2.5.2 Transportation Efficiency Applications
For this second group, the transportation efficiency applications, CARLINK consor-
tium presented an innovative user guidance approach able to offer optimal routes
which may involve different transportation modes, this approach is called optimal
multimodal transport service [9]. Applying this concept the user is able to take
the optimal trip taken into account that he can walk, drive a car, take the public
transport, etc.
C2C-CC [133] analyzed efficient route guidance and navigation applications,

green light optimal speed advisory, and lane merging assistants. But as we have
remarked before, the applications developed to increase safety on our roads also
influence the efficiency.
The requirements of these applications are network technologies to communicate

and the use of a global positioning system as the offered by the american GPS
(Global Positioning System) or the european Galileo. We must emphasize that the
access to low cost GPS receiving devices with Internet connection has also influenced
the growth of the this field.
32
2.6. SIMULATION OF VANETS
2.5.3 Information and Entertainment Applications

Finally, information and entertainment applications include a set of applications of
different flavors. A representation of this set of applications are: automatic tolling
payment, point of interest notification, fuel consumption management, podcasting
services (see Figure 2.12), and multi-hop wireless Internet access [58]. CARLINK
also proposed applications such as automatic searching of free parking spaces in
a given area, file sharing service, and multiplayer games for the car passengers of
different vehicles via ad-hoc wireless connections.
Figure 2.12: VANET application: Publicity board podcasting of a cinema.
These applications have different communication requirements to those presented

previously, since they have less necessity of fault tolerance and response time. Mainly
because the information transmitted is not as critical as in traffic safety and effi-
ciency applications. Thus, an important consideration for all information/entertain-
ment applications is whether the application is ideally implemented using the same
communication platform for all application groups or whether they could be better
implemented using competing/separate network technologies.
2.6 Simulation of VANETs

The emergence of vehicular networks has encouraged the design of a set of new
applications and protocols specifically for these kind of networks. The evaluation
of those in outdoor experiments, by using large-scale networks to obtain significant
results, is extremely difficult due to several issues concerning available resources, ac-
curate performance analysis, and reproducible results. Indeed, it is neither easy nor
cheap to have a high number of real vehicles and a real scenario for only practical
purposes. It is also difficult to analyze applications and protocols performance in a
inherently distributed and complex environment like VANETs.
33
Simulation has become an indispensable tool because it makes possible to build

a dedicated VANET for its evaluation. Simulators also gather statistical data about
the network usage during the simulation that allows to measure the protocols per-
formance. Moreover, it is possible to visualize the VANET in order to easily specify
the scenarios for the protocol evaluation.
However, due to the complexity of the real world, a lot of the events related
to the signal propagation that plays an important role in the performance of the
outdoor experiments are missed in the simulations: passing by obstacles, reflection
problems, signal interferences, etc. Thus, simulation also presents an important
drawback: the fidelity of the generated results.
2.6.1 VANET Simulation Alternatives

Nowadays, we identify different approaches trying to solve the complex problem of
VANET simulation. First, the most widely used, the desingner could use a traf-
fic simulator for generating realistic vehicular mobility traces that will be used as
the input for a mobile ad-hoc network simulator. Second, the designer could use a
specially-designed VANET simulator tool. Finally, some MANET application pro-
gramming frameworks allows the developer to test the applications via simulations.
The first approach used for simulating VANETs lies in using road traffic simula-
tors capable of generating mobility traces, which are later evaluated by an existing
specific MANET simulator. The public availability of many of these MANET sim-
ulators is the main motivation for the success of this approach. However, it has a
major drawback: the majority of VANET applications implies that vehicles react
to the network events and this behavior is difficult to be modeled with this scheme.
The most research community adopt Ns-2 (network simulator) [98] for MANET
simulating, even there are more network simulators as OMNet [103], Ns-3 [99] or
OPNET [105].
The number of road traffic simulators which generate Ns-2 format traces is large:
the most comprehensive ones are VanetMobiSim and SUMO, however we can also
find Videlio, RoadSim, CARISMA, VISSIM, and MMTS. There are also traffic sim-
ulators that generate traces for other MANET simulators as CORSIM/TSIS, SJ04,
SSM/TSM, and STRAW. Finally, TraNS and MOVE are simulators which combine
the SUMO mobility model generator and Ns-2 simulator in a unique tool [8].
34
2.6. SIMULATION OF VANETS
The specially-designed VANET simulators join scalable vehicular mobility de-

scriptions and network stack modelling in a single tool. These combined approaches
have the big advantage of allowing a direct interaction between the communication
network system and the vehicular traffic dynamics, thus, the first can influence the
second. However, they also have a major drawback: the level of detail of both mod-
ules is necessarily lower than that provided by ad-hoc simulation tools. GGCDCI06,
MoVES, and the GrooveNet are specific VANET simulators [8].
Finally, there are some frameworks as JANE [54], a Java-based middleware plat-
form for MANET applications programming. It allows the developer to test the
applications in a simulation environment and, also, over real mobile devices.
2.6.2 VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 Simulator

In [8], the authors present a simulator tool based on the combination of the road
traffic simulator VanetMobiSim and the network (MANET) simulator Ns-2 [98],
VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 (see Figure 2.13). This simulator tool is used in different
projects as CARLINK and DIRICOM.
VanetMobiSim is an extension to CanuMobiSim [21], a generic user mobility

simulator. CanuMobiSim provides an efficient and easily extensible mobility archi-
tecture, but due to its general purpose, it suffers from a reduced level of detail in
specific scenarios. VanetMobiSim is therefore aimed at extending the vehicular mo-
bility support of CanuMobiSim to a higher degree of realism. The main features of
this simulator are that it is specific for VANETs and an open source platform; it
supports both macro-mobility and micro-mobility specification; and it uses intuitive
XML code to specify the different scenarios. However the most important feature of
VanetMobiSim is that it has been validated in actual communication scenarios [57].
Its main drawback is that it offers a poor documentation.
Ns-2 is an open source network simulator, so it is freely available and the user
is able to modify the source code (C++ and OTcl) [131]. It provides a packet level
simulation over a lot of protocols, supporting several transport protocols, several
forms of multicast, wired networking, several ad-hoc routing protocols and propa-
gation models, data broadcasting, satellite, etc. It incorporates different network
flow generators as web, telnet, CBR (constant bit rate generator), etc. for using
35
them in the simulations. In addition, Ns-2 has the possibility of using mobile nodes.
The mobility of these nodes may be specified either directly in the simulation file
or by using a mobility trace file. In this case, the trace file is generated by Vanet-
MobiSim. Finally, other important feature is that it incorporates several add-ons as
the visualization tools NAM [96] (Network Animator) and TraceGraph [67].
Figure 2.13: VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 basic architecture.
2.7 Research Challenges in VANETs

Advances in wireless ad-hoc communication technologies have made possible the
emergence of VANETs, however the involved research community and industry still
have to address several problems to offer a complete VANET development ready
to be deployed. This section covers current research challenges grouping them in
different topics.
• Wireless access technology: Nowadays there are several wireless access

technologies that could be used to deploy VANETs (see Section 2.3). In gen-
eral, the research community is working on the specification of a set of air
interface protocols and the parameters for high-speed nodes (vehicles) com-
munication using available media. Most efforts are focusing on two different
technologies: IEEE 802.11 based (see Section 2.3.1) and cellular (see Sec-
tion 2.3.2) technologies.
36
2.7. RESEARCH CHALLENGES IN VANETS
• Spectrum issues: The use of IEEE 802.11 based technologies for VANET
communications needs to allocate these communications at the free spectrum.
In the US the FCC has already allocated 75 MHz of spectrum at 5.9 GHz (from
5.850 to 5.950 GHz) for V2V and V2I communications [141]. However, in Eu-
rope there are not a continuos free spectrum band of 75 MHz in DSRC. Hence
Car-2-Car consortium has proposed a derivative of the US approach, allocating
2 × 10 MHz for primary use of safety critical applications at 5.9 GHz [108].
• Routing strategies: The performance of MANET routing protocols have

improved quite a lot during the last years appearing several specialized ap-
proaches (see Section 2.4.3). Unfortunately, in case of vehicular networks cer-
tain characteristics make most of these protocols unsuitable (see Section 2.2).
The research community is currently working on three different approaches:
– Opportunistic forwarding [80]: The data is stored until there is an oppor-

tunity to forward it.
– Trajectory forwarding [68]: The road side infrastructure serve as an over-

lay directed graph.
– Geographical forwarding [136]: The packets are forwarding towards the

destination based on node geographical location.
These three approaches may be used mixing them developing hybrid solutions.
• Message dissemination: VANET applications require broadcast informa-

tion continuously (see Section 2.5), thus finding an optimal broadcasting tech-
nique is critical in this kind of networks. Nowadays, several broadcasting ap-
proaches are taken into account,e.g., location-aware broadcasting [88], which
limits the broadcast range only to the area of interest reducing overhead (avoid-
ing the broadcast storm problem), or clustering [44] where neighbor nodes form
clusters limiting the broadcasting range.
• Security and privacy: The potential of the proposed applications for such
networks and the information they may manage could cause some malicious
entity make use of them. Different kind of threats could exist, like fake mes-
sages broadcasting which could cause disruption of traffic or even danger.
Thus, security is an issue that needs to be carefully addressed in the design
of VANETs. Privacy and anonymity must be preserved avoiding identification
or vehicle tracking for non-trusted parties.
37
• VANET simulation: Testing the impact of VANET applications before their

deployment is an important issue. Nowadays, simulation seems to be the most
feasible solution for this purpose, however it requires the modeling of driver
behavior in different context, such as an accident [58], apart from wireless ad-
hoc communication as close as possible to the real world. This is not trivial
and is still an open problem.
Additionally, we have to take into account some socio-economic challenges [58]

since the market introduction of VANET technologies suffers the network effect.
That is, the added value for one customer depends on the number of customers in
total who have equipped their vehicle with VANET technology. Therefore the main
question is how to convince early-adopters to buy VANET equipment. There are
several options that are being discussed like the enforcement by law or the attractive
deployment applications. Also this problem is still open.
As it can be seen from the presented list of challenges, the study of vehicu-
lar ad-hoc networks is an open problem that involves different areas of knowledge.
It involves communication technologies, metaheuristics for optimization problems,
cryptography and intrusion detection for security [18], sociological studies and math-
ematical modeling of driver behavior [87], and so on.
38
Chapter 3
Metaheuristics
Nowadays, researchers employ three different approaches to solve optimization prob-

lems: exact algorithms, heuristics, and metaheuristics. The main advantage of using
exact algorithms is that they offer the guarantee of finding global optimum for a
given problem. However, they are not directly applicable to the most of real prob-
lems (NP-hard) because the required execution time grows exponentially with the
size of the problem. In contrast, the non structured heuristics are usually pretty
fast, but generally they offer non optimal solutions. Furthermore, the adaptation of
this approach to the most of problems is complex. Finally, the metaheuristics are
generic methods which offer good solutions, even global optimum, within a reason-
able computing time.
This chapter is aimed at establishing the foundations needed to understand the

metaheuristics algorithms used to address optimization problems. First, in Sec-
tion 3.1, we offer some important definitions to understand the topic of optimization
problems. Then, Section 3.2 briefly introduces a representative set of optimization
techniques. Finally, Section 3.3 presents in more detail the used algorithms to solve
the problem addressed in this project.
3.1 Definition of Metaheuristic

Optimization problems consist of the search for a best configuration of a set of vari-
ables to achieve some goals [35]. Generally, optimization problems can be seen as the
search for the best solution, or at least good enough, to a given problem. Currently
they are using optimization techniques in fields as diverse as networking, economics
or logistics. Humans are constantly solving optimization problems, such as what
39
CHAPTER 3. METAHEURISTICS
route to take to get from one place to another, how to organize our schedule, etc.
As these problems have small dimension, we can process them easily by using our
brain. However, when the optimization problems become larger and more complex
it appears the necessity of using specialized tools and the computational power of
computers
This section is intended to define different concepts that will be used throughout
the chapter and whole memory. Begining with the formal definition of optimization.
Assuming, without loss of generality, in the case of minimization, we can define an
optimization problem as:
Definition 1 (Optimization Problem): The pair P = (S, f ) is an optimization

problem where S 6= ∅ represents the search space (or solution space), and f is an
objective function (or fitness), defined as:
f : S −→ R (3.1)
The search space S is given by a set of variables X = {x1 , x2 , ..., xn } and their
domains that are respectively D1 , D2 , ..., Dn . Thus, solving an optimization problem
consist in finding a solution x∗i ∈ S such that
f (x∗i ) ≤ f (xi ), ∀xi ∈ S (3.2)
Above, the optimization problem is presented as a minimization problem, since

according to the next equation [52] there exist a direct relation between maximiza-
tion and minimization problems:
max{f (xi ) | xi ∈ S} ≡ min{−f (xi ) | xi ∈ S} (3.3)
Optimization problems can be classified depending on the domain where S be-

longs. According to this classification, we can define binary (S ⊆ B∗ ), integer
(S ⊆ N∗ ), real (S ⊆ R∗ ), and mixed or heterogeneous (S ⊆ (B ∪ N ∪ R)∗ ) optimiza-
tion problems.
The importance of the existing optimization problems has prompted the develop-
ment of multiple methods to solve them along the history of Information Technology.
A brief classification of these techniques is shown in Figure 3.1. The more general
classification which divides these techniques into exact and approximate. The exact
40
3.1. DEFINITION OF METAHEURISTIC
methods, which are based on the mathematical extraction of the optimal solution,
or an exhaustive search until the optimum is found, guarantee the optimality of the
solution obtained. These techniques present some drawbacks, however. The time
they require, though bounded, is generally very large, especially for NP-complex
problems. Furthermore, it is not always possible to find such an exact technique
for every problem. This makes exact techniques not to be the right choice in many
occasions, since both their time and memory requirements can become unreasonably
high for large problems. Therefore, approximate methods have been often used
by the research community in the last few decades. These methods sacrifice the
guarantee of finding the optimum in favor of providing some satisfactory solution
within reasonable time.
Figure 3.1: Optimization techniques classification.
Among approximate algorithms, one can find two types: ad hoc heuristics and
metaheuristics. We focus this chapter on the latter. Ad hoc heuristics can in turn
be divided between constructive heuristics and local search methods.
Constructive heuristics are usually the swiftest methods. They construct a solu-
tion from scratch by iteratively incorporating components until a complete solution
is obtained, which is returned as the algorithm output. Finding some constructive
heuristic can be easy in many cases, but the obtained solutions are of low quality.
In fact, designing one such method that actually produces high quality solutions is
a nontrivial task, since it mainly depends on the problem, and requires thorough
understanding of it. For example, in problems with many constraints it could hap-
pen that many partial solutions do not lead to any feasible solution.
41
The neighborhood of a given solution xi , denoted as N (xi ), is the set of solutions

(neighbors) that can be reached from xi through the use of a specific modification
operator, generally referred to as movement, (see Definition 2). A local optimum
is a solution equal or better than any other solution in its own neighborhood (see
Definition 3). The process of exploring the neighborhood, finding and keeping the
best neighbor, is repeated in a process until the local optimum is found. Complete
exploration of a neighborhood is often unapproachable, therefore some modifcation
of the generic scheme has to be adopted. Depending on the movement operator, the
neighborhood varies and so does the manner of exploring the search space, simpli-
fying or complicating the search process as a result [86].
Definition 2 (Neighborhood): Let (S, f ) an optimization problem. A neigh-

borhood structure is a function :
N : S −→ S (3.4)
that assigns to every xi ∈ S a set of neighbors N (xi ) ∈ S. N (xi ) is called the

neighborhood of xi [15].
The introduction of a neighborhood structure enables us to define the concept

of locally optimal solutions.
Definition 3 (Local optimum): Let (S, f ) an optimization problem, and Si0 ∈ S

the neighborhood of xi0 ∈ S (N (xi0 ) = Si0 ), xi0 is a local optimum (minimum) if it
satisfies the following inequality:
f (xi0 ) ≤ f (xi ), ∀xi ∈ Si (3.5)
Finally, three decades ago came a new stream research within the approximate
algorithms. It basically tries to combine basic heuristic methods in higher level
frameworks aimed at efficiently and effectively exploring a search space. These
methods are called metaheuristics, but they were often called modern heuristics.
To this type of algorithms belong the tabu search (TS), genetic algorithms (GA),
differential evolution (DE), and simulated annealing (SA), among others. Since its
emergence the term metaheuristic has been defined in different ways. Osman and
Laporte proposed a widely used definition in 1996 [106], which is presented following:
42
3.2. METAHEURISTICS CLASSIFICATION
A metaheuristic is formally defined as an iterative generation process

which guides a subordinate heuristic by combining intelligently different
concepts for exploring and exploiting the search space, learning strategies
are used to structure information in order to find efficiently near-optimal
solutions.
The fundamental properties which characterize the set of metaheuristic algo-

rithms are the following ones [47]:
• Metaheuristics are higher level strategies that gide the search process.
• The goal is to efficiently explore the search space in order to find (quasi-)
optimal solutions.
• Metaheuristic algorithms are approximate and generally non-deterministic.
• The basic concepts of metaheuristics permit an abstract level of description.
• Metaheuristics are not problem-specific.
• Metaheuristics may make use of domain-specific knowledge in the form of

heuristics that are controlled by the upper level strategy.
• Todays more advanced metaheuristics use search experience (embodied in

some form of memory) to guide the search.
3.2 Metaheuristics Classification

There are different ways to define a metaheuristics taxonomy. Depending on the
characteristics selected to differentiate among them, several classifications are pos-
sible, each of them being the result of a specific point of view. Next, we briefly
summarize the most important ways of classifying metaheuristics [15]:
• Nature inspired (bio-inspired) vs. non-nature inspired : Generally, it is the

most natural way to classify metaheuristics, since it is based on the origins of
the algorithm. It takes into account whether their models have been inspired
by Nature or not. There are bio-inspired algorithms, like Genetic Algorithms
(GA) and Ant Colony Algorithms (ACO), and non nature-inspired ones such
as Tabu Search (TS) and Iterated Local Search (ILS). This classification is not
very meaningful since the emergence of hybrid algorithms.
43
• Population-based vs. single point search (trajectory): In this case, the charac-
teristic used for the classification is the number of solutions used at the same
time. On the one hand, single point search algorithms work on a single solution
describing a trajectory in the search space during the search process. They en-
compass local search-based metaheuristics, like Variable Neighborhood Search
(VNS), Tabu Search (TS), and Iterated Local Search (ILS). On the other hand,
population-based methods work on a set of solutions (points) called popula-
tion. Figure 3.1 shows graphically some examples of this taxonomy.
• Static vs. dynamic objective function: The algorithms which keep the objective
function given in the problem during the whole process are called metaheuris-
tics with static objective function. However, there are other algorithms with
dynamic objective function, like Guided Local Search (GLS), which modify the
fitness function during the search, incorporating information collected during
the search process to escape from local optimum.
Other characteristics can be used for classification of different metaheursitics, like

the number of neighborhood structures and the use or not of memory. In the follow-
ing subsections, we present briefly some of the most representative metaheuristics
grouping them into trajectory or population based algorithms.
3.2.1 Trajectory-based Metaheurístics

The main characteristic of trajectory-based metaheuristics is that they start from
an initial solution (point) which is updated exploring the neighborhood, describing a
trajectory. These metaheuristics emerge to improve local search methods extending
them adding mechanisms to escape from local minimum. Such methods need new
stop conditions different from finding local minimum, they use more complex and
elaborated ones. The most commonly used are that the algorithm stop when a
certain number of iterations is reached, when the found solution has an acceptable
quality, or when it is detect a deadlock in the search process. Next, we describe
briefly some metaheuristics based on trajectory.
• The Simulated Annealing (SA) is probably the first algorithm that applies an
explicit strategy to escape from local minimum. It was described in 1983 [73],
its origins lie in a statistical mechanism called metropolis [89]. The name and
inspiration come from annealing in metallurgy, a technique involving heating
and controlled cooling of a material to increase the size of its crystals and
reduce their defects. The heat causes the atoms to become unstuck from their
44
initial positions (a local minimum of the internal energy) and wander randomly
through states of higher energy; the slow cooling gives them more chances of
finding configurations with lower internal energy than the initial one. To avoid
local minimum, the algorithm allows to choose a solution with worse fitness
than the current solution. Over successive iterations of the algorithm is chosen,
from the current solution s, a solution s0 in the neighborhood N (s). If s0 has
better quality than s, then s is replaced by s0 as the current solution. However,
if s0 is worse, then it is accepted with a certain probability that depends on
the current temperature T and the difference between the two fitness solutions
(f (s) − f (s0 )), in the case of minimization.
• Tabu Search (TS) is known as one of metaheuristics that have been applied
with greater success in solving classical and real optimization problems. The
fundamentals of this method were introduced in [49], and both, technique and
components, were specified in [50]. It uses flexible structures of memory, which
permit exploit the search information more thoroughly than by rigid memory
or memory-less systems, conditions for strategically constraining and freeing
the search process (emboided in tabu restrictions and aspiration criteria), and
memory functions of varying time spans for intensifying and diversifying the
search (reinforcing attributes historically found good and driving the search
into new regions).
• Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) [92] is a relatively recent metaheuristic

which relies on iteratively exploring neighbourhoods of growing size to identify
better local optima. VNS has been applied to a wide variety of problems both
from combinatorial and continuous optimization. VNS method escapes from
the current local minimum s0 by by initiating other local searches from starting
points sampled from a neighbourhood of s0 (s00 ← N (s0 )) which increases its
size iteratively until a local minimum better than the current one is found.
These steps are repeated until a given termination condition is met.
More precisely, the first step of this method is to define a set of neighborhoods
for which we can use different methods. Then, successive iterations consist
of three phases: the choice of candidate, a phase of improvement, and finally,
movement. In the first step, it randomly chooses a neighbor s0 of s using the
k − th neighborhood. This solution (s0 ) is used as the starting point for local
search of the second phase, obtaining s00 . When the process of improvement
is finished, the new solution s00 is compared with the original s. If it is better,
s00 becomes the current solution and the neighborhoods counter is initialized
45
(k ← 1), Otherwise, the process is repeated by using following neighborhood

(k ← k + 1). Local search is intensifying over the method and changing
neighborhood it can be seen as the way of diversification.
• Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) [121] is a simple

metaheuristic that combines constructive heuristics with local search. GRASP
is an iterative procedure with two phases: first, a solution is constructed, sec-
ond, the solution undergoes an improvement process. The improved solution
is the final result of the search process. A randomized heuristic is used for the
construction of the solution in the first phase. Step by step, different com-
ponents c are added to the partial solution sp , initially empty. Each added
component is randomly selected from a restricted list of candidates (RCL).
This list is a subset of N (sp ), the set of permitted components for the partial
solution sp . The components of the solution in N (sp ) are sorted according to
some problem dependent function η in order to generate the list. The RCL
list consists of the α best components in the set. In the extreme case of α = 1,
only the best component found is added to the list, thus resulting in a greedy
construction method. In the other extreme, α = kN (sp )k, the component is
chosen in a totally random way among all available components. Hence, α is
a key parameter that determines how the search space is going to be sampled.
The second phase of the algorithm consists in a local search method to im-
prove the previously generated solutions. A simple local search method can
be employed, or some more complex technique like SA or TS.
• Iterated Local Search (ILS) [130] is a metaheuristic which involves the repeated
application of a local search algorithm applied to the candidate solutions found
by a broader search process that involves a biased random walk through the
search space. ILS is based on a simple but effective idea. The algorithm
works by first selecting a starting point for the search either randomly or
via a domain specific construction heuristic. Then, the starting position is
optimized using a local search strategy. The algorithm loop involves three
steps: a perturbation of the current solution, the application of the local search
to the perturbation, and an acceptance decision of whether or not the locally
optimizing candidate solution should replace the current working solution for
the search. The acceptance of new solutions depending on the search history
and characteristics of the new local minimum.
46
3.2.2 Population-based Metaheurístics

In contrast with the previous methods, population-based algorithms are character-
ized by working with a set of solutions (called population) in each iteration. Here
we introduce some representative population-based metaheuristics:
• Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) are based on the postulates of the evolutionary

theory, that is, they are inspired by biological evolution processes: selection,
recombination, mutation, and reproduction [11]. This family of techniques
presents an iterative and stochastic process that operates on a population of
individuals (solutions).
EAs start by generating the population randomly or by means of some heuristic
seeding procedure. The gloabal structure of the process consists of three main
phases (emulating the biological evolution): selection, production, and replace-
ment, that are repeated until meeting certain stop criteria. In the first phase
individuals of the population are chosen to be recombined during the produc-
tion phase. Usually, the individuals are chosen according to their fitness. To
increase the diversity, a mutation operator is applied to the individuals gener-
ated previously . Finally, a new population is created by using the current one
and/or the best individuals generated, giving way to the next generation of
the algorithm. Different algorithms have been proposed based on this general
scheme. These proposals can be classified into three main categories that were
developed independently, they are: the Evolutionary Programming (EP) pro-
posed by Fogel [43], the Genetic Algorithms (GA) introduced by Holland [59],
and the Evolution Strategies (ES) submitted by Rechenberg [120].
• Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) [94] have similar behaviors to

the previously presented EAs, and many authors even consider EDAs as a
special kind of EA. Like EAs, EDAs operate on a population of candidate
solutions, but, unlike them, do not use recombination and mutation to generate
the new solutions, but a probability distribution mechanism instead.
Graphic probabilistic models are commonly used tools to represent in an ef-

ficient manner the probability distributions when working with EDAs. Some
authors [95, 20, 126] propose using bayesian networks to represent the proba-
bility distributions in discrete domains, while gaussian networks are most often
employed for continuous domains [139].
47
• Scatter Search (SS) [51] is a metaheuristic whose principles were presented

in [48]. The main contribution of this algorithm is the idea of maintaining a
relatively small set of tentative solutions (called the reference set or RefSet).
This set of solutions is characterized by its quality and variety (distant in the
search space). This set is divided into subsets of solutions to which we apply
an operation of recombination and other improvements.
Scatter Search consists of five main component processes:
1. A Diversification Generation Method to generate a collection of diverse

trial solutions.
2. An Improvement Method to transform a trial solution into one or more
enhanced trial solutions.
3. A Reference Set Update Method to build and maintain a reference set
consisting of the b best solutions found organized to provide efficient ac-
cessing by other parts of the solution procedure.
4. A Subset Generation Method to operate on the reference set, to produce
a subset of its solutions as a basis for creating combined solutions.
5. A Solution Combination Method to transform a given subset of solutions
produced by the Subset Generation Method into one or more combined
solutions.
Finally, note that it is currently receiving much attention from the research
community [79].
• Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) [39] algorithm is a probabilistic technique for

solving computational problems which can be reduced to finding good paths
through graphs. It is based on the behavior of ants seeking a path between
their colony and a source of food. The original idea has since diversified to solve
a wider class of numerical problems, and as a result, several problems have
emerged, drawing on various aspects of the behavior of ants. The behavior
of the ants is as follows: Initially, ants explore randomly the area near to the
nest. As soon as an ant finds food, it comes back to the nest. In turn, this ant
deposits a chemical called pheromone, creating pheronome trails. If other ants
find such a path, they are likely not to keep travelling at random, but to instead
follow the trail, returning and reinforcing it if they eventually find food. The
indirect communication between ants using pheromone trails enables them to
find the shortest path between the nest and the food. ACO tries to solve
48
3.3. ALGORITHMS USED IN THIS WORK
optimization problems by simulating this behavior. The technique is based on

two main steps: Construct Ant Solutions and Update Pheromones (pheromone
matrix ).
• Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) [70] is a population based metaheuristic

inspired in the social behavior of organisms such as bird flocking and fish
schooling. It is based on the factors that influence the decisions of an agent
that is part of a set of similar agents. In PSO, each candidate solution to
the problem is called particle and the population of particles is called swarm.
During the iterative process, each particle adjusts its position (state) according
to its own experience, and according to the experience of a neighboring particle,
making use of the best position encountered by itself and its neighbor.
• Diffenrential Evolution (DE) [129] is a non-deterministic method based on a

population of individuals who are real vectors that represent the solutions in
the search space. It was developed to optimize real (float) parameters of a real
valued function. The generation of new individuals is carried out by applying
differential operators of mutation and crossover to the individuals that are
selected randomly. By differential mutation the proportional difference of the
randomly chosen parents is added to a third individual, also chosen randomly.
After the mutation, a recombination operator is applied over each individual
(target) to generate an intermediate individual (trial). Finally, taken into
account the fitness values, a selection operator decides the acceptance (or not)
of trial individuals for the new generation.
3.3 Algorithms used in this Work

In this section, we describe the five metaheuristic algorithms used in this study.
Specifically, they are Simulated Annealing (SA), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Evolu-
tionary Strategy (ES), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Differential Evolu-
tion (DE).
We select these five algorithms because they are able to work on continuos (real
valued) search spaces. Also, these techniques were selected with the aim of ex-
perimenting with different population structures, as well as different reproduction
mechanisms.
49
3.3.1 Simulated Annealing (SA)

Simulated Annealing was one of the first metaheuristic algorithms with an explicit
strategy to escape from local minimum. The basic idea is to allow movements to
select solutions worse than the current solution. The probability of performing such
a movement decrease during the search process (see Algorithm 1). The operation of
a typical SA is summarized in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2: Operation of a typical SA.
The whole process starts by generating an initial solution s (randomly or using

some heuristic) and starting the temperature parameter (T ). The algorithm works
iteratively keeping a single tentative solution s at any time. In every iteration,
a new solution s0 ∈ N (s) is generated from the previous one (Line 5), and either
replaces it or not depending on an acceptance criterion (Lines 6-10). The acceptance
criterion works depending on the fitness values (f (s) and f (s0 )) and temperature T .
s0 replaces s as current solution if f (s) < f (s0 ) (s0 has better quality). However, in
the case of f (s) ≥ f (s0 ), s0 replaces it with probability prob (Equation 3.6). This
probability depends on the difference between their quality (f (s0 ) − f (s)) values
and T (Line 9). This acceptance criterion provides the way of escaping from local
optima.
2
prob(T, s, s0 ) = f (s0 )−f (s)
(3.6)
1+e T
50
Algorithm 1 Simulated Annealing (SA)

1: s ← generateSolution()
2: initialize(T )
3: evaluate(s)
4: while g < maxGenerations or stopCondition() do
5: s0 ← neighborSolution(N (s))
6: if (f (s0 ) < f (s)) then
7: s ← s’ // s’ replaces s as current solution
8: else
9: accept s0 as current solution with a probability prob(T, s, s0 )
10: end if
11: update(T )
12: end while
The temperature value (T ) is updated (generally decreasing) during the search.

Thus, at the beginning the probability of accepting new solutions are high and it
gradually decreases along the iterations, following a cooling schedule (Line 11). The
algorithm ends by selecting only those solutions that improve the current one (s).
This process is based on annealing in metallurgy, a technique involving heating and
controlled cooling of a material to increase the size of its crystals and reduce their
defects. The heat causes the atoms to become unstuck from their initial positions
(a local optimum of the internal energy) and wander randomly through states of
higher energy; the slow cooling gives them more chances of finding configurations
with lower internal energy than the initial one.
The algorithm is a result of the combination of two different processes: random

step and iterative improvement. In the first phase, exploration of the search space
becomes more random and erratic, producing movements to worst solutions. How-
ever, as it iterates, the erratic component gradually decreases the search converging
to a optimum (local). The selection of solutions that do not improve the current
one is controlled by two factors: the difference between the fitness functions and
temperature (see Equation 3.6). First, if we fix the temperature, the higher the
difference f (s0 ) − f (s), less probability to move from s to s0 . Moreover, the higher
the temperature T , the more probability to accept s0 as a new solution.
The selection of a suitable cooling strategy is crucial for the behavior of the
algorithm. The cooling strategy Q defines the temperature T for each moment k,
Tk+1 = Q(Tk , k). The most used one is Tk+1 = α × Tk , where α ∈ (0, 1). The cooling
strategy and the initial temperature must be adapted to problems because the cost
51
of escaping a local optimum depends on the structure of the search space. There
are many ways leading to different variants of SA as: Fast SA (FSA), Very Fast SA
(VFSA) or Adaptative SA (ASA) [17]. Ingber [64] proposed an empircal solution
which starts with an initial random sampling of search space and T0 is calculated
from the average and the standard deviation of the values of the objective function.
SA has been successfully applied to many optimization problems: the Quadratic

Assignment Problem (QAP) [36] and the textitJob Shop Scheduling (JSS) [134].
In the field of wireless mobile networks has been used in problems of optimizing
MANET routing protocols [84] or the clustering of the nodes [82].
3.3.2 Genetic Algorithm (GA)

Genetic Algorithms are possibly the most widespread subclass of EAs. They were
conceived by John Holland [60]. As EA, it applies the natural selection principles to
solve optimization problems. During successives generations, the solutions evolve to
the optimum according to these principles. The evolution of these solutions depends
largely on an adequate codification of them.
GAs work with a population of individuals, each of which represents a feasible

solution to a given problem. Each individual is assigned a value associated with the
goodness of this solution (fitness). Similarly, in Nature, the fitness could be seen as
a value of of the adaptation and the effectiveness to compete for certain resources for
biological organisms. The higher individual adaptation to the problem, the grater
the probability to be selected to breed, i.e., crossing its genetic material with another
individual. This crossing produces new individuals descendants of the above ones,
which share some characteristics of their parents. So, spread the genetic material of
the best individuals in successive generations (see Figure 3.4). If the algorithm is de-
signed properly, the population will converge to an optimum solution to the problem.
The algorithm manipulates a collection p of individuals (the population), each

of which comprises one or more chromosomes. These chromosomes allow each in-
dividual represent a potential solution for the problem under consideration. An
encoding/decoding process is responsible for performing this mapping between chro-
mosomes and solutions. Chromosomes are divided into smaller units termed genes.
The different values a certain gene can take are called the alleles for that gene.
52
The genes are encoded in a string of symbols (numbers or letters). There are
various representations (see Figure 3.3) such as the use of binary numbers in BCD
or Gray codes, the use of real or integer, etc. Most of the time, a correct coding is
the key to a good resolution of the problem. Typically, codification is static, but in
cases of numerical optimization, the number of bits dedicated to encode a parameter
can vary.
Figure 3.3: Examples of gens encoding.
The algorithm (see Algorithm 2) is an iterative process which starts by gener-

ating an initial population of solutions. This is typically addressed by randomly
generating the desired number of solutions. When the alphabet used for represent-
ing solutions has low cardinality, this random initialization provides a more or less
uniform sample of the solution space. Then, applying the genetic operators (selec-
tion (Line 4), recombination (Line 5), mutation (Line 6), and replacement (Line 8))
on this population.
Algorithm 2 Genetic Algorithms (GA)

1: p0 ← initializePopulation()
2: evaluation(p0 )
4: pgs ← selection(pg )
5: pgr ← recombination(pgs )
6: pgm ← mutation(pgr )
7: evaluation(pm g )
g+1
8: p ← replacement(pgm )
9: end while
53
Figure 3.4: Operation of a typical GA.
Selection is responsible for the competition aspects of individuals in the pop-

ulation. In fact, replacement can be intuitively regarded as the complementary
application of the selection operation. There exist different techniques to perform
the selection, the most popular ones are:
• Roulette-wheel Selection: In these methods, the probability of selecting an

individual for breeding (pi ) is proportional to its fitness (fi ) as Equation 3.7
shows. This selection technique allows the selection of the best individuals
with greater probability, but at the same time the worst ones could be selected,
maintaining the diversity of the population.
fi
pi = PN (3.7)
j=1 fj
A drawback of this procedure is the appearance of an individual whose fitness

is much better than the remaining individuals. Such super-individuals can
quickly take over the population. To avoid this, the best option is using a
non-fitness-proportionate mechanism.
• Ranking Selection: In this technique, the individuals are ranked according to

their fitness (best first, worst last), and later selected, e.g., by using Stochastic
Universal Sampling [12] which follows the probability showed in Equation 3.8.

1 − + − i−1
pi = η + (η − η ) (3.8)
|P | |P | − 1
Where pi is the probability of selecting the ith best individual, and η − +η + = 2.
54
• Tournament Selection: In this case, α individuals are sampled at random, and

the best of them is selected for reproduction. This is repeated as many times
as needed. The tournament size (α) determines the selective pressure, the
higher α, the stronger the selective pressure. These unproportionate selection
methods have the advantage of being insensitive to fitness scaling problems
and to the sense of optimization (maximization or minimization). The main
drawback is the need to set the parameter α, although the widely used value
is two (binary tournament).
After selecting the parents, their chromosomes are combined, using recombina-
tion and mutation operators.
Recombination is a process that models information exchange among several

individuals (typically two). This is done by constructing new solutions using the
information contained in a number of selected parents. The resulting individuals
are called offspring. There exists several recombination operators, the most used
for bitstrings are the classical single-point crossover and two-point crossover (see
Figure 3.5). Usually, the crossover operator does not apply to all pairs of individuals
who have been selected, they are applied to a certain proportion of them with a
certain probability. In the case where the operator does not apply crossover, the
offspring is obtained by simply duplicating the parents.
a) Single-point Crossover
b) Two-point Crossover
Figure 3.5: Widely used crossover operators.
The mutation operator is applied to each individual of the offspring separately.

This operator injects new material in the population, but at low rate, otherwise the
search would degrade to a random walk in the solution space. As it was the case
for recombination, the choice of a mutation operator depends on the representation
55
used, and it is used just in a portion of the chromosome. In bitstrings (and in general,
in linear strings) mutation is done by randomly substituting the symbol contained
at a certain position by a different symbol. Figure 3.6 shows the mutation of the
fifth gene of the chromosome.
Figure 3.6: Mutation operator over one gene.
After the evaluation of the offspring (Line 7), the replacement step is carried out
to keep the population size constant. To do so, some individuals from the popula-
tion have to be substituted by some of the individuals created during reproduction
(offspring). This can be done in several ways [102]:
• Replacement-of-the-worst: the population is sorted according to fitness, and

the new individuals replace the worst ones from the population.
• Random replacement: the individuals to be replaced are selected at random.
• Tournament replacement: a subset of α individuals is selected at random, and

the worst one is selected for replacement. Notice that if α = 1 we have random
replacement.
• Direct replacement: the offspring replace their parents.
There are two ways to do this task which define two different genetic algorithms:
steady state GA (ssGA) and generational GA (genGA). In the first one, every indi-
vidual asynchronously replaced after generation. genGA defines the replacement of
generations, that is, all individuals are updated at once at the end of each generation.
GAs have been thoroughly used in many domains obtaining satisfactory results.
For example, GAs have been applied to solve problems such as the scheduling and
timetabling [116], the software project management [7], the ARN structures predic-
tion [140], etc. GAs have been applied to the field of MANET/VANET networks to
solve problems such as the location of base stations [85], the energy consumption of
routing protocols [142] or the optimization of broadcasting protocols [6].
56
3.3.3 Evolutionary Strategies (ES)

Evolutionary Strategies (ES) are Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) specifically designed
to solve real parameterization optimization problems. They were presented in 1964
at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany) and developed in the 70s by Ingo
Rechenberg [120] and Hans-Paul Schwefel [122]. As EAs, they use mutation, recom-
bination, and selection applied to a population of individuals containing candidate
solutions in order to evolve iteratively better and better solutions.
The first purposed ES selected just one individual (parent) to create one new
(individual) offspring (see Figure 3.7). This strategy is denoted (1 + 1) − ES. The
new population accepts the best individuals (parent or offspring) according to the
Equation 3.10. Thus, less fit individuals have zero chance of survival. In (1+1)−ES,
the new individual is generated by the next equation:
yig ← xgi + N (0, σ) (3.9)
where N (0, σ) is a vector of random numbers with a Gaussian distribution with

mean zero and standard deviation σ. Algorithm 3 shows the whole process of
(1 + 1) − ES.

y g si f itness(yig ) ≤ f itness(xgi ),
i
xg+1
i ← (3.10)
x g en otro caso.
i
Algorithm 3 Evolution Strategies (ES)

1: s0 ← initializePopulation()
2: evaluar(s0 )
3: while g < maxGenerations o stopCondition do
4: s0g ← mutation(sg )
5: evaluation(s0g )
6: if f itness(s0g ) is better than f itness(sg ) then
7: sg ← s0g
8: end if
9: end while
However, the mutation by itself does not have the ability to combine the genetic
information of the best individuals, so it is also necessary to introduce crossover
operators. Thus, the first type of a multimembered ES was proposed, the (µ+1)−ES
or steady-state ES. There are µ parents at a time. Two of them are chosen at random
57
and recombined to give life to an offspring, which also underlies mutation. The
selection resembles extinction of the worst, may it be the offspring or one of the
parents, thus keeping constant the population size.
Figure 3.7: Operation of a typical ES.
Subsequently, Schwefel proposed the use of two multimembered strategies called

(µ + λ) − ES and (µ, λ) − ES where µ indicates the population size and λ the
offspring size [102]:
• in the (µ+λ)−ES, not only one offspring is created at a time or in a generation,

but λ ≥ 1 descendants, and, to keep the population size constant, the λ worst
out of all µ + λ individuals are discarded;
• in the (µ, λ)−ES, the selection takes place among the λ offspring only, whereas
their parents are forgotten no matter how good or bad their fitness was com-
pared to that of the new generation. Obviously, this strategy relies on a birth
surplus, i.e., on λ > µ in a strict Darwinian sense of natural selection.
Since the GAs described in Section 3.3.2, the ESs belong to EAs. Although
they belong to the same family of algorithms there are some important differences
between them [123]:
• ESs are applied to real parametric optimization problems, but GAs are mostly
applied to optimization of attributes.
• The key operator of the GA is the recombination, however the most important
operator in ES is the mutation.
58
• By default, the replacement in the GA is stochastic, in the ES is deterministic.
• GAs are global search mechanisms, that is, they have trouble on fine adjust-
ment, just the opposite happens with ES.
The application of evolutionary strategies is closely linked to its nature of being a

tool for parametric optimization of functions. However, they also have been applied
to circuit partitioning problems [62], design of materials [119] or neural network
training [13]. It has also been used in the field of mobile ad-hoc networks using
them to improve the performance of AODV routing protocol [77].
3.3.4 Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)

Particle Swarm Optimization algorithms are inspired by the social behavior of bird
flocking and fish schooling. More precisely, PSO is a parallel evolutionary compu-
tation technique that provides a collaborative population-based search model (see
Algorithm 4). Individuals of the population called particles fly around in a multidi-
mensional search space. During flight, each particle adjusts its position according to
its own experience and according to the experience of a neighboring particle, mov-
ing toward the best position encountered by itself or its neighbors. Thus, the PSO
system combines local search methods (through self-experience) with global search
methods (through neighboring experience), attempting to balance exploration and
exploitation [102].
Generally, a particle pi is composed by three vectors and two fitness values:
• xi = hxi1 , xi2 , ..., xin i and pBesti = hpi1 , pi2 , ..., pin i store its current position
and the best solution of the particle, respectively.
• v i = hvi1 , vi2 , ..., vin i is the gradient vector (direction) which defines the next
movement of the particle pi .
• The two fitness values are the current one (f itness_xi ) and the value of the
best local solution found so far (f itness_pBest).
In this algorithm, each particle position xi is updated each generation g by means

of the Equation 3.11.
xig+1 ← xig + vg+1

i
(3.11)
59
i
where factor vg+1 is the velocity of the particle and is given by
i
vg+1 ← w · vgi + ϕ1 · (pig − xig ) + ϕ2 · (bg − xig ) (3.12)
In this formula, pig is the best solution that the particle i has stored so far, bg is
the best particle (also known as the leader) that the entire swarm has ever created,
and w is the inertia weight of the particle (it controls the trade-off between global
and local experience). Finally, ϕ1 (cognitive component) and ϕ2 (social component)
are specific parameters which control the relative effect of the personal and global
best particles (ϕ1 = ϕ2 = 2 · U N (0, 1)).
Algorithm 4 describes the pseudo-code of PSO. The algorithm starts by initial-

izing the swarm (Line 1), which includes both the positions and velocities of the
particles. The corresponding pi of each particle is randomly initialized, as well as
the leader b (Line 2). Then, during a maximum number of iterations, each particle
flies through the search space updating its velocity and position (Lines 5 and 6), it
is then evaluated (Line 7), and its pi is also calculated (Line 8). At the end of each
iteration, the leader b is updated.
Algorithm 4 Pseudocode of PSO

1: initializeSwarm()
2: locateLeader(b)
4: for each particle xig do
5: updateVelocity(vgi ) //Equation 3.12
6: updatePosition(xig )// Equations 3.11
7: evaluate(xig )
8: update(pig )
9: end for
10: updateLeader(bg )
11: end while
The particles movement is showed in Figure 3.8. Where the dotted arrows repre-
sent the direction of the current velocity vectors: vgpBest (velocity of the best position
taken by the particle), vgk (velocity of the best particle found in the neighborhood),
and vgi (current velocity of the particle). The arrow line represents the direction
taken by the particle to move from point xig to point xg+1 i . The change in direction
of the arrow is due to the influence of other directions (gradient) involved in the
movement.
60
Figure 3.8: Particle movement from point xig to point xig+1 in the search space (PSO).
PSO may be configured in different ways defining different variants of this algo-
rithm. Kennedy in [71] defined four main variants depending on the influence of the
values of the cognitive and social components (ϕ1 and ϕ2 ). They are the following
ones:
• Full Model: ϕ1 , ϕ2 > 0. The movement is determined by both the cognitive

and social component.
• Cognition-only Model: ϕ1 > 0 y ϕ2 = 0. Only the cognitive component is

involved in the movement.
• Social-only Model: ϕ1 = 0 y ϕ2 > 0. Only the social component is involved in

the movement.
• Exclusive Social Model: ϕ1 = 0, ϕ2 > 0 y xi 6= gi . The position of the particle

itself can not be the best in its environment.
According to [72] the sum of the values of the cognitive and social components of
PSO (ϕ1 and ϕ2 ) should be about 4.0, and common usage is to set them 2.05 each.
This technique has been applied to problems of optimization of numerical func-

tions [42] training neural networks [138], traveling salesman problem [125], and im-
age processing [104]. In turn, it has been used as the basis for managing the links
between nodes in VANET [61].
61
3.3.5 Differential Evolution (DE)
Differential Evolutions is the youngest technique used to carry out the work pre-
sented here. It appears in 1994 when Kenneth Price tried to solve the Chebyshev
polynomials [32]. Then, Price came up with the idea of using vector differences for
perturbing the vector population. Since this seminal idea a lively discussion between
Ken Price and Rainer Storm and endless ruminations and computer simulations on
both parts yielded many substantial improvements which make DE the versatile and
robust tool it is today [128].
DE is a stochastic population based optimization algorithm. It is employed to

solve problems in continuous (real) search spaces (real parameters, real valued func-
tions). DE optimizes a problem by maintaining a population of N vectors vig (where
g is the generation number and i ∈ [1, N ]) that represents the candidate solutions.
The creation of new candidate solutions is carried out by combining existing vectors
according to its simple formulae of differential-crossover and differential-mutation,
and then keeping whichever candidate solution has the best fitness on the optimiza-
tion problem at hand.
The differential-mutation generates new individuals by adding the weighted dif-

ference of two of the vectors of the population to the third, following the Equa-
tion 3.13:
wig+1 ← vr1
g g
+ µ · (vr2 g
− vr3 ). (3.13)
Where r1, r2, r3 ∈ {1, 2, . . . , i − 1, i + 1, . . . , N } are random integers mutually dif-

ferent, and also different from the index i, the mutation constant µ > 0 stands for
the amplification of the difference between the individuals vgr2 and vgr3 , and it avoids
the stagnation of the search process.
In order to increase even more the diversity in the population, each mutated
individual undergoes a crossover operation with the target individual vgi , by means
of which a trial individual uig+1 is generated. A randomly chosen position is taken
from the mutant individual to prevent that the trial individual replicates the target
individual.

w i if r(j) ≤ Cr or j = jr ,
g+1 (j)
uig+1 (j) ← (3.14)
v i (j) otherwise.
g
62
As shown in Equation 3.14, the crossover operator randomly chooses a uniformly

distributed integer value jr and a random real number r ∈ (0, 1), also uniformly
distributed for each component j of the trial individual uig+1 . Then, the crossover
probability Cr and r are compared just like j and jr . If r is less than or equal
than Cr (or j is equal to jr ) then we select the j th element of the mutant individual
to be allocated in the j th element of the trial individual uig+1 . Otherwise, the j th
element of the target individual vgi becomes the j th element of the trial individual.
Finally, a selection operator decides the acceptance of the trial individual for the next
generation if and only if it yields a reduction in the value of the evaluation function
(also called fitness function f ()), as shown by the following Equation (3.15):

ui if f (uig+1 ) ≤ f (vgi ),
i g+1
vg+1 ← (3.15)
v i (j) otherwise.
g
Algorithm 5 shows the pseudo-code of DE. After initializing the population

(Line 1), the individuals evolve during a number of generations (maxGenerations).
Each individual is then mutated (Line 5) and recombined (Line 6). The new indi-
vidual is selected (or not) following the operation of Equation 3.15 (Lines 7 and 8).
Algorithm 5 Pseudocode of DE
1: initializePopulation()
3: for each individual vgi do
4: choose mutually different(r1 , r2 , r3 )
i
5: wg+1 ← mutation(vgr1 , vgr2 , vgr3 , µ)
6: uig+1 ← crossover(vgi , wg+1
i
, cp)
i
7: evaluate(ug+1 )
i
8: vg+1 ← selection(vgi , uig+1 )
9: end for
10: end while
DE has been applied to various classical optimization problems with known

global optimum[113], also problems of industrial processes optimization, task al-
location [10], and to the design of wireless networks[114] or other problems such as
the training of neural networks [2].
63
64
Chapter 4
VDTP Protocol Optimization

Problem
VANET networks are composed of a set of nodes (vehicles and roadside infrastruc-
ture elements) that are connected by technologies based on IEEE 802.11 standards.
This means that nodes can only communicate within a limited space and time. Fur-
thermore, the continuous movement of vehicles at high speeds causes highly variable
topologies. It is therefore crucial to find the optimal configuration settings of the
protocols that they use to maximize the transfer of information and the bandwidth
of such networks.
In Section 4.1, we present the file transfer service which is one of the most
frequently used in networks. For this reason, offering an optimal configuration is
critical in VANETs. Section 4.2 introduces the VDTP file transfer protocol used in
VANET networks. The principal objective of this Thesis is to solve the problem of
optimizing the VDTP protocol presented in Section 4.3.
4.1 File Transfer in VANETs

File transferring is always an interesting service in every communication network
because of the wide range of applications that could make use of it, in particular, for
VANETs primary applications: transport traffic management, local weather data,
and information broadcasting/sharing. However, achieving successful transfers in
VANETs is a challenging task owing to the special characteristics of this kind of
networks (see Section 2.2). Therefore, it is necesary to take into consideration the
following requeriments when building a reliable file tranfer protocol for VANETs [23]:
65
CHAPTER 4. VDTP PROTOCOL OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM
• Connection-oriented communication protocols, such as TCP, are designed for

static networks. Therefore, the use of these kinds of protocols in a highly dy-
namic environment, such as VANETs, would induce significant control over-
head for connection maintenance, resulting in increasing network traffic and
low effectiveness.
• Due to the changing network topology, the sender location may change during
a file transfer. Therefore, it is essential to keep the complete control over the
transfer on the receiver side.
• In the absence of fixed infrastructures, nodes have to cooperate to provide

routing services, relying on each other to forward packets to their destination.
Routing protocols designed for the fixed network are not effective in mobile
environments. Hence, a wide variety of routing protocols for mobile ad hoc
networks (MANETs) have been designed and studied, e.g., DSR, AODV or
DSDV (see Section 2.4.3). The selection of a suitable ad hoc network routing
protocol is crucial for a reliable file transfer.
• For the transfer, files should be split into several blocks. Therefore, receiver
may temporally stops the transfer because of the likely disconnections with the
sender. A mechanism for avoiding indefinited waiting for lost packets should
be also provided.
However, even the file transfer protocol meets the requirements presented above,
it does not ensure a correct and complete information transfers. Hence, there is the
need to optimize these protocols to achieve the best performance of these protocols.
Optimizing a protocol is defined as finding the configuration of its parameters

that offers the best performance of this protocol. In this Master Thesis we treated
the problem of optimizing VDTP file transfer protocol (OFTC problem).
4.2 VDTP Protocol

VDTP (Vehicular Data Transfer Protocol ) is a not connection-oriented file transfer
protocol used in VANET networks. VDTP was developed by NEO1 research group
at University of Málaga [23]. This section presents the operation of VDTP as well
as the different parameters required for its configuration.
1
NEO (Networking and Emerging Optimization) - http://neo.lcc.uma.es/
66
4.2. VDTP PROTOCOL
4.2.1 VDTP Protocol Operation

Using VDTP file transferring comprises two phases: information requesting
phase and data requesting phase. Moreover, the nodes that participates in
a file transfer are named differently according to their roles during the communica-
tion. When a file is being transferred, the node containing the file is identified as
file owner whereas the node requesting the file is named file petitioner. On the
one hand, file transferring is controlled by the file petitioner. On the other hand, file
owner is only in charge of replying petitioner requests. The file petitioner requests
a certain section of the file and the file owner sends it, this process is repeated until
completing the entire file transfer.
The first phase of the file transfer begins when the file petitioner node sends a
FIRQ (File Information Request) packet to the file owner node that stores the file
to be downloaded. The file owner node reply with a FIRP (File Information Reply)
packet, that encapsulates metadata about the file (see Figure 4.1). The metadata
contains information including the size of the file and the size of data blocks (chunks)
the file will be split in.
Figure 4.1: Information requesting phase of VDPT protocol.
The petitioner is now waiting for the file information coming from the owner. The
file information will be hopefully received in a FIRP packet starting data requesting
phase. Then, the file petitioner calculates the number of segments in which the file
will be split, dividing the file size by the block size, and it also decides the next
data segment to download. The petitioner requests this data segment i by sending a
DRQ(i) (Data Request) packet to the file owner. Then the node, which stores the
file, encapsulates the requested data block i in a DRP(i) (Data Reply) packet and
it sends it to the file petitioner node. The exchange of DRQ(i) and DRP(i) packets
is repeated until the file petitioner node receives the last chunk of the requested file
(see Figure 4.2). Note that each data segment is requested individually, and the
next data segment is not requested until the current one is already received. The
whole process finishes when all data segments are downloaded.
67
Figure 4.2: General operation during data requesting phase of VDTP protocol.
Packet delivery is likely to fail due to the hostile communication medium. There-
fore, VDTP provides a set of timers and counters in charge of solving problems
concerning packet or connection lost. The timers control the timeout for receiving
data after sending a request packet (FIRQ or DRQ). After this timeout, the request
packet is resent (see Figure 4.3) to the file owner. In turn, the counters are used
to control the number of times a packet has been retransmitted. The counters are
initialized to the maximum value assigned to them and they decrease every time
the petitioner node retransmits the same packet. If the counter falls to zero, it is
considered that the download failed because the connection is lost with file owner
and the whole process is aborted (see Figure 4.3.b).
a) DRQ(i) retransmission after timeout. b) Download failed after n DRQ(i).
Figure 4.3: VDTP operation with lost packets.
68
4.2. VDTP PROTOCOL
The packets used by this protocol have the format showed in Figure 4.4. The
packet header fields are discussed below:
• pack_type: It indicates which type of VDTP packet is being carried (FIRQ,

FIRP, DRQ or DRP).
• file_id: It identifies the file which is being transfered.
• num_sec: It indicates the chunk sequence number that is requested/replyed.
• bloc_size: Bloc data size requested/replyed.
The packet data field (DATA) is used to transfer the string of bits that is part of
a particular data block or the information that is sent in FIRQ and FIRP packets.
Figure 4.4: Basic structure of VDPT packet.
4.2.2 VDTP Protocol Configuration

VDTP is configured through three different parameters: the size of data blocks
used to send the file (chunk_size), the timeout between retransmissions of a re-
quest packet (retransmission_time), and the maximum number of retransmissions
per packet (max_attempts). Next, we present in more detail these parameters.
The size of the data blocks or chunk size is the number of bytes data located in
the packet and it is between 128 and 524,288 bytes (524,288 bytes = 512 Kbytes).
This parameter affects the number of data packets (DRQ(i) and DRP(i)) needed
to transfer files. Since when the chunk size decreases, the number of data packets
exchanged to transfer a file increases and therefore reducing the effective bandwidth
of the network. However, by increasing the block size the possibility of packet
loss during data transfer increases. Because more time is needed to transfer data
packets completely, which means that the link between vehicles must exist longer,
something critical in networks that do not have any infrastructure and with highly
variant topology as VANETs.
69
The timeout between retransmissions is between one and ten seconds, because
a data block of a few Kbytes do not need longer to be transferred. When this time
increases the file requester node needs longer to detect that a packet is lost and
thereby to resend the request packets, increasing the total time required for file
transfers, and thus decreasing the effective bandwidth of the network. However, if
time is not long enough, some packets may be considered as lost when they simply
need a longer time than expected to reach the file requester node, so that unneces-
sary data (request packets) will flow through network, overloading it.
The maximum number of retransmissions per packet is between 1 and 250. If

the number is high, packets of data requests may be sent to a file owner node after
losing the link between them, overloading the network with these packets and thus
reducing its effective bandwidth. In contrast, if the number is small, it may abort
file transfers between nodes that simply have a temporary problem that caused the
packet loss, but there remains a link between them.
The selection of values that are given to the VDTP configuration parameters
must be carried out carefully, since these parameters, as explained above, directly
influence the performance and quality of service provided by the protocol.
4.3 OFTC Problem Definition

The problem addressed in this Thesis is to find the optimal parameter settings for
VDTP protocol to perform the best file transfer peer-to-peer in VANETs. This prob-
lem has been called Optimal File Transfer Protocol Configuration problem (OFTC).
In order to solve OFTC we have used five different metaheuristic techniques that
require the definition of a search space and objective function (or fitness). In this
section we present both.
4.3.1 Search Space

The search space is given by the configuration parameters of the protocol. VDTP
protocol parameter settings directly influence the quality of service provided (see
Section 4.2.2). The exhaustive search of the search space is a task almost imprac-
ticable because of the huge set of possible configurations. So far, experts from the
CARLINK consortium [22] have used a process of trial and error to get the settings
they have used in the experiments [24, 28, 29, 27].
70
4.3. OFTC PROBLEM DEFINITION
Since we are interested in finding the best possible VDTP configuration, we have
focused on the three aforementioned parameters: chunk_size, retransmission_time,
and number of max_attempts. Therefore, a given configuration (representing a
solution of the problem) is a vector of three values Ci = (chunk_size, total_attempts,
retransmission_time). The range of each parameter is:
• chunk_size: N+ ∈ [128 · · · 524, 288]
• total_attempts: N+ ∈ [1 · · · 250]
• retransmission_time: R+ ∈ [1 · · · 10]
Thus the search space of the problem is defined by three-dimensional space C,

where each dimension is the representation of each components of the vector Ci .
4.3.2 Fitness Function

The performance of VDTP can be measured by the amount of data being trans-
ferred correctly (data_transferred ). However, there are other metrics to be taken
into account as the number of lost packets during the transfer of a file (lost_packets)
and the total time required for the transfer of an entire file (transmission_time). In
order to make a more accurate measurement of the quality of the files transfers we
have used these three metrics.
In order to evaluate performance of a file transfer, we have defined a function

that returns a numeric value from the three metrics presented above. This function
is given by:
transmission_timei + lost_packetsi
fi = (4.1)
log(data_transf erredi + K)
The factor K = 2 avoids division zero if there is no data transference, prevent-
ing a possible error in the fitness calculation. The data transferred is presented in
logarithmic scale in order to make up for the difference in the range of values. This
way, the algorithm looks for minimizing the global fitness2 .
The problem consist on finding a valid configuration Ci that satisfies the following
inequality:
f (Ci ) ≤ f (Cj ), ∀Cj ∈ C (4.2)
2
A multi-objective evaluation [37] was not taken into account since objectives are not necessarily
opposed in this work.
71
That is, the OFTC problem is a minimization problem where we want to minimize
the fitness function defined by Equation 4.1 subject to the restrictions of the search
space C.
As file transfers are very dependent on the scenario in which vehicles are located,
we have decided that the evaluation of a given configuration is made on a number
(N ) different transfers using this configuration. Therefore, the fitness function to
be minimized to obtain the optimal configuration of VDTP protocol is given by the
following expression:
N N
1 X 1 X transmission_timei + lost_packetsi
f= fi = (4.3)
N N log(data_transf erredi + K)
i=1 i=1
In order to obtain the metrics that are necessary for the evaluation of the fN
function we have used a VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 VANET network simulator (see
Section 2.6.2).
In this chapter we have defined the basis of the problem of optimizing the peer-
to-peer file transfer protocol in VANETs. In subsequent chapters we present both
the experiments using metaheuristic techniques and the results obtained.
72
Chapter 5
Experiments
This chapter presents the methodology used to solve the problem of optimizing the
peer-to-peer information transfer in VANET networks by using VDTP protocol. The
aim of this chapter is to provide all information necessary to enable the repetition
of the experiments carried out in this Thesis. The chapter is organized as follows:
Section 5.1 gives an overview about the experiments. Then, Section 5.2 shows the
software and hardware tools used for both, the development and the executions.
Finally, Section 5.3 presents the metrics used to compare the performance of the
different algorithms.
5.1 Optimization Framework

The optimization framework for this problem is composed by two main parts: an
optimization algorithm and a simulation procedure. The optimization part is car-
ried out by (independently) one of the five algorithms described in Section 3.3. All
of them are specially adapted to find optimal (or cuasi-optimal ) solutions in con-
tinuous search spaces (which is the case in this work). The simulation process is a
way of assigning a quantitative quality value to the factors regulating VDTP, thus
leading to optimal configurations of this protocol tailored to a given scenario. This
procedure is carried out by means of the ns-2.31 [98] simulator (see Section 2.6) in
which we have implemented the VDTP protocol for transferring files in VANETs.
In each optimization algorithm, the evaluation of the solutions is carried out by

means of the simulation component. As Figure 5.1 illustrates, when a given algo-
rithm generates a new solution it is immediately used for configuring the VDTP in
a given simulation. After the simulation, ns-2 returns the global information about
73
CHAPTER 5. EXPERIMENTS
the transmission time required for transferring files, the number of lost packets gen-
erated during the simulation, and the amount of data exchanged between vehicles.
This information is used to compute the fitness function presented in Section 4.3.
Figure 5.1: Optimization framework for VDTP configuration in VANETs, where the
algorithms invoke the ns-2 simulator for each solution evaluation.
5.1.1 Instances: VANET Scenarios

One of the most important and critical task to solve the problem is to obtain the
metrics necessary to evaluate the performance of a particular VDTP configuration.
This evaluation has been carried out by using the simulator VanetMobiSim/Ns-2
(see Section 2.6).
In order to obtain results close to the real world, we have defined two simulation
VANET scenarios (instances) from real areas of Málaga in Spain (see Figure 5.2),
creating an urban and a highway scenarios. We have defined this two distinct sce-
narios since the characteristics of the movement of vehicles for these two scenarios
are different enough to affect the transfer of files. For example, in urban areas the
vehicles density is higher and these vehicles travel at lower speeds than in interurban
environments, increasing the likelihood that the transfers are carried out successfully
in urban than in the highways. Therefore, we can analyze in both scenarios the be-
havior and performance of the compared algorithms, as well as the differences in the
resulting VDTP configurations in terms of communication efficiency. Furthermore,
we can compare these automatically generated configurations against the ones used
in the real experiments by human experts of CARLINK Consortium [26, 25].
74
5.1. OPTIMIZATION FRAMEWORK
a) Urban scenario map
b) Highway scenario map
Figure 5.2: Selected areas of Málaga for our VANET simulations.
The urban instance covers an area of 120,000 m2 (Figure 5.2.a) including build-
ings and semaphores. Whereas that the highway scenario covers a stretch of 1 km
with two directions (Figure 5.2.b) without buildings and semaphores. In both sce-
narios there are 30 vehicles moving through the roads, ten of those are trying to
download a file that is stored in other ten vehicles, which is equivalent to simulate
ten different transfers on the same scenario. Vehicles on the urban scenario travel
at speeds between 30 km/h and 50 km/h. However, vehicles on highway roads do
so at speeds ranging from 80 km/h and 110 km/h (see Figure 5.3).
The vehicles try to transfer 1 Mbyte (1,024 Kbytes) files. However, the transfer
may be of less data, if the communication is rejected (see Section 4.2.1). The
communications between the vehicles is conditioned by the use of IEEE 802.11b
standard network interfaces [53]. To obtain more realistic results, we have used the
real characteristics of the PCMCIA PROXIM ORiNOCO - Classic Gold 1 network
interface which has been connected to an omnidirectional antenna with a gain of 7
dBi. Other features of the protocols used to deploy the VANET are summarized in
Table 5.1.
1
ORiNOCO Classic Gold PC Card: http://www.proxim.com/products/wifi/client/goldpccard/
75
a) Urban scenario representation
b) Highway scenario representation
Figure 5.3: Málaga areas representation by using VanetMobiSim for their simulation.
Table 5.1: VANET instance specification
Parameter Value
Number of vehicles 30
Number of file transfers 10
Link Layer: Network Interface PROXIM ORiNOCO - Classic Gold (802.11b)
Link Layer: antenna gain 7 dBi (Omnidirectional)
Routing Protocol DSR Protocol [69]
Transport Protocol DSR Protocol [69]
Application Protocol VDTP Protocol [23]
Using a simulator for the task of evaluating solutions introduces a new issue to
keep in mind, the algorithm runtime. The simulation requires a high computation
time, increasing the execution time of algorithms critically. In order to resolve this
problem we have executed the algorithms using a cluster to parallelize the different
independent runs (see Section 5.2).
76
5.1. OPTIMIZATION FRAMEWORK
5.1.2 Algorithms Parameter Settings
In order to compare the performance of the five studied algorithms solving OFTC
problem we have executed them on an equal footing. For this reason in our exper-
iments, they have the same Stop Condition: 1,000 solution evaluations (VANET
simulations) per run. Therefore, the population based algorithms (PSO, DE, GA,
and ES) were configured with 20 individuals, performing 50 generational steps
(20 individuals × 50 generations = 1, 000 evaluations); and SA performs 1,000
generations. In turn, the comparison is done from 30 independent runs performed
of each of the algorithms to compare more representative results.
The parameterization of the SA and PSO algorithms used to solve the OFTC
problem are presented in tables 5.2 and 5.3, respectively.
Table 5.2: Parameterization of SA optimization algorithm.

Parameter Symbol Value
Number of Independent Runs 30
Number of Generations 1,000
Temperature Decay α 0.8
Markov Chain Size 5
Table 5.3: Parameterization of PSO optimization algorithm.

Parameter Symbol Value
Number of Generations 50
Population Size 20
Local Coefficient ϕ1 2·rand(0,1)
Social Coefficient ϕ2 2·rand(0,1)
Inertia Weigh w 0.5
For the other algorithms, we have to configure some different parameters as

which types of selection/replacement methods they use. The implemented genetic
algorithm selects the parents by using two different methods: the first progenitor
is selected by using tournament selection and the second one by ranking selection.
DE and ES selects both parents randomly. These three algorithms replace each
individual after generation asynchronously. Other configuration parameters for the
algorithms GA, ES, and DE are specified in Table 5.4.
77
Table 5.4: Parameterization of GA, ES, and DE optimization algorithms.

Algorithm Parameter Symbol Value
All Number of Generations 50
Population Size 20
Crossover Probability Pcru 0.8
GA
Mutation Probability Pmut 0.2
Crossover Probability Pcru 0.9
ES
Mutation Probability Pmut 0.1
Crossover Probability Cr 0.9
DE
Mutation Factor µ 0.1
5.2 Software and Hardware Tools

This section presents the distinct tools necessary for the implementation and exe-
cution carried out in our experiments.
5.2.1 MALLBA Library

The development of all algorithms used in this project has been carried out by using
MALLBA [4], a C++ based framework of metaheuristics for solving optimization
problems. This framework provides a set of skeletons for combinatorial optimization
that can be extend easily. MALLBA offers for each algorithm a skeleton formed by a
set of classes that interact each other to solve the optimization problem instantiated.
Skeletons are implemented by a set of required and provided classes that represent
an abstraction of the entities participating in the resolution method.
• Provided Classes implement the basic functionality of the algorithm, that

is, the internal aspects of the skeleton in a problem-independent way.
• Required Classes present the specific behavior and information of the prob-
lem. The interface of these classes is unique and pre-established to allow
interaction with the provided classes. This part of the skeleton has to be
implemented from the problem objective.
Although the skeleton may vary according to the algorithm, all the skeletons
coincide with a core set of classes. The UML diagram (Figure 5.4) presents the
Class Diagram of the core of MALLBA.
78
5.2. SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE TOOLS
Requi
redCl
asses
Figure 5.4: Common design of Mallba skeletons.
In this Thesis we have developed all classes needed to use the optimization
algorithms presented before, however we have not implemented Solver_Lan and
Solver_Wan since we have not solved this problems using parallel implementations.
5.2.2 Optimizing VDTP by using VanetMobiSim/Ns-2

The selected simulator, VanetMobiSim/Ns-2, allows the users to add new features
as protocols or functionalities. This characteristic is important since VDTP is not
included in this simulator. In order to solve this problem, ns-2 has been extended
with VDTP protocol definition. This has been carried out developing the protocol
using the programming languages OTcl and C++ (see Section 2.6.2). OTcl has
been used to define the packet protocol identifier and the VDTP default values for
parameters settings. For fhis purpose we have modified two files: ns-packet.tcl
and ns-default.tcl (see Listing 5.1), respectively. In C++ has been developed
the protocol operation, as well as the link between C++ and Tcl interpreter of the
simulator. The implementation in C++ is based on developing different classes that
inherit from some classes provided by ns-2 (see Figure 5.5).
Listing 5.1: ns-default.tcl code modification

A p p l i c a t i o n /VDTP set chunk_size_ 25600 # 256 Kbytes
A p p l i c a t i o n /VDTP set f i l e _ s i z e _ 1048576 # 1 Mbyte
A p p l i c a t i o n /VDTP set max_attempts_ 8 # 8 attempts
A p p l i c a t i o n /VDTP set max_waitingtime_ 8 # 8 seconds
79
Figure 5.5: Classes developed to simulate VDTP in ns-2.
This classes implement different aspects necessary to simulate VDTP by using

ns-2 simulator:
• VDTPappClass: It is the interface between the Tcl simulation and the protocol
definition.
• VDTPData: It implements the header of VDTP packet and the management of

its fields.
• VDTPDataS: It defines the whole VDTP packet and the interaction between
the upper and lower levels of this protocol.
• AskPacketTimer: Necessary to get the times and timers used to send FIRP
and DRP packets (see Section 4.2.1).
• AckTimer: Necessary to get the times and timers used to send FIRQ and DRQ
packets (see Section 4.2.1).
• VDTPapp: It implements the whole VDTP protocol operation.
80
5.2. SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE TOOLS
In turn, we have added a new functionality to ns-2, which it is used to return

the metrics needed for evaluating the fitness function of a given configuration. After
the implementation of all these classes, the simulator had to be compiled. Then,
we were able to use the VDTP protocol for transferring files in VANET networks.
Therefore, ns-2 were ready to be used in the optimization process (see Figure 5.1).
5.2.3 Parallel Executions by using Condor

One of the main problems associated with use of simulation to evaluate the fitness
function is the required execution time. The execution of our experiments has been
carried out by using PC machines with Pentium IV 2.4GHz core, 1GB of RAM,
and O.S Linux Fedora core 6. The average execution time needed to simulate the
scenarios defined in the previous sections is 4.33 seconds. If the algorithms run 1,000
generations and we execute 30 independent runs, the execution time per algorithm is
36.08 hours (see Equation 5.1). If that is multiplied by five (number of algorithms)
the time needed to get results is over 180 hours. In this computation, we have taken
into account just the fitness evaluation time, we have not considered the computation
times of all tasks that are running by the optimization algorithms.
timeexperiment = 4.33 × 1000 × 30 = 129900 seconds = 36, 08 hours (5.1)
We have therefore decided to execute each of the 30 independent runs in parallel

but independently, since the parallelism here is used to decrease the time of exper-
imentation. The executions were carried out on a cluster of 250 PC machines with
a Pentium IV 2.4 GHz, 1GB of RAM, and OS Linux Fedora Core 6.
As the execution of each each algorithm separately require in average 36,08 hours,
we have used a High-Throughput Computing (HTC) environment. Years ago, su-
percomputers were used to address the problems that required a lot of resources for
a long time. Such systems are capable of dealing with problems that require high
computation power. However, just the institutions with high budgets might use this
systems because they had very high prices. Nowadays, a collection of interconnected
heterogeneous nodes (machines) can be used to execute tasks in distributed manner.
These nodes represent resources, which can be simple personal computers. There-
fore, in place of supercomputers, we can use multiple cheap PCs, interconnected via
a network, and simply installing a software that is responsible for distributing the
jobs between the different computers.
81
In this Thesis we have chosen Condor [132] to create the HTC environment.
Condor is a freely available project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it is de-
signed to encapsulate and run large collections of distributed computing resources
with the ultimate aim of providing more access to available computing power. Con-
dor specializes in giving users the ability to run huge numbers of tasks over long
periods of time. When users submit jobs, Condor searches for and finds the available
machines on the entire network and executes the work on these machines. Condor
has the ability to detect whether a machine that was running a job becomes unavail-
able for a while. In addition, the users can set a checkpoint and migrate their work
tasks to different machines that are idle or available. The main features of Condor
are [16]:
• Starting with version 6.9.5, Condor is released with the Apache License ver-
sion 2.0.
• No special programming is required to use Condor. It is able to run normal

UNIX programs, only requiring the user to relink, not recompile them or
change any code.
• The local execution environment is preserved for remotely executing processes.

Users do not have to worry about moving data files to remote workstations
before executing programs there.
• Condor software is responsible for locating and allocating idle workstations.

Its users do not have to search for idle machines, nor are they restricted to
using machines only during a static portion of the day.
• Owners of workstations have complete priority over their own machines.
• Users of Condor may be assured that their jobs will eventually complete.
• Measures have been taken to assure owners of workstations that their filesys-
tems will not be touched by remotely executing jobs.
• Condor does its work completely outside the kernel, and is compatible with
Berkeley 4.2 and 4.3 UNIX kernels and many of their derivatives. Users do
not have to run a custom operating system to get the benefits of Condor.
82
5.3. USED METRICS TO COMPARE RESULTS
5.3 Used Metrics to compare Results

The main objective of this Thesis is to solve the problem of optimizing the peer-to-
peer transfer of information in VANET networks. For this purpose we have used five
different metaheuristic algorithms (SA, GA, DE, PSO, and ES). Therefore, in this
work we have also set the objective of evaluating the performance of these different
metaheuristic techniques in solving the problem, in order to decide which of the
algorithms is best suited to this kind of problems.
We analyze the obtained results separately in the two previously defined sce-
narios (urban and highway). The metrics used to compare the performance of the
different algorithms are based on the study of the final values of the objective func-
tion for each of the 30 independent runs. For our work we have used the mean,
standard deviation, median, minimum, and maximum values obtained for
the different algorithms. As a minimization problem, the configuration that obtains
the minimum fitness value (see Section 4.3) is the optimal. Also, we have used the
Friedman test for a comparison of algorithms with statistical significance.
In addition, we have compared the performance of the optimal VDTP config-

uration returned for each of the algorithms. In order to do so, we have simulated
VANET instances with the returned configurations in the median value of fitness
minimum of 30 independent runs. Also, we have compared the execution time spent
by each algorithm to complete the entire process of finding the optimal VDTP con-
figuration. All this study is presented in the next chapter.
83
84
Chapter 6
Results
This chapter presents the results obtained by applying five metaheuristic algorithms
to the optimization problem of the peer-to-peer transfer of information in VANET
networks using VDTP (OFTC problem). In such networks, the information trans-
fers varie critically depending on the scenario where vehicles are moving, so we have
defined two different scenarios, an urban and a highway, over which it has solved
the proposed optimization problem.
The chapter is organized as follows: In Section 6.1 we analyze the results in

terms of objective function for each of the algorithms. The performance study of
each of the algorithms to solve the problem is presented in Section 6.2. Finally, in
Section 6.3 we evaluate the obtained VDTP parameter configurations by simulating
them.
6.1 Global Results

This section discusses the results obtained by the five algorithms studied when solv-
ing the Optimal File Transfer Configuration (OFTC) problem using VDTP. As it is
a minimization problem, the lower the fitness value, the better the solution.
Table 6.1 shows the resulting fitness values regarding the urban and highway
VANET scenarios. The third column contains the mean and standard deviation of
the values returned by the objective function in the 30 independent executions. In
turn, it shows minimum (best fitness), maximum (worst fitness), and median values
for each of the algorithms and scenarios.
85
CHAPTER 6. RESULTS
Scenario Algorithm Mean ± Std.dev. Minimum Median Maximum

PSO 1.6346 ± 0.2899 0.9077 1.7809 1.8918
DE 1.7423 ± 0.3717 0.7389 1.8658 2.0228
Urban GA 1.9086 ± 0.2260 0.8799 1.9731 2.1614
ES 2.1517 ± 0.1266 1.8862 2.1222 2.4246
SA 2.7850 ± 0.8718 0.8730 2.1663 3.8025
PSO 4.1761 ± 0.2556 3.3301 4.2513 4.4554
DE 4.6631 ± 0.9328 2.7145 4.2272 7.0531
Highway GA 4.3805 ± 0.8695 2.5345 4.1918 5.8608
ES 5.7833 ± 0.9705 3.8836 6.1347 6.9421
SA 4.4246 ± 0.7401 3.1498 4.0855 5.7922
Table 6.1: Final fitness values for both VANET scenarios and the five optimization
algorithms.
For the urban instance, we can observe in Table 6.1 that PSO obtained the best
result in terms of the mean fitness (1.6346 ± 0.2899). This smallest mean value leads
us to believe that using PSO the resulting VDTP configuration ends in an efficient
communication which is fast and accurate between vehicles. In addition, the best
median and maximum values were also obtained by PSO, although the best mini-
mum, i.e., the best VDTP configuration found for urban scenario, was reached by
DE (0.7389). This is an expected value, since DE generally shows a pronounced ex-
ploitative behavior (using a parametrization close to the standard one) [113], while
PSO tends to have an explorative performance using a high inertia (as in this study
w = 0.5) [1].
In the highway scenario the results are similar, PSO obtained also the best mean
fitness value (4.1761 ± 0.2556). Besides, PSO presents the lowest value of standard
deviation. This implies a considerable advantage, since it provides our model with
a high robustness, which is a crucial issue when designing VANETs. In terms of
the minimum fitness, GA (2.5345) obtained the best VDTP configuration for this
scenario.
As we assumed previously, the difference in results between the two scenarios is

quite significant, fitness values obtained in the interurban scenario are more than
twice those obtained in the urban area, that is, the QoS of VDTP protocol is worst
in highways. This confirms the assumption that in highways the transfer of infor-
mation is more difficult.
86
6.1. GLOBAL RESULTS
In order to provide a comparison with a statistical meaning we have applied a

statistical test. Such tests may be parametric or nonparametric [124]. A parametric
test is one that uses real-valued data belonging to an interval. However, it may be
the case that one or more initial assumptions for using parametric tests fail, causing
the loss reliability statistical analysis. In order to use a parametric test it is neces-
sary that the distribution satisfies the conditions of independence, normality, and
heteroscedasticity [45].
The condition of normality checks whether a data set is well-modeled by a nor-

mal distribution or not, or to compute how likely an underlying random variable
is to be normally distributed [45]. In this work we have used Kolmogorov-Smirnov
test (KS-test) [90]. This test compares the cumulative distribution of observed data
with the expected cumulative distribution of a Gaussian distribution. As in any
hypothesis test, the null hypothesis is rejected when the p − value exceeds a critical
value obtained from a probability table. In order to perform these statistical tests
we have used SPSS1 .
Table 6.2 shows the results of applying Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to the results
of the five metaheuristic algorithms for boths scenarios. We have performed this test
with confidence level of 95% (p − value = 0.05). As we can see in the second column
of Table 6.2 (the asymptote) there are samples that do not satisfies the test (DE in
urban scenario and SA and PSO in highway scenario). Finally, we have applied a
non-parametric test because the distributions violate the condition of normality.
Scenario Algorithm Z of K-S Asymp. Sig.(2-sided)

PSO 1.169 0.130
DE 1.617 0.011
Urban GA 1.182 0.122
ES 0.774 0.587
SA 1.322 0.061
PSO 1.403 0.039
DE 1.265 0.082
Highway GA 1.113 0.168
ES 1.186 0.120
SA 1.525 0.019
Table 6.2: KS-test results for the five algorithms and two scenarios.
1
SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) - http://www.spss.com/
87
CHAPTER 6. RESULTS
A general comparison can be made using the Friedman [124] statistical test
by means of which the algorithms are sorted in a ranked list. Table 6.3 shows the
Friedman ranking of the compared algorithms in urban and highway instances. In
this table, the best ranked algorithm is located in the top. For urban instance, PSO
and DE are the best ranked algorithms, showing SA the last position. Nevertheless,
for highway scenario, SA obtains the best rank, whereas PSO is located in the third
position.
Urban Highway
Algorithm Rank Algorithm Rank
PSO 1.27 SA 1.83
DE 1.83 GA 1.97
GA 3.07 PSO 2.17
ES 4.33 DE 3.67
SA 4.50 ES 4.97
Table 6.3: Friedman Rank test with confidence level 95%
Theses statistical results lead us to think that, in spite of the global best be-
havior of PSO, the different requirements implicit to both instances implies that
each algorithm can show quite different results depending on the VANET scenario
on which it operates. For example, DE shows a competitive performance in urban
scenario whereas it is the second worst in highway. The opposite example can be
observed in GA and SA which show weak results in urban but highly competitive
ones in highway. Therefore, the VANET designer can select the optimization model
more suited to his/her requirements, and choose the best option for each studied
VANET scenario.
6.2 Algorithms Performance Study

This section studies the performance of the five used algorithms solving OFTC prob-
lem in both scenarios . In order to do so, we analyze the evolution of fitness value
for the best solution during the whole evolution process. In addition, we discuss the
required execution times.
Figures 6.1 and 6.2 illustrate the graphics of the best fitness values obtained
through the median execution in urban and highway scenarios, respectively.
88
6.2. ALGORITHMS PERFORMANCE STUDY
Figure 6.1: Median fitness performance in urban scenario.
Figure 6.2: Median fitness performance in highway scenario.
Observing both graphs we can draw the following conclusions:
• PSO and DE tend to converge in the same range of solution evaluations.

However they could improved their fitness even during the final generations of
the evolution process.
89
CHAPTER 6. RESULTS
• For both scenarios. GA starts from good solutions but it is subjected to an

early stagnation.
• The lack of robustness of ES and SA in this specific application is remarkable,

because they present different behavior depending on the VANET scenario
(urban or highway).
Concerning to the execution times that each algorithm spent in the experiments
carried out in this work, Table 6.4 presents both, the mean time in which the best
solution was found (Tbest ) and the global mean run time (Trun ). The detailed exe-
cution time for each independent run of each algorithm are included in Appendices
(see Section A.2).
Scenario Algorithm Tbest (seconds) Trun (seconds)

PSO 4.68E+03 7.95E+03
DE 4.37E+03 7.12E+03
Urban GA 3.48E+03 6.68E+03
ES 5.46E+03 9.00E+03
SA 2.18E+03 4.76E+03
PSO 1.39E+03 2.19E+03
DE 9.82E+02 2.10E+03
Highway GA 8.83E+02 1.56E+03
ES 9.84E+02 1.47E+03
SA 5.85E+02 8.45E+02
Table 6.4: Mean execution time (seconds) per independent run of each algorithm
for both, urban and highway, scenarios.
SA has spent shortest times to find its best solution and to finish the execution.
PSO and DE spent close execution times for the two VANET scenarios because they
perform similar internal operations. Finally, the two evolutionary algorithms (GA
and ES) consume also closed times.
In short, the algorithms require a time between 4.76E+03 and 9.00E+03 seconds
(80 and 150 minutes, respectively) to solve the problem in the urban scenario and
a time between 8.45E+02 and 2.19E+03 seconds (23 and 60 minutes, respectively)
to solve the same on highway instance. This is a relative high computational effort.
However it is justifcable since the benefits of finding an optimal configuration for
the VDTP protocol are considerable and during the life of the network.
90
6.3. VANET QOS ANALYSIS
6.3 VANET QoS Analysis

After obtaining the parameter settings for VDTP protocol returned by the five
metaheuristic algorithms, we have simulated them to test their performance on
transferring information in VANETs. In addition, we have compared the results
with the configuration settings used by the experts of CARLINK [22] (chunk size:
25,600 bytes, retransmission time: 8 seconds, and max. retransmissions per packet:
8 attempts).
We have simulated file transfers in the VANET scenarios defined in Section 5.1.1.
In these two scenarios (urban and highway) eleven 1 Mbyte (1,024 Kbytes) file trans-
fers are performed among the vehicles.
Tables 6.5 and 6.6 show the optimal parameter settings for the VDTP protocol
automatically obtained by the proposed algorithms and the average values of the
metrics used to analyze the QoS for both VANET scenarios. They also include the
parameter setting that has been used by experts of CARLINK followed by the results
of simulations (last row). The first three columns contain the different parameter
settings of the VDTP protocol, in this order: the chunk size, the timeout, and
the maximum number of retransmissions of a request packet. The following three
columns are the metrics obtained from the simulations in this order: the transmis-
sion time, the total number of packets lost during transmission, and the amount of
data downloaded correctly. The results are available in more detail in Section A.1
of the Appendicces.
Algorithm VDTP configuration Simulation results

Chunk size Timeout Attempts Transmission time Lost packs. Transfer data
(Bytes) (seconds) (seconds) (Kbytes)
PSO 41,358 10.00 3 3.41 0.27 1,024
ES 23,433 10.00 8 3.50 0.27 1,024
GA 31,196 3.83 9 3.61 0.27 1,024
DE 28,278 6.00 9 3.59 0.63 1,024
SA 19,756 6.43 3 4.22 0.36 1,024
CARLINK 25,600 8.00 8 4.24 0.36 1,024
Table 6.5: Optimal configurations achieved in the median execution and the CAR-
LINK experts one for VDTP protocol and simulation values in urban scenario.
91
CHAPTER 6. RESULTS
Algorithm VDTP configuration Simulation results

Chunk size Timeout Attempts Transmission time Lost packs. Transfer data
(Bytes) (seconds) (seconds) (Kbytes)
PSO 29,257 6.42 9 24.67 3.18 1,024
DE 19,810 6.91 8 27.66 3.45 1,024
GA 34,542 9.54 10 26.96 2.72 1,024
ES 38,490 8.15 12 33.99 3.36 1,024
SA 32,002 8.21 4 25.43 2.54 1,024
CARLINK 25600 8.00 8 33.08 3.27 1,024
Table 6.6: Optimal configurations achieved in the median execution and the CAR-
LINK experts one for VDTP protocol and simulation values in highway scenario.
For the urban VANET scenario, the VDTP configuration obtained by PSO
(chunk size=41,358 bytes, retransmission time=10 secs, and max. attempts=3 )
achieves the best performance in terms of transmission time (3.41 secs) and mean
number of lost packets (0.27). Specifically, in comparison with the human experts
parameter configuration of CARLINK, PSO reduces the transmission time in 0.83
secs (19.5%) registering also a lower number of lost packets.
Something similar happens with the results obtained in the highway scenario, the
configuration obtained by PSO (chunk size=29,257 bytes, retransmission time=6.42
secs, and max. attempts=9 ) transfers the files faster than the others, regarding the
human experts configuration from 33.08 to 24.67 secs (25%). We must notice that,
in spite of achieving the PSO a higher reduction in the transmission time than SA
and GA, the fact of losing more packets (3.18 in PSO, 2.71 in GA, and 2.54 in SA)
in the global transference leads SA and GA to calculate a better fitness value.
a) Urban scenario b) Highway scenario
Figure 6.3: Effective transmission data rates (throughput) in Kbps achieved during
the simulations of the final VDTP configurations in comparison with values given
by human expert configurations of CARLINK consortium.
92
6.3. VANET QOS ANALYSIS
According to figures 6.3.a and 6.3.b, the effective transmission data rate ob-
tained by practically all algorithms in the two VANET scenarios are higher than the
CARLINK experts configuration, except in the case of the parameter configuration
returned by ES in highway scenario.
Specifically, PSO achieves the highest effective data rate (2402.32 Kbps in urban
and 332 Kbps in highway scenarios). We again remind that the actual reduction
of effective data rates among vehicles are in the order of hundreds of Kbps, so our
savings (470.32 Kbps in urban and 84.4 Kbps in highway) are truly meaningful in
current real applications such as safety and traffic control. This clearly claims for
the utilization of these automatic algorithms to help human designers.
Notice the importance of the VANET scenario where there are the transfers of
information, because in highway the effective transmission data rates are 70% lower
than in the urban areas. This is due mainly to the high speed at which vehicles
move out of towns.
The following highlights the most important results presented in this chapter:
• Urban scenario:
– Best algorithm according Friedman test: PSO.

– Algorithm which obtains the best fitness value: DE.
– Algorithm which obtains the best mean fitness value: PSO.
– The most robust algorithm: ES.
– Fastest algorithm: SA.
– Percentage improvement of PSO against CARLINK experts: 19.6%.
– Mean percentage improvement of automatic computed configurations against
the humans experts ones: 13.5%.
• Highway scenario:
– Best algorithm according Friedman test: SA.

– Algorithm which obtains the best fitness value: GA.
– Algorithm which obtains the best mean fitness value: PSO.
– The most robust algorithm: PSO.
93
CHAPTER 6. RESULTS
– Fastest algorithm: SA.

– Percentage improvement of PSO against CARLINK experts: 25.4%.
– Mean percentage improvement of automatic computed configurations against
the humans experts ones: 6.1%.
94
Chapter 7
Conclusions and Future Work
This chapter describes the conclusions drawn from the study carried out in this
Master Thesis and suggests some guidelines for the future work.
7.1 Conclusions
The deployment of vehicular networks is a field with about ten years of intense re-
search activity and progress. Nowadays, the widely adopted approach is equipping
vehicles with WLAN devices (IEEE 802.11 family). If vehicles can directly commu-
nicate with each other and with roadside infrastructure, an entirely new paradigm
for traffic safety and transport efficiency can be created.
In such networks, vehicles communicate within a limited range. In turn, VANETs

are composed with high mobility nodes. Thus, they exhibit a topology that may
change quickly and in unpredictable ways complicating the communication tasks.
Therefore, it is crucial to provide user with an efficient configuration of the com-
munication protocols in order to offer the best quality of service (QoS) possible
previously to its deployment.
In this Master Thesis we have optimized the VDTP protocol used in peer-to-peer
information transfer in VANETs. In order to do this we have defined the optimiza-
tion OFTC (Optimal File Transfer Protocol Configuration) problem, which lies in
searching efficient parameters setting of VDTP protocol that maximizes the amount
of data being transferred and minimizes the transmission time as the number of lost
packets.
95
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
The proposed problem has been solved by employing five metaheuristic algo-
rithms (SA, GA, ES, PSO, and DE) that use the VanetMobiSim/Ns-2 vehicular
network simulator to evaluate the solutions generated during the execution. We
have developed the VDTP protocol in order to simulate it on ns-2. In addition,
we have modified ns-2 simulator adding the functionality of interacting with these
metaheuristic algorithms. In turn, we have defined two different scenarios on which
we have solved the problem (urban and highway instances) based on two real areas
of Málaga city. Finally, we have compared the performance of the obtained config-
urations with the defined ones by human experts of CARLINK consortium.
In order to compare the algorithms with each other we have used a nonparamet-
ric test, the Friedman test. The results reveal that PSO performs statistically better
than the others in the urban scenario. Moreover, this algorithm obtains similar re-
sults that the best algorithms (GA and SA) in the highway scenario. The genetic
algorithm also gets quite competitive results for both scenarios.
From the point of view of its real world utilization, PSO returned configuration
can reduce 19.6% of the transmission time in urban scenario and 25.43% in highway
areas with regards to human experts configuration, while transmitting the same
amount of data (1,024 Kbytes).
The highest effective data rates is obtained by using the same configuration
(PSO), it is 2402,32 Kbps (300,39 Kbytes/s) and 332 Kbps (41,5 Kbytes/s) in ur-
ban and highway scenarios, respectively. Besides, all the metaheuristic algorithms
have obtained higher bandwidth than that offered by CARLINK experts, except in
one case (ES in highway instance.) Furthermore, all analyzed VDTP configurations
have transferred correctly 1,024 Kbyte files with a non-significant packet loss.
The execution time spent on solving the OFTC problem by the algorithms are
between 80 and 150 minutes for the urban case and between 23 and 60 minutes
in the highway. Although involving a large computational effort is acceptable for
designers of VANETs.
The analysis of the results and the required computational effort lead us to advise
the final use of our automatic design algorithm for this kind of problems.
96
7.2. FUTURE WORK
7.2 Future Work

The research area of vehicular networks is in full swing because of the possible real
applications it offers that could change the lives of users of roadways. In turn, it
faces several challenges that are not easy to solve: the search for wireless technology
that best fits to this type of networks, the selection of network protocols and their
configurations to obtain the best performance possible, and the realistic simulation
of vehicles and their communications, among others.
This Master Thesis work is the starting point of several research lines, the most
notable ones are the following ones:
• The use of larger and more realistic VANET scenarios for evaluating in a more
realistic way the fitness function. Additionally, studying how the network sizes
affect the performance of these optimization techniques.
• Optimizing other protocols used in VANETs (such as DSR, UDP, ...) through
the use of the strategy used in the Master Thesis, i.e., coupling metaheuristic
techniques and a realistic VANET simulator.
• Applying on real-world tests the results obtained in this work using real cars
moving through roads, in order to compare the performance against the sim-
ulation results.
• Defining these problems as dynamic optimization problems (on-line), since the

problems encountered in vehicular networks depend on the scenario and the
moment they arise. In turn, these problems may be defined in a multi-objective
way.
Besides the future challenges presented above, the field of vehicular networks
opens up a large universe difficult to explore. However, the benefits of reaching the
goal motivate us to invest in this difficult adventure.
97
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
98
Appendix A
Detailed Numerical Results
This appendix contains the results that have been obtained in the experiments car-
ried out in this Master Thesis and that have been discussed in Chapter 6. Section A.1
shows the results of simulations of the obtained configurations. Section A.2 presents
the execution times used in the execution of the algorithms.
A.1 Simulation Results

After obtaining the optimal VDTP protocol configurations using metaheuristic tech-
niques, we have simulated them to compare with each other and with the configu-
ration of the CARLINK experts. This section provides tables containing the values
returned by the simulations. These simulations consist of file transfers in the sce-
narios defined in Section 5.1.1.
The results of simulations in urban scenario are shown in Tables A.1, A.2, A.3,
A.4, and A.5 containing the results of configurations obtained by the algorithms
PSO, DE, GA, ES, and SA, respectively. The results obtained in this same scenario
using the configuration used CARLINK experts [24] are shown in Table A.6.
The results of simulations in urban scenario are shown in Tables A.7, A.8, A.9,
A.10, and A.11 containing the results of configurations obtained by the algorithms
PSO, DE, GA, ES, and SA, respectively. The results obtained in this same scenario
using the configuration used CARLINK experts [24] are shown in Table A.12.
99
APPENDIX A. DETAILED NUMERICAL RESULTS
The first column of the tables shows the number of the transfer, the second the
amount of data that has been transferred successfully in Kbytes, the third presents
the number of lost during the file transfer, and the fourth column shows the time in
seconds used to complete the download file.
# Data (Kbytes) Lost packets Transmission time (secs.)

1 1024 0 0.086322
2 1024 0 0.087239
3 1024 0 0.430822
4 1024 0 0.613729
5 1024 0 0.770195
6 1024 0 0.840313
7 1024 0 1.095270
8 1024 0 1.294638
9 1024 0 1.460341
10 1024 1 10.480354
11 1024 2 20.432997
Media 1024 0.27 3.4174745
Table A.1: Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the PSO configuration
(chunk_size=41358, timeout=10.00000, max_attempts=3).

1 1024 0 0.060249
2 1024 0 0.061166
3 1024 0 0.337340
4 1024 0 0.636288
5 1024 0 0.646511
6 1024 0 0.672017
7 1024 1 8.053692
8 1024 1 8.186874
9 1024 1 10.429335
10 1024 2 16.050533
11 1024 2 20.145769
Media 1024 0.63 3.5902343
Table A.2: Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the DE configuration

100
A.1. SIMULATION RESULTS

1 1024 0 0.071541
2 1024 0 0.072457
3 1024 0 0.406285
4 1024 0 0.539836
5 1024 0 0.671891
6 1024 0 0.756862
7 1024 0 0.986303
8 1024 0 1.840495
9 1024 0 2.937791
10 1024 1 11.589067
11 1024 2 20.966500
Media 1024 0.27 3.6126389
Table A.3: Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the GA configuration


1 1024 0 0.067297
2 1024 0 0.068213
3 1024 0 0.337242
4 1024 0 0.385665
5 1024 0 0.587925
6 1024 0 0.925439
7 1024 0 1.110572
8 1024 0 1.153663
9 1024 0 1.288123
10 1024 1 10.437542
11 1024 2 20.187830
Media 1024 0.27 3.3226828
Table A.4: Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the ES configuration

101

1 1024 0 0.054901
2 1024 0 0.055817
3 1024 0 0.235825
4 1024 0 0.387727
5 1024 0 0.686444
6 1024 0 0.749299
7 1024 0 0.812445
8 1024 0 0.875296
9 1024 0 2.258412
10 1024 1 10.335586
11 1024 3 20.354160
Media 1024 0.36 3.345992
Table A.5: Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the SA configuration


1 1024 0 0.063401
2 1024 0 0.064318
3 1024 0 0.493638
4 1024 0 0.608960
5 1024 0 0.707358
6 1024 0 0.865319
7 1024 0 1.006331
8 1024 0 1.263625
9 1024 1 10.065455
10 1024 1 10.288632
11 1024 2 20.184269
Media 1024 0.36 4.1530173
Table A.6: Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the CARLINK config-
uration [24] (chunk_size=25600, timeout=8.0, max_attempts=8).
102

1 1024 0 0.240494
2 1024 1 10.382587
3 1024 1 10.592012
4 1024 1 13.421939
5 1024 1 13.525866
6 1024 4 30.345142
7 1024 4 30.516695
8 1024 4 30.895853
9 1024 6 40.295601
10 1024 6 40.634396
11 1024 7 50.601421
Media 1024 3.18 24.677455
Table A.7: Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the PSO configura-
tion (chunk_size=29257, timeout=6.42140, max_attempts=9).

1 1024 0 0.198730
2 1024 1 10.359579
3 1024 1 10.410432
4 1024 2 20.421564
5 1024 4 30.226988
6 1024 4 30.486893
7 1024 4 30.667526
8 1024 5 40.206886
9 1024 5 40.221672
10 1024 5 40.451004
11 1024 7 50.646057
Media 1024 3.45 27.663393
Table A.8: Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the DE configuration

103

1 1024 0 0.263376
2 1024 1 10.401623
3 1024 2 20.243660
4 1024 2 20.712322
5 1024 3 30.491238
6 1024 3 30.656822
7 1024 3 31.045769
8 1024 3 31.912781
9 1024 4 40.305325
10 1024 5 52.817059
11 1024 10 105.048454
Media 1024 3.36 33.990766
Table A.9: Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the GA configuration


1 1024 0 0.280243
2 1024 1 10.446945
3 1024 1 10.589417
4 1024 2 20.581638
5 1024 3 30.384436
6 1024 3 30.731276
7 1024 3 30.788939
8 1024 3 31.299431
9 1024 4 40.271042
10 1024 4 40.637741
11 1024 6 50.598904
Media 1024 2.72 26.964546
Table A.10: Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the ES configuration

104

1 1024 0 0.252492
2 1024 1 10.459923
3 1024 1 10.482413
4 1024 2 20.673288
5 1024 3 30.312195
6 1024 3 30.558634
7 1024 3 31.305805
8 1024 3 31.857166
9 1024 3 32.392441
10 1024 4 40.413334
11 1024 4 41.068150
Media 1024 2.54 25.434167
Table A.11: Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the SA configuration


1 1024 0 0.137003
2 1024 1 10.246555
3 1024 1 10.273452
4 1024 2 20.368605
5 1024 2 20.591146
6 1024 3 30.278717
7 1024 3 30.399862
8 1024 4 40.284081
9 1024 4 40.709312
10 1024 5 50.372684
11 1024 8 110.244034
Media 1024 3.27 33.082313
Table A.12: Results obtained by simulating in highway scenario the CARLINK

configuration (chunk_size=25600, timeout=8.0, max_attempts=8).
105
A.2 Final Execution Times

In this Master Thesis the metaheuristic algorithms have the same number of fitness
function evaluations (1000). For this reason, we have used the execution time as a
measurement to evaluate the performance of these algorithms (see Section 6.2).
Tables A.13 and A.14 show the execution time required by each algorithm to
solve the OFTC problem for urban and highway scenarios, respectively. The first
column shows the independent run which is measured. For each algorithm, the first
column (Best sol.) indicates the time in seconds when the best solution was found
and the second column (Total) shows the total execution time taken to run the
independent run.
106
PSO DE ES ES GA
# Best sol. Total Best sol. Total Best sol. Total Best sol. Total Best sol. Total
1 1.58E+10 1.63E+10 6.16E+08 5.66E+09 7.43E+07 7.43E+07 5.17E+07 5.61E+08 3.27E+09 5.59E+09
2 3.89E+09 7.22E+09 3.47E+09 3.86E+09 5.62E+09 5.76E+09 4.33E+08 7.17E+08 1.81E+09 3.70E+09
3 1.52E+09 4.32E+09 3.03E+09 5.71E+09 3.10E+09 1.07E+10 8.93E+08 1.16E+09 1.32E+09 4.89E+09
4 2.72E+09 9.84E+09 1.86E+09 5.67E+09 7.83E+07 7.83E+07 5.46E+08 6.01E+08 6.07E+09 6.23E+09
5 5.11E+09 5.90E+09 2.61E+09 5.48E+09 3.61E+09 6.19E+09 5.00E+08 1.47E+09 1.16E+09 5.30E+09
6 7.64E+09 8.57E+09 1.80E+09 9.02E+09 4.61E+07 4.61E+07 4.02E+08 5.98E+08 7.59E+08 5.83E+09
7 1.32E+10 3.01E+10 3.45E+09 4.91E+09 1.26E+08 6.78E+09 6.00E+08 1.36E+09 2.47E+09 3.74E+09
8 1.11E+10 1.19E+10 3.90E+09 5.56E+09 4.77E+09 8.21E+09 3.07E+08 6.00E+08 1.82E+09 5.51E+09
9 2.69E+09 6.66E+09 1.25E+10 1.68E+10 2.97E+07 2.97E+07 3.94E+08 6.47E+08 3.66E+09 5.12E+09
A.2. FINAL EXECUTION TIMES
10 1.82E+09 6.80E+09 2.47E+09 5.73E+09 4.59E+09 8.75E+09 1.92E+08 5.89E+08 3.74E+09 5.33E+09
11 3.35E+09 6.59E+09 3.48E+09 5.72E+09 2.21E+08 2.21E+08 1.05E+09 7.55E+08 2.40E+09 1.57E+10
12 2.56E+09 3.30E+09 4.28E+09 6.20E+09 1.58E+09 8.51E+09 3.38E+08 1.15E+09 3.48E+09 3.77E+09
13 1.40E+09 7.23E+09 4.31E+09 5.82E+09 5.40E+09 7.37E+09 5.87E+08 4.93E+08 1.59E+10 1.74E+10
14 5.06E+09 5.68E+09 3.40E+09 3.75E+09 7.01E+07 7.01E+07 1.01E+09 5.87E+08 3.00E+09 5.25E+09
107
15 5.79E+09 8.12E+09 4.97E+09 9.22E+09 6.02E+09 6.87E+09 5.88E+08 5.61E+08 1.85E+09 5.23E+09
16 6.04E+08 7.44E+09 4.37E+09 5.82E+09 2.83E+09 6.62E+09 2.21E+08 7.17E+08 4.93E+09 5.35E+09
17 4.00E+09 5.46E+09 3.49E+09 5.46E+09 2.81E+07 8.51E+09 5.42E+07 1.16E+09 6.19E+08 7.24E+09
18 5.48E+09 5.88E+09 1.14E+10 1.29E+10 7.43E+07 7.43E+07 2.31E+08 6.01E+08 2.17E+09 5.38E+09
19 3.56E+09 9.98E+09 5.67E+08 5.49E+09 5.62E+09 5.76E+09 6.10E+08 1.47E+09 1.85E+09 5.50E+09
20 5.04E+09 7.40E+09 3.90E+09 5.58E+09 3.10E+09 1.07E+10 1.34E+09 1.67E+09 1.66E+09 6.36E+09
21 5.75E+09 6.67E+09 9.47E+09 1.57E+10 7.83E+07 7.83E+07 1.46E+09 1.68E+09 3.18E+09 5.80E+09
22 1.08E+09 5.31E+09 5.35E+09 6.14E+09 3.61E+09 6.19E+09 5.30E+08 1.88E+09 2.26E+09 5.38E+09
23 5.02E+09 5.45E+09 1.76E+09 6.34E+09 4.61E+07 4.61E+07 2.72E+08 5.63E+08 5.43E+08 5.46E+09
urban scenario. Each row indicates an independent run of 30 (#).

24 5.74E+09 5.84E+09 3.48E+09 5.28E+09 1.26E+08 6.78E+09 6.56E+08 5.35E+08 7.29E+09 7.29E+09
25 3.98E+09 6.30E+09 5.37E+09 5.61E+09 4.77E+09 8.21E+09 8.93E+08 6.56E+08 2.06E+09 5.88E+09
26 1.46E+09 5.41E+09 3.83E+09 5.50E+09 2.97E+07 2.97E+07 5.46E+08 5.61E+08 4.47E+09 6.01E+09
27 2.84E+09 7.89E+09 1.94E+10 1.94E+10 4.59E+09 8.75E+09 5.00E+08 7.17E+08 2.04E+08 4.85E+09
28 2.30E+09 8.60E+09 1.71E+09 5.43E+09 2.21E+08 2.21E+08 4.02E+08 1.16E+09 9.24E+09 1.37E+10
29 6.16E+09 6.16E+09 1.65E+09 5.79E+09 1.58E+09 8.51E+09 6.00E+08 6.01E+08 9.24E+09 1.95E+10
(Best sol.) and to finish the whole process (Total) solving the OFTC problem in the
Table A.13: Execution time in seconds for the algorithms to find the best solution
30 2.62E+09 7.83E+09 1.25E+09 5.84E+09 7.01E+07 7.01E+07 3.94E+08 5.98E+08 3.76E+09 4.69E+09
PSO DE ES ES GA
# Best sol. Total Best sol. Total Best sol. Total Best sol. Total Best sol. Total
1 1.86E+09 2.11E+09 3.11E+09 3.33E+09 2.27E+09 2.63E+09 5.72E+07 9.58E+07 6.95E+08 1.20E+09
2 8.94E+08 1.32E+09 9.23E+08 1.89E+09 6.58E+08 6.58E+08 9.41E+07 9.18E+07 9.47E+08 1.24E+09
3 5.73E+08 1.50E+09 2.94E+08 1.36E+09 1.77E+07 1.77E+07 9.34E+07 1.24E+08 8.37E+08 1.47E+09
4 1.50E+09 2.87E+09 1.94E+08 3.19E+09 1.35E+07 1.35E+07 2.52E+08 1.20E+08 1.33E+09 1.45E+09
5 1.16E+09 1.71E+09 4.69E+08 1.29E+09 4.02E+08 4.02E+08 9.77E+07 2.85E+08 2.78E+08 1.16E+09
6 8.68E+08 1.49E+09 1.15E+09 1.88E+09 1.91E+08 1.91E+08 1.35E+08 1.26E+08 1.55E+08 5.06E+08
7 1.28E+09 2.05E+09 7.13E+08 7.73E+08 8.91E+08 8.91E+08 1.61E+08 1.98E+08 2.51E+08 1.42E+09
8 2.93E+09 3.96E+09 2.55E+09 2.63E+09 7.32E+08 1.00E+09 7.00E+07 1.66E+08 7.24E+08 1.23E+09
9 2.72E+09 3.39E+09 1.07E+09 1.46E+09 1.12E+09 1.40E+09 1.20E+08 9.48E+07 2.44E+08 1.33E+09
10 1.57E+09 3.39E+09 1.14E+09 3.70E+09 7.32E+07 7.32E+07 6.93E+07 1.63E+08 1.67E+09 2.42E+09
11 1.64E+09 1.98E+09 8.34E+08 4.44E+09 4.60E+08 4.60E+08 1.88E+06 1.78E+08 1.01E+09 1.17E+09
12 3.90E+09 3.96E+09 3.95E+08 3.16E+09 7.68E+08 1.45E+09 1.45E+07 1.40E+08 1.06E+09 2.91E+09
13 6.70E+08 1.51E+09 2.84E+07 3.79E+08 4.71E+08 1.42E+09 7.01E+07 3.09E+07 1.06E+09 1.58E+09
14 1.19E+09 2.89E+09 8.51E+07 1.05E+09 4.47E+08 4.47E+08 6.66E+07 1.28E+08 9.66E+08 1.21E+09
108
15 9.31E+08 1.17E+09 3.13E+08 7.82E+08 1.18E+09 1.20E+09 9.30E+07 1.60E+08 1.18E+08 1.18E+09
16 2.32E+09 2.53E+09 1.10E+09 1.65E+09 1.29E+08 1.29E+08 1.29E+08 1.13E+08 2.61E+07 1.79E+09
17 1.97E+09 2.33E+09 2.69E+08 1.82E+09 6.20E+08 1.41E+09 6.17E+07 1.51E+08 1.15E+09 1.29E+09
18 1.81E+08 1.91E+09 6.57E+08 8.47E+08 2.18E+07 6.49E+08 7.11E+07 1.14E+08 5.51E+08 1.25E+09
19 1.43E+09 1.45E+09 1.98E+09 2.86E+09 2.85E+08 1.41E+09 1.63E+08 1.45E+08 9.21E+08 1.24E+09
20 4.97E+08 2.00E+09 1.25E+09 2.83E+09 1.24E+09 1.50E+09 1.52E+08 1.51E+08 1.17E+09 1.30E+09
21 3.31E+09 4.16E+09 1.32E+09 1.92E+09 1.14E+08 1.14E+08 7.81E+07 2.40E+08 3.44E+09 3.69E+09
22 5.15E+08 1.62E+09 3.20E+07 1.33E+09 6.34E+07 6.34E+07 8.08E+07 2.13E+08 3.59E+09 4.01E+09
23 9.69E+08 1.19E+09 1.12E+09 1.97E+09 1.16E+08 1.16E+08 1.04E+08 1.64E+08 8.13E+08 1.35E+09
highway scenario. Each row indicates an independent run of 30 (#).

24 8.74E+08 1.31E+09 1.01E+09 1.50E+09 6.92E+08 1.49E+09 9.76E+07 1.13E+08 3.30E+08 1.58E+09
25 1.79E+08 7.18E+08 9.95E+08 2.02E+09 7.09E+08 7.09E+08 1.64E+08 1.30E+08 2.31E+08 1.29E+09
26 6.73E+08 1.57E+09 2.93E+08 2.30E+09 8.75E+08 1.24E+09 1.21E+08 8.92E+07 6.84E+08 1.30E+09
27 1.13E+09 2.40E+09 4.26E+08 1.21E+09 1.15E+09 1.71E+09 5.38E+07 6.59E+07 3.18E+08 1.28E+09
28 1.29E+09 1.71E+09 1.01E+09 1.08E+09 1.12E+09 1.40E+09 8.41E+07 1.90E+08 3.18E+08 1.33E+09
29 1.43E+09 2.12E+09 1.30E+07 1.94E+09 7.32E+07 7.32E+07 1.31E+08 2.11E+08 1.25E+09 1.48E+09
(Best sol.) and to finish the whole process (Total) solving the OFTC problem in the
Table A.14: Execution time in seconds for the algorithms to find the best solution
30 3.85E+08 2.85E+09 4.81E+09 7.28E+09 4.60E+08 4.60E+08 3.61E+07 2.17E+08 6.21E+08 1.31E+09
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Metaheuristics Optimize VANET File Transfer Protocol

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Faculty of Science, Technology and

Master in Information and Computer Sciences

Metaheuristics for Optimal Transfer of P2P

Jamal Toutouh El Alamin

3.3.3 Evolutionary Strategies (ES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

4 VDTP Protocol Optimization Problem 65

7 Conclusions and Future Work 95

A Detailed Numerical Results 99

2.1 Current bluetooth classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

5.1 VANET instance specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

A.1 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the PSO configura-

A.4 Results obtained by simulating in urban scenario the ES configuration

1.1 VANET use case: Warn of obstacle in the road. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.1 Example of a MANET network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.1 Optimization techniques classification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.1 Information requesting phase of VDPT protocol. . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

4.3 VDTP operation with lost packets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

5.1 Optimization framework for VDTP configuration in VANETs, where

6.1 Median fitness performance in urban scenario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Figure 1.1: VANET use case: Warn of obstacle in the road.

The remaining of this thesis is organized as follows:

• Chapter 2 provides an overview of the field of VANET networks summariz-

• Chapter 3 presents different paradigms for solving optimization problems fo-

• Chapter 4 details the problem of optimizing the point-to-point information

• Chapter 5 presents the methodology used to solve the proposed problem.

• Chapter 6 shows the obtained results solving the optimization problem by

In turn, we have included an appendix:

Figure 2.1: Example of a MANET network.

Figure 2.2: Example of a VANET application: Warning of a traffic accident.

Figure 2.3: Example of a VANET application: Warning of obstacles in the road.

To deploy such kind of vehicular networks we need devices to perform both

2.2 VANET Characteristics

The major characteristics of VANETs are presented following:

• Rapid changes in VANETs topology are difficult to manage. Due to high

• VANET networks are subject to frequent fragmentation, so that messages have

• The network density is variable because it depends highly on vehicular density.

2.3 Wireless Access Technologies

2.3.1 Ad-hoc Network Technologies

WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access): WiMax is

Bluetooth: Bluetooth technology (IEEE 802.15.1) [14] was originally developed

Class Maximum allowable power Coverage (approximate)

DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications): DSRC has been pro-

Figure 2.4: DSRC Channel assignment in North America.

Table 2.2: Features of wireless network technologies proposed to deploy VANETs.

Name Coverage Transfer data rates Power consumption

2.3.2 Cellular Technoligies

Figure 2.5: Accident warning by using GPRS.

• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service): GPRS is an extension of Global

• UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System): UMTS is one

• HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access): HSDPA is an optimiza-

Currently, it is being developing new cellular telecommunications technologies as

2.4 Routing Protocols

2.4.1 Communication Patterns

Broadcasting strategies theoretically send information to all nodes in a network

The last multicasting strategy, geocasting, is the most promising approach to be

2.4.2 Routing Protocols Classification

Figure 2.6: Communication pattern representations.

2.4.3 Routing Protocols for VANETs

Table 2.3: Main features of routing protocols applied on VANETs.

Protocol Comm. pattern Scheme Use of geograph. info.

Blind-Flooding: Blind-Flooding protocol [91] is the simplest broadcasting pro-

Figure 2.7: Blind-Flooding protocol representation.