Broadcasting safety information in vehicular networks: issues and approaches

A primary goal of intelligent transportation systems is to improve road safety. The ability of vehicles to communicate is a promising way to alleviate traffic accidents by reducing the response time associated with human reaction to nearby drivers. Vehicle mobility patterns caused by varying traffic dynamics and travel behavior lead to considerable complexity in the efficiency and reliability of vehicular communication networks. This causes two major routing issues: the broadcast storm problem and the network disconnection problem. In this article we review broadcast communication in vehicular communication networks and mechanisms to alleviate the broadcast storm problem. Moreover, we introduce vehicular safety applications, discuss network design considerations, and characterize broadcast protocols in vehicular networks.