Evaluating vehicular radio connectivity with environment-based metrics

Modeling radio wave propagation by a perfect circle around a transmitter is absolutely wrong. Obstacles effect must be considered especially in obstructed environments. In this paper we present a propagation model for vehicular network which takes into account the impact of physical obstacles present in the environment on electromagnetic wave propagation. Based on this model, we present a study of mobile connectivity for vehicular network in city environment. The considered area is a real map to which is added information on terrain type and zones attraction power. This information is used in both propagation and mobility models. We define several metrics characterizing radio connectivity and examine the effect of vehicles density and obstacles on this metrics. The study shows that when obstacles are ignored, the results are really optimistic in comparison with reality.