Map-guided trajectory-based position verification for vehicular networks

Vehicular networks are expected to enable vehicles on the road to exchange safety information; enhancing traffic flow and minimizing accidents. With vehicle positions being the most frequently exchanged information in vehicular networks, it becomes imperative to establish a strong level of trust in the announced positions before a vehicle initiates a response. This paper proposes a position verification scheme as part of a misbehavior detection framework that encompasses analysis techniques needed for the verification of exchanged vehicular messages. The scheme involves the estimation of a vehicle´s trajectory via the integration of road and map information, as opposed to only depending on the vehicle´s kinematics for future trajectory prediction. The trajectory estimation procedure uses the vehicle´s previously received position updates to find a bestfit area within the road topology in which the vehicle is expected to be. The vehicle´s current position announcement is compared against this plausible area to decide whether the position is consistent with the expected location. Our proposed scheme is verified via extensive simulations, developed on ns2, demonstrating the importance of integrating road and map information into position verification.