SADP: A Lightweight Beaconing-Based Commercial Services Advertisement Protocol for Vehicular Ad Hoc Network

Abstract

Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is an auspicious technology for the future Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). A large number of safety applications are envisioned for VANET. Nonetheless, non-safety applications, more specifically advertisement of roadside commercial services, still need a great deal of attention. The classical methods of advertisements (e.g., billboards) are not adequate for the business owners (for instance: hotel, restaurant, supermarket and gas station) to promote their commercial services to the nearby travellers (drivers or passengers) on highways. We address this problem by proposing SADP—a lightweight beaconing-based commercial services advertisement protocol for VANET. Our solution is based on the Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) architecture. SADP performance was evaluated in a congested multi-lane highway scenario, by an extensive set of experiments. Simulation results conclude that: (a) the Road Side Unit (RSU) broadcast frequency and vehicles speed affect the reception of advertisement beacon packets; (b) a frequency of 10 advertisement beacon packets per second assures 100 % reception of all the advertised services by all vehicles and could be the basis for a premium-like type of service advertisement plan for the business owners.