Information Flow in One-Dimensional Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

andyyuen@cs.columbia.eduAbstractWe consider content distribution in vehicular ad hoc networks. We assume that a file isencoded using fountain code, and the encoded message is cached at infostations. Vehiclesare allowed to download data packets from infostations, which are placed along a highway.In addition, two vehicles can exchange packets with each other when they are in proximity.As long as a vehicle has received enough packets from infostations or from other vehicles,the original file can be recovered. In this work, we show that system throughput increaseslinearly with number of users, meaning that the system exhibits linear scalability. Further-more, we analyze the effect of mobility on system throughput by considering both discreteand continuous velocity distributions for the vehicles. In both cases, system throughput isshown to decrease when the average speed of all vehicles increases. In other words, higheroverall mobility reduces system throughput.