Inter-Vehicle Communications: a new Frontier of AdHoc Networking

Inter Vehicle Communication (IVC) has became a major topic during the last few years. Within the CarTALK 2000 project [1] a novel mobile ad Hoc Network, classified as fast moving outdoor network, will be developed. Main characteristics of such a kind of network are the large and variable number of mobile terminals, an extremely dy-namic network topology and stringent requirements related to broadcast warning messages. In order to satisfy the basic requirements of such a radio interface, the framework of the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Time Division Duplex (UTRA-TDD) with modifications has been adopted as target system in the CarTALK 2000 project. This paper introduces the architectural reference model of the communication system, discusses the main technical issues that arise when passing from a centralised network architecture (as the current UTRA-TDD commu-nication system architecture) to a totally decentralised Ad Hoc mode [2]. In particular the introduction of a new, flexible and realible MAC architecture is investigated. Network throughput performance obtained by simulations are also discussed.