A Heuristic Decision Maker Algorithm for Opportunistic Networking in C-ITS

Abstract

The number of connected devices is growing worldwide and connected and cooperative vehicles should be a major element of such ecosystem. However, for ubiquitous connectivity it is necessary to use various wireless technologies, such as vehicular WiFi (ITSG5, and DSRC), urban WiFi (e.g., 802.11 ac,g,n), 802.15.4, cellular (3G, 4G, and 5G under preparation). In such an heterogeneous access network environment, it is necessary to provide applications with transparent decision making mechanisms to manage the assignment of data flows over available networks. In this paper, we propose the Ant-based Decision Maker for Opportunistic Networking (AD4ON), a Decision Maker (DM) algorithm capable to manage multiple access networks simultaneously, attempting to choose the best access network for each data flow. Moreover, the AD4ON is capable to increase decision's stability, to reduce the ping-pong effect and to manage decisions flow by flow while maximizing flow's satisfaction.