Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) have been receiving a growing research interest from both the Academia and the Industry, due to the potential benefits provided by the broad range of applications that might be derived from their use.VANETs use wireless communications in which the information can be transmitted among vehicles (V2V) or among vehicles and road infrastructure (V2I). This technology paves the way for future Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), which integrate advanced information, communication and control technologies to bring major improvements to the existing transportation network, like vehicle traffic control or driver information systems.One of the most promising benefits of vehicular communications is the improvement of traffic safety. Cooperative Collision Avoidance (CCA) applications are a new emerging means of reducing the number of accidents on the road by providing cars with collaborative communication capabilities, thus allowing them to better react against possible accident risks. However, to design and implement such applications, a deep understanding of the vehicle collision process is needed. The influence of different driving parameters on the collision event must be assessed at an early design stage to develop applications that can timely adapt vehicle dynamics to avoid or at least mitigate the danger. In this context, this thesis presents and evaluates a novel stochastic model that enables the computation of the average number of collisions that occur in a platoon of vehicles driving in a single-lane road. At the same time, the model allows to study the effect of different driving parameters (inter-vehicle distance, driver reaction time, braking deceleration, etc.) on the collision process.Next, we focus on the efficiency and reliability of emergency messages propagation, which should reach all the vehicles within a certain area in a limited time. The delivery of these geographically-addressed messages is performed by the GeoNetworking protocol, which uses a forwarding mechanism to route packets through intermediate nodes until reaching the destination. We assess here how cross-layer techniques, allowing the exchange of information between the different communication layers, can help to improve the operation of GeoNetworking by optimizing the forwarding algorithm in use. We finally provide a survey and comparative evaluation of the most relevant proposals in the context of vehicular environments, focusing on the particular cases involving the MAC (Medium Access Control) and network layers.
AgradecimientosAntes de comenzar, me gustaría expresar mi más sincera gratitud a todas las personas que, directa o indirectamente, han contribuido a que esta tesis se haga realidad.Unas enseñandome y guiándome en el camino. Otras apoyándome, dándome fuerzas cuando creía perderlas y compartiendo mis éxitos.En primer lugar, quiero dar las gracias a mis directores, Joan y Esteban, por su apoyo, su paciencia y sus sabios consejos. Por dedicarme tanto tiempo y, sobre todo, por creer en mí desde...