Characterizing the Instantaneous Connectivity of Large-Scale Urban Vehicular Networks

Understanding of the network topology is a basic building block towards the design of efficient networking solutions. In the context of vehicular networks, such a step is especially crucial due to the highly dynamic nature of vehicles that can lead to strong instantaneous variations in the structure of the network. This notwithstanding, and despite the soon-to-come real-world deployment of vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies, we still lack a clear understanding of vehicular network topological properties. In this paper, we present a complex network analysis of the instantaneous topology of a realistic vehicular network in Cologne, Germany. Our study unveils a poorly connected topology, with very limited availability, reliability, and navigability. We also examine the vehicular network topology in a second scenario, i.e., Zurich, Switzerland. The comparative analysis shows how simplistic mobility models can lead to unrealistic overly connected topologies.