Performance analysis of Wi-Fi Direct for vehicular ad-hoc networks

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) play a vital role in enabling intelligent transport services (ITS). The state of art dedicated short range communication (DSRC), which is envisioned to facilitate the communication in VANETs, requires dedicated hardware. This hinders the penetration of ITS especially in developing countries. This paper studies the suitability of Wi-Fi Direct (WD), which is readily available on many smart phones, as an alternative communication technology for VANETs. Performance measures such as throughput, end-to-end delay, packet receiving/loss ratios for both WD and DSRC are presented through simulations, using network simulator NS3, and the traffic simulator Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO). Both single-hop and multi-hop communication is considered. The results show the potential of WD as an alternative communication technology for VANETs.