Performance measurements of a vehicular ad hoc network

Within the framework of the FLEETNET project, a real-world ad hoc network testbed was built using cars as mobile nodes. These cars were equipped with computing and communication devices. As ad hoc routing algorithm, position-based forwarding implemented on Linux-based laptops was used exploiting position information gathered by on-board navigation systems. In this paper we report on measurements and experiences with this testbed for static 1-hop and 3-hop scenarios as well as for mobile 3-hop scenarios. Beside the power, loss-rate, throughput and delivery ratio measurements, we present our methodology for conducting experiments with 'real-world' mobile ad hoc networks and discuss problems of beacon-based position-based routing due to radio fluctuations.