Towards real-time middleware for vehicular ad hoc networks

Abstract

Applications of inter-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication that make use of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) will often require reliable communication that provides guaranteed real-time message propagation. This paper describes an event-based middleware, called RT-STEAM. Unlike other event systems, RT-STEAM does not rely on a centralized event broker or look-up service while still supporting event channels providing hard real-time event delivery. RT-STEAM event filtering can be based on subject, content and/or proximity. To guarantee real-time communication, we exploit proximity-based event propagation to guarantee real-time constraints within the defined proximities only. The proximity within which real-time guarantees are available is adapted to maintain time bounds while allowing changes to membership and topology, typical of VANETs. This Space-Elastic Model of real-time communication is the first to directly address adaptation in the space domain to guarantee real-time constraints.