IPv6 address autoconfiguration in geonetworking-enabled VANETs: characterization and evaluation of the ETSI solution

In this article we make a thorough characterization and evaluation of the solution standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute for IPv6 transmission of packets over geographical location aware vehicular networks. In particular, we focus on IPv6 address auto-configuration, one of the required pieces to enable Internet connectivity from vehicles. Communications in vehicular networks are strongly dependent on the availability of multi-hop connectivity to the fixed infrastructure, so also we analyze the probability of achieving this connectivity under different circumstances, and we use the results to identify interesting target scenarios for address auto-configuration mechanisms. Keeping those scenarios in mind, we perform a characterization and deep evaluation--analytically and by means of simulations--of the standardized IPv6 address au-toconfiguration solution; proposing some configuration guidelines and highlighting the scenarios where complementary enhancements might be needed.The authors would like to acknowledge the Spanish Directorate General of Traffic for kindly providing us with the empirical traces used in this work. The research of Marco Gramaglia and Carlos J. Bernardos leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-ICT-2009-5) under Grant agreement no. 258053 (MEDIEVAL project). The research of Marco Gramaglia, Carlos J. Bernardos and Maria Calderon has also received funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, under the QUARTET Project (TIN2009-13992-C02-01)