Insights on metropolitan-scale vehicular mobility from a networking perspective

International audienceThe management of mobility is commonly regarded as one of the most critical issues in large-scale telecommunication networks. The problem is exacerbated when considering vehicular mobility, which is characterized by road-constrained movements, high speeds, sudden changes of movement direction and acceleration, and significant variations of these dynamics over daytime. The understanding of the properties of car movement patterns becomes then paramount to the design and evaluation of network solutions aimed at vehicular environments. In this paper, we analyze a synthetic representation of road traffic in the metropolitan area of Cologne, Germany, during 24 hours of a typical working day. We extract features of interest from a networking viewpoint, and discuss their impact on the deployment and dimensioning of communication systems for road scenarios