VNetIntSim: An Integrated Simulation Platform to Model Transportation and Communication Networks

The paper introduces a Vehicular Network Integrated Simulator (VNetIntSim) that integrates transportation modelling with Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) modelling. Specifically, VNetIntSim integrates the OPNET software, a communication network simulator, and the INTEGRATION software, a microscopic traffic simulation software. The INTEGRATION software simulates the movement of travellers and vehicles, while the OPNET software models the data exchange through the communication system. Information is exchanged between the two simulators as needed. As a proof of concept, the VNetIntSim is used to quantify the impact of mobility parameters (traffic stream speed and density) on the communication system performance, and more specifically on the data routing (packet drops and route discovery time)