CityMob: A Mobility Model Pattern Generator for VANETs

Ad hoc networking is regarded as an adequate solution to cooperative driving between communicating cars on the road. Deploying and testing these networks, usually known as Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs), involves a high cost in the real world, and so simulation is an useful alternative in research. One of the most critical issues in a simulation study of VANETs is the use of a mobility model which resembles, as closely as possible, the real behavior of vehicular traffic. Mobility models are crucial to obtain accurate and meaningful simulation results. In this paper we present CityMob, a mobility pattern generator for VANETs. Citymob allows researchers to easily create urban mobility scenarios, including the possibility to model car accidents. We designed and developed it targeting compatibility with the ns- 2 simulator, and we implemented three different mobility models: Simple Model (SM), Manhattan Model (MM) and Downtown Model (DM). Based on a flooding alert protocol we show that the most realistic mobility model to simulate traffic accidents is the Downtown model. We also find that, for flooding to be effective, a moderate number of vehicles is required.