Analysis of operational 3G network characteristics for adaptive vehicular Connectivity Maps

Vehicles equipped with modems for cellular networks can be utilized to collect connectivity data while being on the road and to monitor the current network properties. If these data are grabbed from many vehicles and transferred to a central server, the data can be aggregated and allow a prediction of future network capabilities for other vehicles which we define as Connectivity Map. This makes different kinds of communication optimizations possible. Due to the mobility of the vehicles and the high dynamics in cellular networks, it is necessary to get very detailed and accurate data. In this paper, we present our approach to collect such data. We analyze the most important 3G network characteristics, with a strong focus on the vehicular mobility and its impacts. The resulting influences on the communication have to be considered to generate adaptive Connectivity Maps with the collected data.