Vehicular network pseudonym distribution in congested urban environments

As vehicular networks (a.k.a. VANETs) continue to mature, the benefits they promise come closer to reality. For this to happen, both security and privacy must be provided. Particularly in dense urban environments, novel methods of distributing the often changing identity (pseudonyms or PNs) of the vehicles is necessary in order to ensure vehicles have sufficient PNs. In this paper, we examine three methods of PN distribution through the use of ns-3 simulation. The specific measurements used are: (1) the average overall background data throughput, (2) average overall PNs distributed, (3) maximum number of PNs distributed, and (4) the distribution of the PNs across an array of vehicles in possession of varied numbers of PNs. We demonstrate that a strategy that intelligently limits to whom you distribute PNs in congested environments improves the overall data throughput and provides more PNs to those in need. This paper presents a method to implement this strategy.