Caching-as-a-Service in Virtualized Caches for Information-Centric Connected Vehicle Environments

Future automotive applications, such as in the domain of automated driving, will heavily rely on information retrieval in time. However, the host-centric communication model of today’s networks as well as intermittent connectivity describe big challenges due to their movement or sparse infrastructural network deployments. The loosely coupled communication model as well as the natural support of in-network caching of Information-Centric Networking (ICN) architectures are promising to overcome the challenges of future connected vehicle environments. In ICNs, mobile nodes are able to store and carry data into areas not covered by the communication network. In this paper, models are created to assess the potential of in-network caching capabilities of ICNs in connected vehicle environments using principles from point process theory. Furthermore, the concept of virtual cache areas in which nodes in an ICN can exchange cached items on demand is presented. Evaluations are made using simulations based on a real world network deployment in Austria.