Toward Context-Aware Information Dissemination in Autonomous Networks of Vehicles

Recent advances in vehicular technologies illuminate the significance of vehicular networking, where information dissemination between constituent network elements plays a crucial role. Information sharing in vehicular networks is challenging because mobility introduces a dynamic environment with overwhelming data traffic. Information-Centric Networking (ICN) reduces overheads by in-network caching and name-oriented communication to mitigate these challenges. However, network resources can be used more efficiently if both RSUs and vehicles are managed autonomously. This article proposes autonomous networking to improve information dissemination in vehicular ICN by using available in-network contextual information. First, a Segment-aware ICN (SA-ICN) scheme is proposed by developing a new dynamic namespace convention. Then, we extend SA-ICN by proposing a Segment and Provider-aware Gossiping enabled ICN (SPG-ICN) that leverages a gossip protocol to self-configure and self-optimize the network using content providers. The simulation results demonstrate performance improvements compared to existing content dissemination schemes regarding packet overheads, data delivery delay, and network load.