How to Begin Implement a Drone Based VANET Projects in NS3

To start executing a Drone-based Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) project using NS3 that needs to replicate a hybrid communication network in which drones are work together with ground vehicles, enabling data exchange, prolong network coverage, or improve the reliability. Below is a structured methodology to get started:

Steps to Begin Implementing a Drone Based VANET Projects in NS3

1. Understand Drone-based VANETs

Here’s a significant aspects of Drone-based VANET:

• Hybrid Nodes: Ground vehicles and drones are performing like mobile nodes.
• Dynamic Topology: Nodes are dynamically transfer that needs robust routing and interaction protocols.
• Applications: Traffic management, emergency response, or data collection in remote areas.
• Metrics: Throughput, latency, packet delivery ratio, and energy efficiency are performance parameters.

2. Define Project Objectives

• Replicate communication among the drones and vehicles to transmit message.
• Measure the routing protocols such as AODV, DSR, or OLSR within a drone-assisted VANET.
• Estimate the performance parameters such as latency, throughput, and packet delivery ratio.
• Experiment mobility patterns for drones and vehicles.

3. Install and Set Up NS3

• We should install new version of NS3 on the system.
• We can learn about:
  • Wi-Fi Modules (802.11p): It is utilised for vehicular communication.
  • Ad Hoc Routing Protocols: AODV, OLSR, or DSDV.
  • Mobility Models: Replicating drone and vehicle movement.

4. Design the Drone-based VANET Architecture

Key Components:

1. Drone Nodes: Aerial nodes to transmit messages.
2. Ground Vehicles: Nodes are interacting with each other or drones.
3. Routing Protocols: For multi-hop interaction.
4. Mobility Models: Replicate the mobility of drones and vehicles patterns.

5. Implement the Simulation

Step A: Create Nodes

For drones and ground vehicles, we make detached node containers.

NodeContainer vehicleNodes, droneNodes;

vehicleNodes.Create(10); // 10 ground vehicles

droneNodes.Create(3);    // 3 drones

Step B: Configure Communication Links

1. Set Up Wi-Fi for Vehicles and Drones:
   • For VANET interaction, we need to leverage 802.11p.

WifiHelper wifi;

wifi.SetStandard(WIFI_STANDARD_80211p);

YansWifiChannelHelper wifiChannel = YansWifiChannelHelper::Default();

YansWifiPhyHelper wifiPhy = YansWifiPhyHelper::Default();

wifiPhy.SetChannel(wifiChannel.Create());

WifiMacHelper wifiMac;

wifiMac.SetType(“ns3::AdhocWifiMac”);

NetDeviceContainer vehicleDevices = wifi.Install(wifiPhy, wifiMac, vehicleNodes);

NetDeviceContainer droneDevices = wifi.Install(wifiPhy, wifiMac, droneNodes);

Step C: Install Internet Stack

We must install the Internet stack and configure a routing protocol such as AODV.

InternetStackHelper stack;

stack.Install(vehicleNodes);

stack.Install(droneNodes);

AodvHelper aodv;

stack.SetRoutingHelper(aodv);

Ipv4AddressHelper ipv4;

ipv4.SetBase(“10.1.1.0”, “255.255.255.0”);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer vehicleInterfaces = ipv4.Assign(vehicleDevices);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer droneInterfaces = ipv4.Assign(droneDevices);

Step D: Configure Mobility Models

1. Ground Vehicle Mobility:
   • Make use of a predefined road outline or random mobility.

MobilityHelper vehicleMobility;

vehicleMobility.SetMobilityModel(“ns3::ConstantVelocityMobilityModel”);

vehicleMobility.Install(vehicleNodes);

for (uint32_t i = 0; i < vehicleNodes.GetN(); ++i) {

Ptr<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel> mobility = vehicleNodes.Get(i)->GetObject<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel>();

mobility->SetVelocity(Vector(20.0, 0.0, 0.0)); // 20 m/s along X-axis

}

1. Drone Mobility:
   • We can utilize a 3D mobility pattern for drones.

MobilityHelper droneMobility;

droneMobility.SetPositionAllocator(“ns3::RandomBoxPositionAllocator”,

“X”, StringValue(“ns3::UniformRandomVariable[Min=0.0|Max=500.0]”),

“Y”, StringValue(“ns3::UniformRandomVariable[Min=0.0|Max=500.0]”),

“Z”, StringValue(“ns3::UniformRandomVariable[Min=50.0|Max=200.0]”));

droneMobility.SetMobilityModel(“ns3::ConstantVelocityMobilityModel”);

droneMobility.Install(droneNodes);

for (uint32_t i = 0; i < droneNodes.GetN(); ++i) {

Ptr<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel> mobility = droneNodes.Get(i)->GetObject<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel>();

mobility->SetVelocity(Vector(10.0, 10.0, 0.0)); // 10 m/s diagonally

}

Step E: Add Traffic Applications

1. Install Traffic Source on Vehicles:
   • Replicate data exchange with the support of OnOffApplication.

OnOffHelper onOff(“ns3::UdpSocketFactory”, InetSocketAddress(vehicleInterfaces.GetAddress(1), 9));

onOff.SetAttribute(“DataRate”, StringValue(“1Mbps”));

onOff.SetAttribute(“PacketSize”, UintegerValue(1024));

ApplicationContainer senderApps = onOff.Install(vehicleNodes.Get(0)); // Vehicle 0 sends traffic

senderApps.Start(Seconds(1.0));

senderApps.Stop(Seconds(10.0));

1. Install Traffic Sink on Drones or Other Vehicles:
   • Receive traffic on drones or other vehicles with the support of PacketSink.

PacketSinkHelper packetSink(“ns3::UdpSocketFactory”, InetSocketAddress(Ipv4Address::GetAny(), 9));

ApplicationContainer sinkApps = packetSink.Install(vehicleNodes.Get(1)); // Vehicle 1 receives traffic

sinkApps.Start(Seconds(1.0));

sinkApps.Stop(Seconds(10.0));

6. Configure Simulation Parameters

Configure simulation time and run the simulation by using below command line.

Simulator::Stop(Seconds(15.0));

Simulator::Run();

Simulator::Destroy();

7. Evaluate Performance

1. Metrics to Analyze:
   • Packet Delivery Ratio: Compute the volume of packets that are effectively distributed.
   • Latency: Measure the duration to attain the end node for packets.
   • Throughput: Evaluate the data which are effectively sent for each unit time.
2. Export Results:
   • Gather and examine the performance parameters to leverage logging or custom scripts.
3. Visualization:
   • For graphical visualization of packet flows, we will want to utilize NetAnim.

8. Advanced Features

1. Dynamic Routing:
   • Experiment various dynamic routing protocols such as AODV, OLSR, DSDV.
2. QoS Optimization:
   • Execute the prioritization for critical traffic to enhance the QoS metrics.
3. Realistic Mobility:
   • We will require utilising SUMO or realistic drone flight models for mobility.
4. Energy Consumption:
   • Mimic battery usage in support of drones for energy utilization.

Sample Complete Code Framework

#include “ns3/core-module.h”

#include “ns3/network-module.h”

#include “ns3/internet-module.h”

#include “ns3/point-to-point-module.h”

#include “ns3/wifi-module.h”

#include “ns3/mobility-module.h”

#include “ns3/applications-module.h”

using namespace ns3;

int main() {

// Create Nodes

NodeContainer vehicleNodes, droneNodes;

vehicleNodes.Create(10); // 10 vehicles

droneNodes.Create(3);    // 3 drones

// Configure Wi-Fi

WifiHelper wifi;

wifi.SetStandard(WIFI_STANDARD_80211p);

YansWifiChannelHelper wifiChannel = YansWifiChannelHelper::Default();

YansWifiPhyHelper wifiPhy = YansWifiPhyHelper::Default();

wifiPhy.SetChannel(wifiChannel.Create());

WifiMacHelper wifiMac;

wifiMac.SetType(“ns3::AdhocWifiMac”);

NetDeviceContainer vehicleDevices = wifi.Install(wifiPhy, wifiMac, vehicleNodes);

NetDeviceContainer droneDevices = wifi.Install(wifiPhy, wifiMac, droneNodes);

// Install Internet Stack

InternetStackHelper stack;

stack.Install(vehicleNodes);

stack.Install(droneNodes);

Ipv4AddressHelper ipv4;

ipv4.SetBase(“10.1.1.0”, “255.255.255.0”);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer vehicleInterfaces = ipv4.Assign(vehicleDevices);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer droneInterfaces = ipv4.Assign(droneDevices);

// Configure Mobility

MobilityHelper vehicleMobility;

vehicleMobility.SetMobilityModel(“ns3::ConstantVelocityMobilityModel”);

vehicleMobility.Install(vehicleNodes);

for (uint32_t i = 0; i < vehicleNodes.GetN(); ++i) {

Ptr<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel> mobility = vehicleNodes.Get(i)->GetObject<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel>();

mobility->SetVelocity(Vector(20.0, 0.0, 0.0));

}

MobilityHelper droneMobility;

droneMobility.SetPositionAllocator(“ns3::RandomBoxPositionAllocator”,

“X”, StringValue(“ns3::UniformRandomVariable[Min=0.0|Max=500.0]”),

“Y”, StringValue(“ns3::UniformRandomVariable[Min=0.0|Max=500.0]”),

“Z”, StringValue(“ns3::UniformRandomVariable[Min=50.0|Max=200.0]”));

droneMobility.SetMobilityModel(“ns3::ConstantVelocityMobilityModel”);

droneMobility.Install(droneNodes);

for (uint32_t i = 0; i < droneNodes.GetN(); ++i) {

Ptr<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel> mobility = droneNodes.Get(i)->GetObject<ConstantVelocityMobilityModel>();

mobility->SetVelocity(Vector(10.0, 10.0, 0.0));

}

// Traffic Applications

OnOffHelper onOff(“ns3::UdpSocketFactory”, InetSocketAddress(vehicleInterfaces.GetAddress(1), 9));

onOff.SetAttribute(“DataRate”, StringValue(“1Mbps”));

onOff.SetAttribute(“PacketSize”, UintegerValue(1024));

ApplicationContainer senderApps = onOff.Install(vehicleNodes.Get(0));

senderApps.Start(Seconds(1.0));

senderApps.Stop(Seconds(10.0));

PacketSinkHelper packetSink(“ns3::UdpSocketFactory”, InetSocketAddress(Ipv4Address::GetAny(), 9));

ApplicationContainer sinkApps = packetSink.Install(vehicleNodes.Get(1));

sinkApps.Start(Seconds(1.0));

sinkApps.Stop(Seconds(10.0));

// Run Simulation

Simulator::Stop(Seconds(15.0));

Simulator::Run();

Simulator::Destroy();

return 0;

}

From this manual, we can acquire essential implementation steps along with sample coding to execute and simulate the Drone Based VANET Projects using NS3 environment. Also we outline the further information on how Drone Based VANET will perform in other tools.