Computation of minimum transmit power for network connectivity in vehicular ad hoc networks formed by vehicles with random communication range

SUMMARY In this paper, we consider a vehicular ad hoc network used for distributing traffic information and investigate the minimum uniform transmit power, to be used by all vehicles, sufficient to guarantee network connectivity, in the presence of channel fading. As opposed to the conventional graph theoretic approach, in this paper, the network connectivity problem is analyzed from a physical layer perspective in which a given multi‐hop path joining a pair of vehicles in the network is considered to be connected if and only if the average route BER corresponding to this path meets a target requirement. The analysis considers the communication range of each vehicle to be a random variable. The random communication range model is relevant for connectivity analysis because it can account for variability in the communication links and thus will be able to accurately estimate the network connectivity probability after network setup. We derive closed form analytical expression for the minimum transmit power sufficient to ensure network connectivity. We also derive analytical expression for the maximum number of hops, a packet can traverse satisfying the route BER constraint, for a given transmit power. The validity of our theoretical analysis is verified by extensive simulation studies.