Architecture of Vehicular Ad Hoc Network

Over the last few years Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) have gained much attention within the automobile industry and the research applications. Vehicular Ad hoc networks (VANETs) are a subgroup of mobile adhoc networks (MANETs) with the distinguishing property that the nodes are vehicles like cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles. Nodes are expected to communicate by means of North American direct short-range communication (DSRC) standard [1] that employs the IEEE 802.11p standard for wireless communication and describes a MAC and PHY specifications for wireless connectivity. This chapter deals with the basic architecture of VANET and wired and wireless technology for intra-vehicular communication. Two prominent networking technologies such as Local Interconnect Network (LIN) and the Controller Area Network (CAN) for wired intra-vehicular communication have also been discussed. The objective of this chapter is to explain inter-vehicular communication and the components of a smart vehicle.