Abstract

Vehicular communications networks are envisioned for the access to drive-thru Internet and IP-based infotainment applications. These services are supported by roadside access routers (ARs) that connect vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) to external IP networks. However, VANETs suffer from asymmetric links due to variable transmission ranges caused by mobility, obstacles, and dissimilar transmission power, which make it difficult to maintain the bidirectional connections and to provide the IP mobility required by most IP applications. Moreover, vehicular mobility results in short-lived connections to the AR, affecting the availability of IP services in VANETs. In this paper, we study the secure and timely handover of IP services in an asymmetric VANET and propose a multihop-authenticated Proxy Mobile IP (MA-PMIP) scheme. MA-PMIP provides an enhanced IP mobility scheme over infrastructure-to-vehicle-to-vehicle (I2V2V) communications that uses location and road traffic information. The MA-PMIP also reacts, depending on the bidirectionality of links, to improve availability of IP services. Moreover, our scheme ensures that the handover signaling is authenticated when V2V paths are employed to reach the infrastructure so that possible attacks are mitigated without affecting the performance of the ongoing sessions. Both analysis and extensive simulations in OMNeT++ are conducted, and the results demonstrate that the MA-PMIP improves service availability and provides secure seamless access to IP applications in asymmetric VANETs.